Great British Railways - First Train in New Livery

[northernbelle]

387172 appears to have broken cover at Brighton Lovers Walk in a full GBR livery wrap.

Notable is the retention of the 'Southern' name on the sides - Great British Railways | Southern.

 

[TFT YouTube]

Earlier today the first unit to be put in GBR livery was seen shunting around Lovers Walk TRSMD depot. The unit is former GWR Class 387/1 387172.

 

[jamieh27]

Earlier today the first unit to be put in GBR livery was seen shunting around Lovers Walk TRSMD depot. The unit is former GWR Class 387/1 387172. View attachment 204439

I rekon if this is to do with GTR being nationalised on the 31st May 2026, as the others had GBR Coming soon brand on the units (SWR, c2c, GA and WMR)

 

[Lewis10104]

Video here as well: https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2056723888537555443/video/1?s=46

 

[Class73Electro]

It's no NSE Livery! Is the front SER purple?

 

[TFT YouTube]

It's no NSE Livery! Is the front SER purple?

A lot of people are comparing this to SE, my take is it's SE with extra vinyls.

 

[185143]

That's not as bad as I feared it would be tbh.

 

[ScottGallagher]

Noticed it says GBR Southern so thats the template then

 

[Mainsideman]

Noticed it says GBR Southern so thats the template then

Do we think its the toc name or regional branding that has been talked about?!

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's not as bad as I feared it would be tbh.

It looks reasonably OK on a boxy EMU. It just looks jarring on a higher speed unit because the pointy red bit doesn't sit nicely with the curved nose.

 

[185143]

It looks reasonably OK on a boxy EMU. It just looks jarring on a higher speed unit because the pointy red bit doesn't sit nicely with the curved nose.

True.

I suppose it's the reverse situation of the TPE livery. First saw it on a 185 and my reaction isn't suitable for the forum.

Then saw it on an 802 and it was immediately obvious what it'd been modelled on!

 

[Hophead]

Handy that there's an even number of carriages on a 387.

As the unit is primarily blue, I presume we expect it to debut on the Gatwick Express?

 

[RPI]

Doesn't actually look that bad to be fair

 

[Tobberz]

Seems similar to the "Coming Soon" livery? Identical but for "Southern" rather than "Coming soon"? Not sure.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I cannot lie — I love it.

I will be really disappointed if it’s another case of just one symbolic train per franchise though.

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Do we think its the toc name or regional branding that has been talked about?!

Most likely GTR's Southern than "Southern Region" as the GBR livery is being rolled out now also the TOC names still exist for now as it won't be all consolidated until about 2027 or 28

Agree with the comment the GBR livery should be more streamlined for the intercity stock with conical "noses" like LNER's example applied on Azumas & Serenzas. The proposed artwork makes it look like the trains are wearing collars!

 

[Trainspecial]

That's not as bad as I feared it would be tbh.

Agreed

 

[DNCharingX]

The coaches in the middle should be just blue. It looks so out of place copying and pasting the same design on all coaches.

I wonder whether that's Southern (Region) or Southern (TOC)...

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Thinking about it, SWR's probably will be:
"Great British Railways | SWR"
As SWR's full name together with GBR's would be too long & a mouthful

 

[Dumpton Park]

Not terrible. A bit Scotrail-ish really. Actually better than some recent attempts (yes, Cross Country 221s, looking at you). Also realtively easy to adapt some other liveries (especially SE, but also Avanti, Northern and LNER) to it with a few vinyl touches until a full repaint becomes due.

I find the reappearance of double arrows on the ends of service trains (appreciating the preservation/heritage movement) oddly kind of touching!

B

 

[dorsetdesiro]

The coaches in the middle should be just blue. It looks so out of place copying and pasting the same design on all coaches.

I wonder whether that's Southern (Region) or Southern (TOC)...

Probably GTR's Southern

 

[59CosG95]

Probably GTR's Southern

Well, the only way we'll know for sure is when another unit from a different TOC gets the new livery!

 

[sabanda]

It must be a one-off for the GTR renationalisation - if this wasn't the case, surely 450067 would have received the scheme whilst having its Key Workers vinyls removed last week?

 

[AndrewP]

That looks bad - very amateurish and a poor replacement for the previous livery

 

[kitchenoven]

Handy that there's an even number of carriages on a 387.

My thoughts exactly. I can get past the design on the front and rear ends of the train, but repeating it down the full length seems a bit excessive and definitely a more isn't better thing. Definitely wonder how wack it will look with an odd number of carriages and a front/back bias to the design.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The coaches in the middle should be just blue. It looks so out of place copying and pasting the same design on all coaches.

Agree with that. Blue intermediates and pointy-logo ends would look much better and wouldn't then look unbalanced on trains with an odd number of coaches (which is most of them aside from 20m South East EMUs!)

 

[adc82140]

I don't dislike the colours, but the flag emblem should only be on carriages 1 and 4, not all of them. It looks like the Human Centipede as it is.

 

[birchesgreen]

If the design wasn't unnecessarily repeated down the train then it wouldn't be bad at all. It helps that the unit has yellow ends which makes all liveries a bit better.

 

[rmHawk765]

Noticed it says GBR Southern so thats the template then

Great to see there will be at least some sub-branding IMO.

 

[sabanda]

Have to hope they've not retained the GWR moquette!