Best livery in Class 321s and derivatives.

[Logan Carroll]

I usually dislike Transport Scotland’s Saltire livery for being garish and politically charged but i think it works really well on the 320s for some reason and is my absolute favourite on 321 esque trains.

 

[bramling]

I usually dislike Transport Scotland’s Saltire livery for being garish and politically charged but i think it works really well on the 320s for some reason and is my absolute favourite on 321 esque trains.

The variant of FCC livery used on the 321s looked quite good. They had the city vinyls applied to a blue painted background, rather than the whole body side being vinyl as was done to the 317s and 365s. It looked a lot smarter.

 

[yorksrob]

NSE Toothpaste of course !

 

[christopher]

Always thought the First Great Eastern livery looked good on them.

 

[Bald Rick]

I always thought that Silverlink missed a trick by not painting them silver.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Network South East-hands down.

 

[delt1c]

I usually dislike Transport Scotland’s Saltire livery for being garish and politically charged but i think it works really well on the 320s for some reason and is my absolute favourite on 321 esque trains

Think the Saltire livery suits all stock, however not politically charged , it is based on the St Andrews cross which is the flag of Scotland and not adopted by any political party.

Deviating slightly the worst had to be the Stanstead Express livery worn by the 322's

 

[AlistairCowell]

Got to go for Carmine & Cream Class 320s, both original and revised, the latter of which lasted 11 years.
They also look smart in Saltire livery.

The worst has to be unit 320307 when it was in unique Carmine & Cream with the narrower cream band.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I always thought that Silverlink missed a trick by not painting them silver.

Most of the 321's got a C6 overhaul just before 1996 , so were turned out in NSE livery - minus the corporate branding . so deemed very wasteful to relivery them again until the next planned heavy overhaul.

 

[bramling]

I always thought that Silverlink missed a trick by not painting them silver.

I never really got where the name Silverlink came from.

I presume it was some attempt at implying “we’re different” like c2c managed to achieve with some degree of success, however whilst Silverlink was a very operationally competent TOC (notwithstanding the reputation for personal security issues in parts of the metro area!) I don’t think anyone can say they were transformational, nor did they ever really attempt to be so.

 

[Logan Carroll]

Got to go for Carmine & Cream Class 320s, both original and revised, the latter of which lasted 11 years.
They also look smart in Saltire livery.

The worst has to be unit 320307 when it was in unique Carmine & Cream with the narrower cream band.

Do you mean the PRC complaint door the removal of the gold borders (which the 320s never got) or the updated SPT logo decals?

Think the Saltire livery suits all stock, however not politically charged , it is based on the St Andrews cross which is the flag of Scotland and not adopted by any political party.

It was criticised at the time for “creeping nationalism”. Basically put the saltire everywhere (which the devolved scottish goverment as done under SNP) and then the public will feel more “scottish” and vote for independence. A scary amount of people voted yes solely because they feel proud to be scottish rather than any real political or economic reasoning.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

321334 in Dutch Railways blue and yellow

 

[Bald Rick]

Most of the 321's got a C6 overhaul just before 1996 , so were turned out in NSE livery - minus the corporate branding . so deemed very wasteful to relivery them again until the next planned heavy overhaul.

Well yes Guv’, but then that purple and green that came later!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The first version (broad cream stripe) of WYPTE.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Well ye Guv’, but then that purple and green that came later!

Which was for the sets that had not been through C6 - awful livery that Cadbury colour. Took a long time to filter through.

Not forgetting the all white 321 , known as "Casper" (the friendly ghost) - tagged as "get the link" as a warm up to the "Silverlink brand"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Jan 2021 ==

I never really got where the name Silverlink came from.

I presume it was some attempt at implying “we’re different” like c2c managed to achieve with some degree of success, however whilst Silverlink was a very operationally competent TOC (notwithstanding the reputation for personal security issues in parts of the metro area!) I don’t think anyone can say they were transformational, nor did they ever really attempt to be so.

Appreciate the comment on operationally competent - lot of effort put in , especially on the ignored DC and NLL / WLL sections. Lots of unseen work done about personal security ..it got a lot better after my time , but targeted operations were done to good effect , especially on the DC lines. I think perception was worse than reality.

You could argue my idea of top and tailed 31's on the Bedford branch was "transformational" (out of desperation !) - sort of back to the future.

 

[Bald Rick]

Not forgetting the all white 321 , known as "Casper" (the friendly ghost) - tagged as "get the link" as a warm up to the "Silverlink brand"

I forgot about that!

 

[bramling]

Which was for the sets that had not been through C6 - awful livery that Cadbury colour. Took a long time to filter through.

Not forgetting the all white 321 , known as "Casper" (the friendly ghost) - tagged as "get the link" as a warm up to the "Silverlink brand"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Jan 2021 ==


Appreciate the comment on operationally competent - lot of effort put in , especially on the ignored DC and NLL / WLL sections. Lots of unseen work done about personal security ..it got a lot better after my time , but targeted operations were done to good effect , especially on the DC lines. I think perception was worse than reality.

You could argue my idea of top and tailed 31's on the Bedford branch was "transformational" (out of desperation !) - sort of back to the future.

I remember once turning up at Bletchley to sample the 31s, but they had failed!

The whole “London Lines” operation under NE was pretty sharp operationally, they certainly turned round neighbouring WAGN which had always been rather indifferent under Prism.

Unfortunately Silverlink will always be remembered for the “personal security” issues, which is probably rather unfair as they served what were at the time some of the toughest parts of London. ISTR when LU took over the management of the DC line stations (if my memory is right they went straight to LU, not to LO?) one of the first tasks was to replace some signage at Harlesden which was peppered with bullet holes! I agree some of the security issues were overplayed politically, though a trip through the Queen’s Park to Wembley Central area during the late evening was certainly quite an experience...

 

[SeanG]

I think that the Northwestern Trains navy blue and star livery looked great on everything it was applied to

 

[Journeyman]

NSE Toothpaste of course !

Can't argue with that! The 321 design has NSE's signature all over it, and nothing else suited them as well.

 

[357 LTSRail]

The Network Southeast livery suited these down to the ground and was easily the best in my opinion, whilst First Capital Connect looked pretty smart too (probably the best of the liveries where doors had to be painted a different colour).

Not sure on any of the liveries they’ve work on the GEML really post-privatisation.
The Renatus demo unit looked quite nice if that counts.

I actually didn’t mind the plain white with blue doors from NXEA or red from Abellio when they were freshly painted and the UK network wasn’t awash with white painted trains! Now, not so much.

 

[Strathclyder]

In no particular order...

320

• SPTE Orange/Black
• SPT Carmine/Cream (the 'prototype' versions of this one were hit and miss as noted above. The version 320306 carried works best out of the two of them, but the finalized version is my crowning fave livery on the 320 family)
• ScotRail Saltire

321

• Network SouthEast
• WYPTE Red/Cream
• First Great Eastern
• Silverlink
• First Capital Connect

322

• First ScotRail