35018 British India Line

In that case, I hope it stays black and remains in a location where it's performance will be possibly better appreciated. There's far more pressing things to worry about than livery, the worsening international situation being one of them.

 

Be aware that apparently K1 is due for a test run on Monday... I'd think that's a better machine anyway, but its not 35018...

(PS if anyone could PM me with detailed photographs of BIL's tender top, that would be great... )

 

I'm not sure when but the K1 is due to go to Scotland for the Jacobite season

 

Just wondering if 10th May WCR Kidderminster to Carlisle... with steam from Hellifield, could well be debut of BIL?

 

K1 is going to Scotland as part of tour for GBX according to bookings of the engine so far. After the trip to Oban I would think they then go from Cainlarich to Fort William light/engine and coach afterwards, which explains why the tour is diesel to Glasgow.

As for GBX I would have thought they would want 35018 to be proved first and thus another tour might be where it would be seen next.

 

For me the key is its gloss black not an undercoat matt black. Would be pointless painting in gloss black to have to sand the gloss off, mind you as we are all aware WCML like to play games.

I'm resigned to the fact that it may well appear in Br mixed traffic lined black & then hope to be proved wrong!!

 

Dare I say it (I know this is paint froth) but Id actually like to see it in Black, or the WCRC maroon livery like Galatea. I think that its good that they get painted in a different paint scheme as I like the idea of them looking forwards and into the future. Being something different than always looking back.

But I agree, given it was gloss paintwork it looks like BR lined black is on the cards. Early or late crest? Cue more debate and froth....

 

But it's not the future it's a historic artefact and there is no point in it taking part in the 50th anniversary of Southern steam when it doesn't look like anything that ran on the Southern

 

anyway i am beginning to think it wont be playing any part in any southern celebrations, , or that it will come down south this year, if at all, in 2017, i was hoping that it may play a part in the BGX tour, but i have to think that it wont even be tested by the end of the month, if it was a paper issue, Carnforth could have sorted that and activated the test runs fairly quickly, i think that with the preperation needed for BGX, they dont have the time to do anything than whats needed operationally , so i can't see 35018 being registered then undergoing tests much before Late may- June.

 

In some ways it's a shame they were not re-built early enough to carry the BR blue livery. That would suit the loco really well IMO.

 

A Bulleid in original form would equally suit the express blue. Maybe when Tangmere comes back ....... ?

 

Always liked 35005 in Blue and I would think 34067 would look OK in blue. Gets my vote.

 

Dare I say that the class 47s and 37s operated by the same company are also now historic in their own right, but there doesn't seem to be the same uproar that they are not in historic liveries. West Coast are a commercial train operating company who just happen to run some rather old rolling stock. They are not in the museum business.
I have no issue that 35018 isn't in BR green, my main issue is that another locomotive is painted in boring black! Sorry, but Leander looks a shadow of itself compared to its previous incarnation as 5690.. In the other direction the emergence of the crab on the east lancs looks simply incredible released from its BR drab mask. But each to our own!

 

So if you don't like black what's wrong with BR green? The boxes are normally coupled at the rear on steam tours so the red livery does make them less conspicuous

 

Nothing wrong with BR green, 46115 has been painted thus for the last decade and looks fabulous . My point is though these locomotives are working assets of a train operating company and are therefore not (always) treated as historic vehicles. As such the owner has licence to turn locos out in any colour he wishes - and that seems to include 'might have been liveries'. As far as West Coast is concerned steam didn't finish in 1968 and I for one like that!
There are plenty of railways that accurately recreate the past on infrastructure that is historic. West Coast operate on a 21St century railway and have to fit modern gizmos and adapt to a changing world. What is wrong with a bit of experimentation in appearance too?

 

Wash your mouth out man! You're talking heresy.

 

There is evidence that one Jubilees wear BR lined black during BR days and BR lined black looks great on Leader. Black is not a boring colour and most locomotives did wear black. You two other Jubilees in red and one soon to be green after overhaul. So black makes a nice change to what the class is currently wearing.

 

And when you line them up headon with a couple of Black 5s and an 8F you can try and spot the difference.

 

There were quite a few Jubilees turned out in BR Black, including Leander and even more in the LMS 1946 lined black livery and very nice they looked to