Great British Railways - First Train in New Livery

[8ace]

So will GTR (TSGN) have an official name change tomorrow?

Greater Thameslink Railway from Sunday onwards

 

[jupiter]

It is beyond my normally limited ability to imagine that they wouldn’t have an early update to the livery to use the i) better and ii) cheaper option of plain intermediate coaches.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It is beyond my normally limited ability to imagine that they wouldn’t have an early update to the livery to use the i) better and ii) cheaper option of plain intermediate coaches.

The SercoNed era Northern livery springs to mind - that had multiple variants applied to trains before the final version was settled upon.

This version will no doubt be applied to one train per TOC as stated, but then who knows?

 

[starfury]

Greater Thameslink Railway from Sunday onwards

Does anyone have a source for this? It’s been repeated many times as fact, but an email from Southern says:

From 2am on 31 May 2026, as part of the planned transition to public ownership, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited (GTRL) - which operates four brands: Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express - will transfer to a new company, Thameslink Southern Great Northern Limited (TSGNL). Although the legal operator is changing, you'll continue to see the same Southern Railway services, and the same teams running your trains.

Responsibility for your personal data will transfer from Govia Thameslink Railway Limited to TSGNL. This is a legal change only - your data will continue to be handled in the same systems, by the same teams, and used for the same purposes.

Which seems pretty categorical to me that it’ll be Thameslink Southern Great Northern Limited. Which is a mouthful, but it is what it is. Unless it’s changed. Or someone has got something wrong in the emailing department.

And, to get back on topic, no chance of any of that legal shenanigans changing the new livery. Which I saw in person the other day and was pleasantly surprised that it looked less objectionable in the flesh.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

TSGN was easier to remember back in the day...

 

[Sparks807Evo]

The WM buses red livery is pretty rare though buses are being bought in-house so i assume they will use that colour.

Just to add further confusion they may well be going purple based on a recent consultation survey, which apparently will be listened to…

I would not be surprised to see WMR once under GBR as it were keep its identity - the WMCA like the PTE before it has always been keen to have its own identity (e.g Network West Midlands and Centro). I quite like the orange and purple - less so the completely wrong shade on the vinyl wrapped 172s…

 

[Ian Hardy]

Does anyone have a source for this? It’s been repeated many times as fact, but an email from Southern says:


Which seems pretty categorical to me that it’ll be Thameslink Southern Great Northern Limited. Which is a mouthful, but it is what it is. Unless it’s changed. Or someone has got something wrong in the emailing department.

And, to get back on topic, no chance of any of that legal shenanigans changing the new livery. Which I saw in person the other day and was pleasantly surprised that it looked less objectionable in the flesh.

The Companies House website has this entry:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12545324

THAMESLINK SOUTHERN GREAT NORTHERN LIMITED
Company number 12545324
Registered office address
Waterloo General Office 2nd Floor, Waterloo General Office, Waterloo Station, London, United Kingdom, SE1 8SW
Company status Active
Company type Private limited Company
Incorporated on 2 April 2020
Previous company names
Name Period
DFT OLR14 LIMITED 02 Apr 2020 - 17 Feb 2021

There is no entry for Greater Thameslink Railway on the Companies House website, which suggests to me that someone has replaced the "GOVIA" bit of GOVIA Thameslink Railway with "Greater" and come with a plausible name of "Greater Thameslink Railway" which a lot of people have belived as being correct.

 

[Warrior2852]

Does anyone have a source for this? It’s been repeated many times as fact, but an email from Southern says:


Which seems pretty categorical to me that it’ll be Thameslink Southern Great Northern Limited. Which is a mouthful, but it is what it is. Unless it’s changed. Or someone has got something wrong in the emailing department.

And, to get back on topic, no chance of any of that legal shenanigans changing the new livery. Which I saw in person the other day and was pleasantly surprised that it looked less objectionable in the flesh.

The Companies House website has this entry:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12545324

There is no entry for Greater Thameslink Railway on the Companies House website, which suggests to me that someone has replaced the "GOVIA" bit of GOVIA Thameslink Railway with "Greater" and come with a plausible name of "Greater Thameslink Railway" which a lot of people have belived as being correct.

The legal name listed on Companies House isn't necessarily the name of the public facing brand. For instance the pre-nationalisation SWR had the legal name on Companies House of "First MTR South Western Trains Limited", but was of course branded publicly as South Western Railway. Many other TOCs (both privatised and nationalised) over the years have had similar differences.

I'm not sure where Greater Thameslink Railway came from either, but Companies House and the legal name being used in an email is not proof of what the brand will be.

 

[zwk500]

I'm not sure where Greater Thameslink Railway came from either, but Companies House and the legal name being used in an email is not proof of what the brand will be.

The Brand wasn't GTR either:

Govia Thameslink Railway Limited (GTRL) - which operates four brands: Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express

(bolding from post #484)

The email also says:

Although the legal operator is changing, you'll continue to see the same Southern Railway services, and the same teams running your trains.

Which suggests very strongly that the 4 brands are staying, at least for the meantime. (my underlining)

 

[Goldfish62]

The Brand wasn't GTR either:

(bolding from post #484)

The email also says:

Which suggests very strongly that the 4 brands are staying, at least for the meantime. (my underlining)

Yes, the brands will be:
Southern
Thameslink
Gatwick Express
Great Northern

Irrelevant what the legal company name registered at Companies House is.

 

[birchesgreen]

Just to add further confusion they may well be going purple based on a recent consultation survey, which apparently will be listened to…

Maybe they will swap the purple on the trains with red. Which will work pretty well with the orange to be honest. The fruit salad railway.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Without even trying... I'm on an Epsom to London Bridge service and 387 172 just crossed above me near Selhurst...

 

[sprinterguy]

Without even trying... I'm on an Epsom to London Bridge service and 387 172 just crossed above me near Selhurst...

Nicely done!

 

[S101]

Indeed. A class 114 unit was painted in SYPTE livery, despite the fact that it had to cross three county boundaries to get to South Yorkshire from its home depot in Lincoln, and could be seen in regular use as far away as Skegness or Bridlington.

Reminds me living in Beverley and getting WY Metro Pacers and 158s on a regular basis. Regional colour schemes just make the network look messy. A bit like all the different TOCs. It looks like toy town railways at a busy station.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 May 2026 ==

Without even trying... I'm on an Epsom to London Bridge service and 387 172 just crossed above me near Selhurst...

Looks smart, I like it.

 

[adc82140]

I wonder what the first BR era train to be repainted will be? As it's been clearly stated that repainting will only take place when it would have been done anyway in the maintenance cycle, my bet is on the SWR 159/1s.

 

[Goldfish62]

I wonder what the first BR era train to be repainted will be? As it's been clearly stated that repainting will only take place when it would have been done anyway in the maintenance cycle, my bet is on the SWR 159/1s.

I read over on another thread, or maybe it was this one (sorry honestly can't remember where) it was stated that the current major overhaul that the SWR 158 and 159s are going through would be their last one and that they would emerge in SWR livery. Whether there'll be a mid-contract variation to change the livery remains to be seen.

 

[FOH]

I read over on another thread, or maybe it was this one (sorry honestly can't remember where) it was stated that the current major overhaul that the SWR 158 and 159s are going through would be their last one and that they would emerge in SWR livery. Whether there'll be a mid-contract variation to change the livery remains to be seen.

Likewise I read it somewhere yesterday. Think it said first 6 are defo SWR but could change to GBR from the seventh

 

[Goldfish62]

Likewise I read it somewhere yesterday. Think it said first 6 are defo SWR but could change to GBR from the seventh

Thanks.

 

[Towers]

I read over on another thread, or maybe it was this one (sorry honestly can't remember where) it was stated that the current major overhaul that the SWR 158 and 159s are going through would be their last one and that they would emerge in SWR livery. Whether there'll be a mid-contract variation to change the livery remains to be seen.

‘Their last major overhaul’ seems optimistic when considered against TfWs ongoing fleet replacement saga and continued 150 utilisation, and the number of older Sprinter stock ahead of them in the withdrawal queue - we shall see!

 

[Goldfish62]

‘Their last major overhaul’ seems optimistic when considered against TfWs ongoing fleet replacement saga and continued 150 utilisation, and the number of older Sprinter stock ahead of them in the withdrawal queue - we shall see!

The bit about them having their last major overhaul was from the MD's interview in I think either Rail or Modern Railways. As you say - we shall see!

 

[Towers]

The bit about them having their last major overhaul was from the MD's interview in I think either Rail or Modern Railways. As you say - we shall see!

Ah! Last major spruce-up with SWR seems reasonable, I’ll be amazed if they don’t find homes somewhere else for a while afterwards though!

 

[NaZzAtAzEr]

I can confirm that GTR is indeed going to be Greater Thameslink Railway. A notice was sent out to southern NR staff last month explaining this.

 

[Farigiraf]

I can confirm that GTR is indeed going to be Greater Thameslink Railway. A notice was sent out to southern NR staff last month explaining this.

Hope that name won't age badly. 'Greater Thameslink' is a high bar, when GTR did a pretty good job most of the time.

 

[Teddy Greene]

The bit about them having their last major overhaul was from the MD's interview in I think either Rail or Modern Railways. As you say - we shall see!

Expect they will disappear as a tag on to GWRS project churchward, aim to replace anything 15x/16x
But then thats the sensible thing

 

[Bletchleyite]

Hope that name won't age badly. 'Greater Thameslink' is a high bar, when GTR did a pretty good job most of the time.

Like Great Britain the term is about size, not how good it is.

 

[Dr_Intoxicated]

I saw the SWR one at Twickenham this morning. It is not very good looking.

 

[fakefe]

387172 seems to have been taken out of service at Victoria as of 15:00 today. It was meant to form the next GWX service but was cancelled due to a fire.

 

[TransportHub]

It's made it out of Vic, this was it at 1536 at Clapham, not sure what working. It passed through within 5mins of the SW one. I wonder how long it will be till someone can get a picture of both in the same shot!

 

[SECR 65]

It amuses me that 387172 Great British Railways | Southern is yet to work a Southern diagram.....

(It has run a couple of empties and early/late services, but not on a proper SN diagram yet, just GatEx.)

I wonder if all 27 387/2s will have 'Gatwick Express' on the side, or whether the decision would be taken to reduce the GatEx branded portion of the fleet.

 

[devon_belle]

I saw the Southern and SWR ones within 6 minutes of each other today (while also moving). It is possible they passed each other east of Clapham Junction. What a picture that would be!

I like the livery, in particular the colours. Especially compared to GWR, SWR, Thameslink, Great Northern, etc it is a welcome bit of colour. I do think the intermediate coaches should have a different design.