Rail Blue - The Story.

With the onset of the dieselisation programme in the late 1950's the first experiments to look for alternatives to replace the drab green livery took place albeit what looked like, very little enthusiasm. In November 1961 Class 52 diesel-hydraulic No. D1000 'Western Enterprise' rolled off the Swindon production line in a new, very pleasing, 'Desert Sand' livery, followed closely some 13 months later by D1015 'Western Champion' in an equally exciting Golden Ochre. Little is documented however, about the Class 31 production line at the Brush Falcon Works which produced, from new in January 1960, D5579, again in Golden Ochre, and D5578 in a shade of blue that bore a striking resemblance to the rail blue livery that was to appear five years later. These two early repaints were produced as an experiment to highlight the visibility of the locomotives to trackside staff and the two locomotives were repainted into standard Brunswick Green before the onset of the 'new' house colours. Mention must also be made of the prototype locomotives D0260 'Lion', and Brush/Sulzers one off, HS4000 'Kestrel', although not  production machines 'Lion' appeared in April 1962 in white livery (which included all underslung equipment and bogies!) with gold linings along the lengths of its  bodyside, whilst HS4000 was turned out with its lower bodysides in 'Chocolate Brown'; the remainder in yellow. Another private venture, Brush's D0280 'Falcon' closely resembled the green traction fleet of the time, being outshopped in lime green and chestnut brown. More on 'Falcon' can be found here.

The true history of the Rail Blue livery lies way back in the early 1960’s and starts from a decision, believe it or not, from the infamous Dr. Beeching. Along with his well documented axing of most of the British Rail network, Mr. Beeching realised that other forms of transport, faced with stiff competition with each other and the explosion in ownership of the humble motor car, were upgrading their identities and services in an effort to keep profitable. Thus it was decided to give British Rail a corporate image. The changes were to affect all parts of the railway system, not only the locomotives, but even changes down to the last detail such as staff uniforms and official letterheads. On the traction front, a new prototype train was to be produced, with improvements in internal equipment and décor, paving the way for future designs. In May 1964 the eight new cars, made up of three first class corridor coaches M13407 - 9, two second class corridor coaches M25508/9, and three open plan coaches M4727 - 9 rolled off the Derby production line and were to be known as the XP64 stock. Finished in a turquoise blue and pale grey livery with dark brown bogies and drawgear the formation was initially provided with a Class 47 locomotive, D1733. The locomotives new colour scheme was matched to the carriage stock and was set to change the look of the whole of the traction fleet for many years to come. The whole body carried the coaching stocks turquoise blue with the addition of a red square panel on the drivers’ cabs to which was applied the ‘new’ British Rail symbol of two fused arrows. Small yellow warning panels were applied to the ends of the machine, and the numbers, two sets either side, placed directly behind the cabs, were in a new style font somewhat smaller in size than had previously been used. The bogies and underframes again matched the coaching stocks brown. After successful trails, the new BR symbols still had to be officially approved, and so they were removed along with the red panels to which they were attached. The new colour scheme was soon to be expanded to all forms of traction and rolling stock, with one small change; the shade of blue was amended to a darker form, in reality called ‘monastral blue’ or, as its still called today....’rail blue’.

History reveals that the change to the new colour scheme was not quickly and easily arrived at. Several designs for the new BR symbol were put forward to the board before the familiar 'double arrow' was finally decided upon, and the original idea was for the arrow to be mounted on a plate similar in style to the 'Western' nameplates; the plates would have been 20 3/8" wide by 18" deep, with the double arrow and beading cast in alluminium. The symbol and beading were to be polished and the plate given a flame red background. As with today however, cost reared its ugly head, and at a later meeting the board firstly decided that only Type 4 and Type 5 locomotives should receive the plates; the rest of the fleet would have transfers applied. And at yet a further meeting the plate idea was rejected altogether, the whole of the motive power fleet were to be given vinyl transfer double arrows. To suit different locomotive designs, the transfers were to be made available in three different sizes, 1' 6", 2' 0" and 2' 6". It was also stated that there should be four emblems placed directly under the cabside windows, and all numbers would be moved to the bodyside directly behind the cab doors. This clearly upset the Western Region management, as their Hymek locomotives had cast alluminium numbers bolted from the inside of the machines in the space now required for the new symbol; their Western locomotives carried cast numberplates in the same position and attached in a similar fashion. After discussions with the board, the WR was allowed to keep the locomotives as they were, the Class 35's emblem moving to the centre of the machines and the Class 52's to the cabside opposite the numberplate. 

After a directive from the BRB to paint all motive power BR blue on the 9th June 1966 the transformation of the entire BR fleet began. Class 20 locomotive No. D8048 was selected by the BR design panel for livery experiments and emerged in the standard all over blue (including the bufferbeams), full yellow front ends and black undergear. The old style 'slim' typeface numbers were retained. One of the first to be treated to the new look was Class 08 No. D4100 which was outshopped from Eastleigh, although the locomotive retained XP64's brown underframes and wheels along with polished silver coupling rods. Changes were soon made to the standard black with yellow rods. Details of livery change dates are hard to come by, but a study of the 1967 Ian Allan 'combine' reveals that from a total of 62 photos of diesel locomotives only 14 feature the new colours. By 1971 this figure had risen to 37 out of 54. Random sightings during 1967 produced the following locomotives in BR blue:-

*reported to be in an earlier version of blue, possibly XP64 or 'Chromatic'
**locomotives built from new in rail blue

From the outset, locomotives retained the small yellow front warning panels until the BRB's accident prevention service decreed that the yellow was to cover the entire area of the front of the cabs; a move to make the machines more visible to trackside staff. Three classes of diesel locomotives, the 20's, 25's and the 47's, were still in production at the time of the livery change; D8178 became the first Class 20 to emerge 'as new' from the production lines, D7660 the first Class 25 and D1953 the first Class 47 (which is reported to be the first ever 'official' BR blue loco). The new blue Class 47 locomotives were recognisable by two cabside BR emblems each side, along with two sets of numbers each side set behind the cabs - the 'standard' BR blue livery. (see here). The introduction of the Class 50's in 1967 saw the whole build emerge in the new livery. Some of the smaller classes of locomotives were dealt with surprisingly quickly; in the case of the Class 55 'Deltics' D9002 became the first example outshopped in blue on the 20th October 1966, and D9014 the last, only three years later in November 1969. All, however, did not go as smoothly as planned, particularly with the Western Region. Confusion seemed to reign, and various combinations of blue and odd shaped yellow warning panels appeared. Upon repainting, the Class 35 Hymeks retained their white window surrounds, although, oddly, at least D7004, D7007 and D7051 appeared in all over blue including  the window surrounds which, when combined with its small yellow warning panels and black underframe equipment, made the locomotives look very drab indeed. The 'Western' and 'Warship' nameplates were all given black backgrounds in place of the several examples produced in red as applied to green painted machines. Several of the regions locomotives appeared in a different shade of blue called 'Chromatic Blue'; examples include Hymek No. D7040 and Class 52 'Western' No. D1037 'Western Empress'. D1030 'Western Musketeer', the first of the class to appear in the new blue livery, emerged with red bufferbeams and Swindon staff received a severe repremand from the board and were ordered to amend the livery accordingly. Red faces must have been abound when Class 20 locomotive No. D8049 appeared in full blue livery with the BR double arrow symbols the wrong way round! The paint specification for the Class 47 locomotives decreed that the machines should be applied with the 2' 6" version of the BR symbol on the cabsides, clearly far two big when viewed on early photographs, and a directive from on high had the double arrows changed to the 2' 0" version which looked far more suitable.

Such was the importance of safety, the adoption of the full yellow front ends was made priority and so many machines gained this addition before the blue livery was applied. This seemed to be more noticeable with the larger classes of locomotives; the Class 25's, 31's, 40's and 47's, as it was some time before all machines could be attended to at works. Thus, the appearance of the new colours continued apace. In 1973 BR introduced a new numbering scheme, making use of new computer technology for tracking movements of all its traction and stock. As with today, the software of the time could not differentiate between two identical numbers and so the new system required that every piece of rolling stock carried a different number. The new scheme, called TOPS (Total Operations Processing System) gave us the numbers as we see them today, with the first digits identifying the class, with the last three providing a unique number. This new technology also made the four character train reporting headcodes redundant, and from 5th January 1976 these were abandoned, and gradually replaced by black vinyl stickers with two white dots placed on the inside of the headcode glass to form two marker lights. Before this modification could be made locomotives could be seen with all types of regional modifications, from the displaying of four 0's through to the complete removal of the original number and letter blinds revealing the four bulbs behind. This interim period worked well for the Class 52 'Westerns' as the machines individual number could be displayed at each end of the locomotive! Although standardisation of the new scheme was applied to each class of locomotive, certain design differences within each class meant that numbers and arrows could appear on different positions on different locomotives. Several Scottish Region Class 20's were fitted with tablet catching equipment fitted into a recess on the cab sides. This usually meant that the BR symbol and data panel had to be applied on the first door on the bonnet. Regional variations in the placing of numbers/ symbols and data panels also seemed apparent, the Scottish Region again seemed to favour a larger spacing between each of the numerals on certain locomotives, and on their class 25 machines, numbers and panels were placed on the bodysides behind the cab, whilst their English counterparts applied them to the cabsides. All the early repaints featured the locomotives number, data panel and BR symbol on every cabside, four in all, and it was quickly realised that money could be saved by reducing this to two, and so later repaints saw the information transferred to the left hand side only, either below the drivers window or split between the cabside or to the rear of the cab. The BR symbol was sometimes moved to the centre of the locomotive.

And so the early 1970's started what is known the 'rail blue era' when it seemed to appear that everything that ran on British Rail was painted blue! All was not so, however, many locomotives lingered on well into the mid-1970's wearing an ever deteriorating coat of green paint. To the enthusiasts at this time, these locomotives became quite celebrity machines and made a delightful change in what seemed like a sea of blue. In all, it took nearly twelve years to repaint the Class 47's with 47 256 becoming the very last of its class to be repainted in BR blue in November 1978. Class 20 locomotives nos. 20 141 & 20 147 soldiered on until July 1980 in the old colours and were possibly the last two main-line locomotives to receive rail blue. Many locomotives ended their lives without being repainted, particularly the pre-1970 non standard designs. In 1974, the Class 24 machines were in the process of withdrawal. Three examples never received rail blue; 24 090/92 & 24 136. One locomotive, Class 40 no. 40106 was retained in green for enthusiasts specials and, holds the record for the only machine still running today (now preserved) never to receive rail blue. (full details can be found here). 136 locomotives still retained the old Brunswick Green livery as at December 1976. They are as follows:-

A full comprehensive account of all the diesel locomotives renumbered into the TOPS system whilst still in green livery can be found here.
It was during this time that British Rail ran a strict corporate image policy. No new names or livery infringements were allowed in any form, and with the diesel-hydraulic locomotives then reduced to history, named locomotives only included those treated in the early 1960's, notably the Class 45's and 47's.
In 1977, however, staff at Stratford decided to 'test the water', and decided to alter the appearance of two Class 47 locomotives nos. 47 163/164, which, in retrospect, started the change of locomotives liveries to how we see them today. The rail blue era had started to end. It was during this year that Her Majesty The Queen celebrated her Silver Jublilee and in what seemed like a blatant breech of the BRB rules, the locomotives appeared adorned with union jack flags on the bodysides. It is reported that the two decorated locomotives caused quite an outcry amongst senior BRB officials, who, apparently knew nothing of the changes until the locomotives appeared. To the amazement of the railway fraternity, the embellishments were allowed to stay, albeit more accurately painted, at least until the Jubilee celebrations were over. As a footnote, 47 163, still carrying its flags, was badly damaged by fire and required an extensive rebuild before its return to traffic.
Not content with giving the BRB a kick in the teeth, Stratford decided to come out fighting yet again, this time the following year, 1978. During the latter half of 1977, it had already been decided by the Board to name the Class 50 and Class 87 en-mass, a policy perhaps derived from Stratfords first protest. Class 47 locomotive no. 47 460 appeared on the 3rd of April 1978 with an all over silver roof and red bufferbeams; and just to strike the message home a little harder, the depot applied wooden nameplates bearing the name 'Great Eastern'. Amazingly again, the livery change was sanctioned, but in what looked like an effort to quell Stratfords new found bravado, ordered that the plates be removed. The locomotive lasted just over two weeks until the 20th of April as 'Great Eastern'.

In retrospect, perhaps Statfords second protest was an effort to annoy the BRB even further, by naming a locomotive unofficially; if nothing had been said it would have paved the way for a whole host of namings by the Eastern Region, without the BRBs consent!
With the naming of the Class 50's and Class 87's, BR's official corporate blue livery seemed to be rapidly coming to an end. Class 47's regularly appeared with silver roofs and detail livery alterations tended to creep in into all BR's classes of locomotives. Several Class 31 locomotives started to appear with their white bodyside bands reinstated as did selected Class 45 machines.

In 1978 the BRB requested a new livery scheme for locomotives that were expected to be in service for some future years, and so came the final chapter in the standard rail blue story. In 1979 Class 56 locomotive no. 56 036 appeared as the first example of 'large logo' livery (more details can be found here). At the same time it was announced that all the Class 50 locomotives and many Class 47's were to be repainted in the revised colour scheme. From hereon 'Railfreight Grey' was introduced for freight locomotives, and applied to all the Class 58 machines on introduction. The rest, as they say, is history.....
Looking back as an enthusiast during these early years, it seemed hard to think that the rail blue era would ever end. From Inverness to Penzance, wherever you stood on a platform, everything that moved (and sometimes didn't) came in 'Rail Blue'! A look at todays scene sees a complete reverse of the policies of the time, and some twenty-five years later it seems ironic that I wish it would all come back! To the younger visitors to this website - you missed it all!!

More.......

Green TOPS - The Definitive List  A look at the last green liveried locos to survive into TOPS renumbering.
Timeline 1958 - 1962 Notable modern traction and historical railway events during the first 25 years of the first generation diesels and electrics.
British Rail 1973 Diesel & Electric Locomotive Renumbering Scheme

©Copyright Graham Turner 2003 - 2008.