1960s Green Livery Day on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway

Join us on Sunday 11th June for a celebration of 1960’s BR Green Livery…..

‍We will be running three of our finest locos together, all bearing ‘British Rail Locomotive Green’ livery. This will be a fantastic day, providing great photo opportunities too. Not to mention the GWSR developing as a true green ‘wildlife corridor’ with tree planting, landscaping, wild flower planting, beehives and much more! There is a 5% discount for all tickets bought online too. (www.gwsr.com)

‍A little bit of history…..

The history of train liveries is a rather interesting and complex one with a plethora of colour schemes having adorned locomotives and rolling stock over the past 200 years. The green livery worn by locomotives and various multiple units in the 1960s was the result of a great deal of experimentation.

When the railways were nationalised in 1948, the newly formed British Transport Commission began a key policy to develop a new standard identity for the unified industry. At the time, the BTC had inherited a diverse range of locomotives and rolling stock, all painted in a variety of liveries – thus this was no easy task. In the early 1950s, trials were conducted with locomotives being painted in various colours, such as: both deep and light blue – known as ‘Express Blue’ (which didn’t weather well); maroon; light apple green; and the Southern Region’s vivid malachite green.

From 1954, a new green often referred to as ‘British Railways Locomotive Green’ was adopted for BR express steam locomotives as carried by 35006 ‘P&O’ and 7903 ‘Foremarke Hall’, which was not too far from the Great Western Railway style ‘Brunswick Green’. The specification was in fact British Standard BS224 ‘Deep Bronze Green’ (sometimes called ‘Land-Rover Green’). Mixed traffic locomotives generally wore lined black, similar to the old LNWR style, and plain black for freight and shunting locomotives. However, as the years progressed, green became more widely adopted.

BR Green was also applied to new diesel locomotives, although there were a number of variations – a dark green for the mixed traffic orientated diesels (such as the BR Class 37 / Type 3) and a two-tone green for passenger orientated diesels (such as the BR Class 47 / Type 4). Diesel Multiple Units (DMUSs) were green from the outset, with the ‘cats whisker’ lining on the front and later with yellow warning panels (the latter was also the case with diesel locomotives). Southern Region multiple units wore a separate green known as BR(SR) green.

Even through a new green had been adopted, there were a number of deviations. The shade of green tended to vary between locomotive classes and depending on which depot/works applied the paint, even between members of the same locomotive class. Other factors included; the number of layers of paint and varnish applied, the pigment used, and the suppliers of the paint.

In addition to the new green livery, a new emblem was developed which became known as the BR ‘Totem’. This depicted a rampant lion emerging from a heraldic crown and holding a spoked wheel. The emblem was enclosed in a roundel with the ‘British Railways’ name displayed across a bar on either side. Not long after it was introduced, the new emblem was nicknamed the ‘Ferret & Dartboard’.

With the advent of the new British Rail Corporate identity from the mid-1960s, the BR green livery started to disappear in favour of ‘Rail Blue’ for locomotives and DMUs and blue/grey for coaches.

Road Direction
Toddington Station GL54 5DT. what3words puzzles.throats.expectant
Winchcombe Station GL54 5LD. what3words address is curries.dwarves.blotchy
Cheltenham Racecourse Station GL50 4SH. what3words hobby.rates.stray
Broadway Station WR12 7DF. what3words reworked.frog.canyons

Public Transport
Cheltenham Spa can be reach via the national rail network and stagecoach operate the D and E buses to Cheltenham Racecourse regularly.

Stagecoach run the W bus service stopping at Broadway, Toddington and Winchcombe.

NN Creswell operate a bus to Broadway from Evesham and Stagecoach Midland operate a service to Broadway from Stratford-upon-Avon.

Winchcombe station can be reached by the 606 bus operated by Pulham’s from Cheltenham to Chipping Camden, this stops at Winchcombe, Toddington and Broadway.