British Rail 1947 - 1997

Engine Appearance - Changes at Nationalization

Liveries (Engine and carriage colours)

After an initial period when several different liveries were tried ot BR settled on a scheme which varied according to the type of duties the engine was deemed to perform. The reason for this may be linked to the cost of the scheme. eg express engines were seen mostly by the public and so were given a more expensive livery, whilst mineral engines were seen least by the public so were given the cheapest livery.

Express passenger engines had a base colour of Brunswick Green (darkish shade of green), with orange and black lines typically arround the cab and the boiler.

This is Oliver Cromwell a passenger express engine with its green livery (sorry this picture does not show it very clearly )

This shows what Brunswick green with orange and black lines looks like

Mixed traffic engines had a base colour of black with red, cream and grey lines

This is a mixed traffic engine used to pull either passenger or goods trains

Mineral or goods engines had plain black liveries without any lines.

A n engine in all black used to pull goods trains