Great British Railways: Station identity and livery unveiling (09/12/25)

[Leyland Bus]

ScotRail will remain, but they've still strangely stuck GBR branding all over the ScotRail parts of Glasgow Central this morning.

Isn't it a Network Rail ran station?

 

[Warrior2852]

Isn't it a Network Rail ran station?

Low level uses ScotRail branding instead of NR branding, and that had the GBR stuff put on it.

 

[MikeWh]

No, I think it is the most awful mess I have ever seen on any British train in my lifetime.

Does that include the Thameslink graffiti livery?

Got to say I'm not a fan of this look though.

 

[superalbs]

Actually it seems to work better on that 2-car unit. It's the repeated flashes on each carriage on the longer train that seem to jar. And I can't make out exactly what happens on the middle car.
It would also be nice if the slope of the flashes on the leading car of the streamlined units matches that of the nose, although that would obviously require slightly different treatment for different classes as there is no standard rake angle (compare a 701 to a Javelin, or even an Aurora to an Azuma)

That two car unit is just a pair of centre cars from an 800 model.

 

[Lockwood]

Would a mostly dark blue livery with a horizontal red and white stripe, perhaps with diagonal stripes at the end be in keeping with the union flag motif, without actively being a flag waving effort?

So...

This is a long thread already and I have skipped bits of it.

Interesting idea, poor execution?


It would be interesting to see an NSE/this hybrid - GBR angles at the front going into static stripes

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Does that include the Thameslink graffiti livery?

Got to say I'm not a fan of this look though.

The Thameslink "Belgrano" livery as some called it. Grey , grey and more grey !

 

[superalbs]

Just took this pic of a Fuxing Smart train in China.

If someone could kindly replace the Chinese (almost German) flag colours with those of the Union flag, I’d be interested to see what it looks like.

View attachment 193548

(CR400AF-AZ in its regular Chinese livery, but with UK flag colours instead.)

How is this?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does that include the Thameslink graffiti livery?

Which one? The current boring but professional one but with graffiti on it? I suppose graffiti does make a unit look worse. OK, it's the worst thing I've seen applied to a train by someone who was allowed to do so!

 

[officewalla]

What a load of tosh. Only applies to England so nothing British about it and certainly not great (deliberate small g). Pointless virtue signalling by a Marxist ideologue with no benefit to the industry at all. Going to cost millions with nothing to show for it except a new English logo and livery......maybe!

 

[ScottGallagher]

Because the people in charge are idiots?

Indeed

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's the repeated flashes on each carriage on the longer train that seem to jar. And I can't make out exactly what happens on the middle car.

I presume it is the same as what happens on the middle cars with the Avanti and TPE liveries, where the arrows just point the other way.

Which one? The current boring but professional one but with graffiti on it?

I think @MikeWh means the thankfully short-lived Thameslink grey with blue and yellow 'bubbles' around the windows:

Thameslink (train operating company, 1997–2006) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think @MikeWh means the thankfully short-lived Thameslink grey with blue and yellow 'bubbles' around the windows:

Thameslink (train operating company, 1997–2006) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Forgot that one. It's not great but I don't think it's as bad as the GBR mess.

 

[consettman]

Disappointed that I'm never going to see this on a class 142, which would have looked hilarious.

 

[superalbs]

Disappointed that I'm never going to see this on a class 142, which would have looked hilarious.

I agree, think this livery is going to look even worse on some of the other units we have.

Where is all this mess going to fit on a 158 for example?

 

[Dougal2345]

In this environmental day and age, shouldn't we be painting all train roofs white, or at least a light colour, to reflect the sun and cut down on air-conditioning costs?

But it looks as though GBR will be going for black roofs throughout.

I don't have an issue with the red white and blue at all -[...] This design shows that it's not the flag colours that the problem, it's instead the "hey look it's the flag! You like the flag right?! Ruuuuule Britannia.." look they've gone for

I'm not sure I even like the colour combination of Red, White and Blue (saying nothing about patriotism and such like). I think it can work if the white is dominant, and the blue and red are just stripes, as on the old Wessex Electrics - and definitely the red and blue should always be separated by white.

It's like Red and Green, which says "Christmas", but no-one would paint rooms in their house in that combination.

Just took this pic of a Fuxing Smart train in China.

I think that looks fairly fuxing smart in its original livery

 

[Bletchleyite]

Where is all this mess going to fit on a 158 for example?

There's a 156 with it on on the London Bridge layout, you can see it if you zoom in on the video posted above. It actually looks slightly less awful on a square-ended unit. The main thing I find jarring about it is that it doesn't follow the unit's shape.

 

[jessfdm]

In this environmental day and age, shouldn't we be painting all train roofs white, or at least a light colour, to reflect the sun and cut down on air-conditioning costs?

But it looks as though GBR will be going for black roofs throughout.



I think that looks fairly fuxing smart in its original livery

I think that, looking at things like the red-topped voyagers at the moment, it's the bit of a DMU that gets dirty fastest - so I can see why they might have avoided it

 

[PLY2AYS]

View attachment 193557How about ssomething like that?

Image shows a Class 80x with a white bodyside and a red and blue horizontal line throughout with blue doors and a yellow nosecone created using Google Gemini AI.

Good effort, perhaps this should be moved to the speculative discussion here:

Great British Railways livery - alternative suggestions/variations

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/great-british-railways-station-identity-and-livery-unveiling-09-12-25.295846/ I think this design would’ve been better for the 80x Based off of the LNER Azuma of course. (Pictures posted include AI edited mock ups of the LNER 80x...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Peter Wilde]

Its a mutation of NSE on acid and GB News and is too much to look at.
Why on earth would you reveal something like this if the final design will look much different.

Isn’t this just an example of the standard political ploy of revealing a poor early design or policy proposal, in order to assess the reaction - and reveal a finessed product later, to get the reaction “OK that looks much better”?

 

[Peter Wilde]

So would I, but unfortunately Maggie flogged it off.

OK, I know that - but the latest repaints on the VoR tanks are experiments in retro BR - including all over blue - so a forward looking revamp of GBR livery is not impossible. On the other hand, not many woud want to see it.

 

[BeijingDave]

There's a good reason for that.

Gratuitous flag waving (of which an organisation basing their entire visual identitiy around the national flag is a perfect example) was historically never a feature of British society, it's a comparitively recent development entriely driven by the right. My late father found the whole thing laughable. Going back to the late 40s/50s when he was a teenager/young man, other than at major celebrations like VE day or the coronation, you never saw the Union Flag plastered everywhere, it was mainly limited to flying from public buildings and the George Flag was only really seen flying from a CofE church. He knew of one man at that time who habitually flew the flag from his home, he was widely regarded as a complete prat.

I agree to some extent about gratuitous flag-waving, but in the celebratory instances you cite, the flag was shared by everyone.

That is my issue: do we all just hand the flag over to the right-wing now? We shouldn't.

Hence, also, my point about the institutions of state, such as the BBC, British Airways (still the major airline), British Rail... if it's claimed as a common flag for the whole country, it denies the far-right the chance to use it for their purposes.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Lol, I thought you were being serious until I saw Teeside Airport on the list I'd never heard of the other stations haha

They are all stations that are officially open but have no trains calling.

You're forgetting Denton and Reddish South. And surely we need to include Altnabreac even if presumably ScotRail won't take the GBR livery? Wouldn't the locals there love a visit from all the media?

Those two do at least have a service, however slim.

Having skimmed the 15 pages of comments, my joke of having it appear at 'closed' stations does now seem rather more appropriate. The fewer people that the 'design' it is inflicted upon the better!

Each carriage, alongside the GBR logo, should have the picture of an MP on it, together with the words 'owned by you', just to remind them that they are elected not there by right.

 

[CryoraptorA303]

Isn’t this just an example of the standard political ploy of revealing a poor early design or policy proposal, in order to assess the reaction - and reveal a finessed product later, to get the reaction “OK that looks much better”?

More than likely.

The particular choice of the overly-corny Union Jack design was probably intended to deliberately create political discussion and try and get the culture war types on side with the nationalisation because "Ruuuule Britannia!"

The finished product will almost certainly be far quieter, and the standard livery might be binned altogether in favour of preserving regional identities. At least I hope that's what'll happen. I have no issue with a standardised design that has different colour codes between regions as I explained in a previous post.

 

[sprinterguy]

There's a 156 with it on on the London Bridge layout, you can see it if you zoom in on the video posted above. It actually looks slightly less awful on a square-ended unit. The main thing I find jarring about it is that it doesn't follow the unit's shape.

As noted in a post above, there isn't a 156, it's just two intermediate cars from the 800 unit.

The point stands, though, that it does look more acceptable with fewer contrasting livery elements over the length of the train.

 

[superalbs]

There's a 156 with it on on the London Bridge layout, you can see it if you zoom in on the video posted above. It actually looks slightly less awful on a square-ended unit. The main thing I find jarring about it is that it doesn't follow the unit's shape.

Please can you direct me to the video? This is a massive thread already!

 

[ValentaFan1974]

I’d love to see what the GBR livery would look like on a Voyager…. But as XC will be the last to adopt it, it will have probably changed by then

 

[MikeWh]

Which one? The current boring but professional one but with graffiti on it? I suppose graffiti does make a unit look worse. OK, it's the worst thing I've seen applied to a train by someone who was allowed to do so!

No, not actual graffiti. It was grey with what seemed like random patterns. I'm struggling to find a picture though. It was from the early days before the core shut and Farringdon platforms were lengthened. It would have been on 319s.

 

[tram21]

This is just an example of what it could look like, no? They will properly design it for future trains?

 

[Bertie the bus]

I don't think the livery concept is bad but the execution is terrible. It is the livery equivalent of a Class 769 (good idea, bad end result) and considering Northern are already state run it would be fitting to use one for the launch next Spring.

 

[sabanda]

The Hornby 80X set at London Bridge looks better overall, but the cab end is a complete mess