British liveries painted on foreign trains.

[stadler]

RZD in Russia painted an ET2L unit (ЭТ2Л-027) in to Network South East livery back in 1994 (just before Network South East dissappeared as an operator) and it stayed like this for years. It only got painted in to normal RZD livery in 2014 (so it lasted about twenty years in Network South East livery) but the train is still currently in service.

I have never been able to get to the bottom of why they did this. It can not be a coincidence. It was definitely intentional when the livery is identical to Network South East livery. Even the way the red and blue stripes curve at the end. Plus they even put the yellow front panel that our trains have and Russia has never had a yellow panel rule. I am guessing someone in Russia liked the livery and maybe decided to trial it.

I am on a Russian railway forum and a Russian railway enthusiasts group on VKontakte and this has been discussed a few times but nobody seems to know a clear answer. Even railway workers who have driven that unit during the period do not seem to know so it still remains a mystery.

A few various photos here of the unit that i could find here:









India has an inspection unit painted in SWT or EMT livery. The same livery that the SWT 158 159 170 444 458/0 had and the EMT 153 156 158 222 MK3 had.

It is a single one coach DMU unit. It is part of the called "Chetak Inspection Car" and is part of the Delhi division. I think it is used for inspecting the railways and transporting railway officials.

It is unmistakably copying our SWT or EMT livery. So i am guessing someone who works on the railway in India liked the livery and decided to copy it. I have never been able to find an exact answer but that seems most likely.

Not the best quality but a few photos and videos i could find here:

So we have had both NSE livery and SWT or EMT livery on foreign trains. Both are not even old British trains and have had no link to our country.

But this has me wondering what other trains around the world are painted in British liveries? Can anyone think of any other trains that have copied any British liveries?

 

[doc7austin]

I think Network Southeast is operating a summer-seasonal Couchette Car to Postojna in Slovenia.

 

[Cowley]

That Russian one is really interesting. I haven’t seen that before.

Nyetwork Southeast maybe?

 

[D1024]

In Poland, their Class EU06 were British built/designed by English Electric and mechanically similar to the BR Class 83. Their successor the EU07 was entirely Polish built and were subsequently converted to EP07. In January 2008, in recognition of the British origins EP07-1051 was repainted in BR AC Electric Blue complete with lion and wheel. Photo was taken in Poznan in September 2010. (Photo shows Polish Inter City Class EP07 Electric Locomotive in BR AC Electric Blue livery)

 

[43096]

I think Network Southeast is operating a summer-seasonal Couchette Car to Postojna in Slovenia.

View attachment 185988

That looks nothing like NSE.

 

[RailWonderer]

I am on a Russian railway forum and a Russian railway enthusiasts group on VKontakte and this has been discussed a few times but nobody seems to know a clear answer. Even railway workers who have driven that unit during the period do not seem to know so it still remains a mystery.

The images are interesting. Do you have links for the page, and do you understand some Russian or do you run it through a translator? I'd like to read more about Russian Railways but there isn't much information in English.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

HST power cars 43007 and 43320 are among the HST stock exported to Mexico, and have run there in the heritage liveries they arrived in (original InterCity for 43007 and Virgin for 43320).

Video from April 2024. You can use the auto-translate option in the subtitles menu to translate from Spanish to English.

Google translation of the video description:

The first heritage locomotive has already circulated in the Interoceanic Corridor through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The first heritage machine has already passed in the interoceanic corridor and no one noticed.

Last weekend the usual HST locomotives went into maintenance and were replaced by 43320 and 43007 with the original Intercity 125 layout, and no one noticed that they were too well preserved to be almost 50 years old.

Last year (2023), before arriving in Mexico for the interoceanic corridor passenger train, after almost half a century of service, the HST trains were retired in England. And to say goodbye to them as heroes, a farewell tour was organized for these trains that were once the fastest in the world and are still the fastest diesels on the face of the earth.

For its farewell tour CrossCountry repainted two of its locomotives. At one end, 43008 carries the paint scheme adopted for the Intercity 225, which sought to be the successor to the HST, and 43007 with the Intercity 125 scheme as when it began operating.
Although the locomotives made their last trip in September 2023, they were painted since July and by whims of fate, 43007, which is one of the first built, is one of the locomotives that has just arrived to reinforce the interoceanic fleet and quickly found the opportunity to race again just by adding some Interoceanic decals.

Few people saw this, the first service of these locomotives, I imagine that the passengers of that day did not imagine being part of something historic like this.

 

[172007]

RZD in Russia painted an ET2L unit (ЭТ2Л-027) in to Network South East livery back in 1994 (just before Network South East dissappeared as an operator) and it stayed like this for years. It only got painted in to normal RZD livery in 2014 (so it lasted about twenty years in Network South East livery) but the train is still currently in service.

I have never been able to get to the bottom of why they did this. It can not be a coincidence. It was definitely intentional when the livery is identical to Network South East livery. Even the way the red and blue stripes curve at the end. Plus they even put the yellow front panel that our trains have and Russia has never had a yellow panel rule. I am guessing someone in Russia liked the livery and maybe decided to trial it.

I am on a Russian railway forum and a Russian railway enthusiasts group on VKontakte and this has been discussed a few times but nobody seems to know a clear answer. Even railway workers who have driven that unit during the period do not seem to know so it still remains a mystery.

A few various photos here of the unit that i could find here:

View attachment 185980

View attachment 185981

View attachment 185982

View attachment 185983

India has an inspection unit painted in SWT or EMT livery. The same livery that the SWT 158 159 170 444 458/0 had and the EMT 153 156 158 222 MK3 had.

It is a single one coach DMU unit. It is part of the called "Chetak Inspection Car" and is part of the Delhi division. I think it is used for inspecting the railways and transporting railway officials.

It is unmistakably copying our SWT or EMT livery. So i am guessing someone who works on the railway in India liked the livery and decided to copy it. I have never been able to find an exact answer but that seems most likely.

Not the best quality but a few photos and videos i could find here:

View attachment 185984

View attachment 185985

So we have had both NSE livery and SWT or EMT livery on foreign trains. Both are not even old British trains and have had no link to our country.

But this has me wondering what other trains around the world are painted in British liveries? Can anyone think of any other trains that have copied any British liveries?

Arguably are the SWT / EMT liveries in India not inspired by South West Airlines.

 

[Beebman]

I always felt that RENFE's 'Estrella' livery was inspired by BR's InterCity one:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serie_8000_de_Renfe#/media/Archivo:05_054a_Bf_Algeciras,_Bcm_CAF.jpg



(Photo shows Renfe couchette car Bc11x-11600 (transformation of ex BB 8500 UIC-X), with Estrella livery, in Algeciras.)

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

The State Railway of Thailand's ASR class is a metre gauge version of the Class 158. The units were originlly painted in Regional Railways livery.

State Railway of Thailand ASR class - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

File:Sprinter2509.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

(Photo shows a three-car ASR class unit in Regional Railways livery with advertising wraps partially covering two cars.)

 

[Cowley]

The State Railway of Thailand's ASR class is a metre gauge version of the Class 158. The units were originlly painted in Regional Railways livery.

State Railway of Thailand ASR class - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:sprinter2509.jpg

(Photo shows a three-car ASR class unit in Regional Railways livery with advertising wraps partially covering two cars.)

Even the current livery has a slight hint of the First Dynamic Lines colour scheme:


That’s from this video

 

[43096]

Arguably are the SWT / EMT liveries in India not inspired by South West Airlines.

Or, as I usually refer to them due to the livery similarity, "South West Planes".

 

[stadler]

Arguably are the SWT / EMT liveries in India not inspired by South West Airlines.

I doubt it. That is a different livery. South West Airlines use a very similar livery to the 450 and 458/5 trains. It is a similar style but blue instead of white. This livery on the Indian unit was clearly copied from the SWT or EMT livery.

There was three separate SWT liveries used:

• White Livery - SWT 158 159 170 442 444 458/0 and EMT 43 153 156 158 222 MK3

• Blue Livery - SWT 73 121 450 458/5

• Red Livery - SWT 455 456 508 707

It is only really the blue one that resembles the South West Airlines livery.

I have always wondered if the similarity between the South West Airlines livery and the 450 and 458/5 livery is just coincidence or if one of them took inspiration from the other. They are two completely separate companies with different owners yet had the same name and a very similar livery. Probably just a coincidence but i would be curious to know more.

 

[43096]

There was three separate SWT liveries used:

• White Livery - SWT 158 159 170 442 444 458/0 and EMT 43 153 156 158 222 MK3

• Blue Livery - SWT 73 121 450 458/5

• Red Livery - SWT 455 456 508 707

There was a fourth livery used before those above debuted that ostensibly looked like an adaptation of NSE colours but using Stagecoach orange and a lighter shade of blue that was used on the 455s as well as the slam-door units of BEP, CEP, CIG and VEP types, as well as a single 442 (2402 from memory).

 

[stadler]

The images are interesting. Do you have links for the page, and do you understand some Russian or do you run it through a translator? I'd like to read more about Russian Railways but there isn't much information in English.

It was over a year ago last time it was discussed but i will have a look later and see if i can find the the last discussion about this NSE livery. There is plenty of information and discussion forums and groups on Russian railways online (there is a huge railway enthusiast community in Russia just as large as the British community) but the websites and information are all in Russian and unfortunately very little English language information exists. I speak Russian fairly fluently. I know more than enough to have a conversation both in person and online.

 

[StephenHunter]

There's the ex-87 012 in Bulgaria still in NSE livery, I believe. Same with 87 004 in BR Blue.

Essen has one of its ex-DLR P86's in its old livery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essen_Stadtbahn#/media/File:EVAG_P86_5211_Hauptbahnhof.jpg

EVAG of Essen, Germany ex-Docklands Light Railway P86 number 5211 at Essen Hauptbahnhof with a U11 service to Karlsplatz.

 

[stadler]

This is the opposite of the other examples (this is a British train painted in a foreign livery rather than a foreign train painted in a British livery) but i just remembered we had a 321 painted in to full NS livery with NS logos. Back in the early or mid 1990s they painted 321 334 in to this livery. It lasted in this livery until the early or mid 2000s for about ten years.

A couple of photos of it in this livery that i have found here:









I have never been able to find out an exact answer but most suggestion seems to be that it was to promote the Sail Rail ferry link on the Harwick to Hoek Van Holland ferry. You could take a FGE train to Harwich and then a ferry to Hoek Van Holland and then an NS train to anywhere in the Netherlands from there. So this seems the most likely explanation but i can not find confirmation.

I wonder if NS in the Netherlands painted in a unit in a British livery as part of this. It be interesting if they had one too. I can not find any photos so i doubt it but you never know.

 

[Bastiaan]

Although an NS SGM in NSE livery would have been cool, there has unfortunately never been a Dutch unit in a British livery.

 

[Amalie]

Although an NS SGM in NSE livery would have been cool, there has unfortunately never been a Dutch unit in a British livery.

The Dutch have actually briefly operated the NS 1500 locomotives (BR 27003) in British Rail colours, see https://treinposities.nl/foto/11707

I do think that an SGM in an NSE livery would have been neat! I am biased of course, but the 321 looks surprisingly good in an NS coat.

Although it is a little misleading as it’s promising a bit more comfort with the NS intercity livery as opposed to the “stoptrein”/Sprinter one!

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Essen has one of its ex-DLR P86's in its old livery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essen_Stadtbahn#/media/File:EVAG_P86_5211_Hauptbahnhof.jpg

That picture is 20 years old. 5211 doesn't run anymore and the remaining ex-DLR trains are all painted Ruhrbahn yellow now