DMU livery question.

[Rob F]

A simple question to which there may be no definitive answer. In pre BR blues days, why were DMUs painted green like locos and not maroon like hauled coaching stock,?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Lined maroon ("blood and custard" before) was for express passenger stock; and is why AM9 (class 309) EMU 100mph sets were delivered maroon.

 

[Clarence Yard]

The original plan for the first Derby lightweight units was that they, as coaching stock, were to be painted in blood and custard livery, just like the GWR railcars were at the time.

However, they were then classed as “motive power”, so they were painted from new in green livery. Subsequent DMU deliveries followed suit.

 

[Wyrleybart]

The original plan for the first Derby lightweight units was that they, as coaching stock, were to be painted in blood and custard livery, just like the GWR railcars were at the time.

However, they were then classed as “motive power”, so they were painted from new in green livery. Subsequent DMU deliveries followed suit.

And presumably why the GWR railcars also got green paint then

 

[StephenHunter]

Maroon (and "blood and custard before") was for express passenger stock; which is why the AM9 (class 309) EMU 100mph sets were delivered maroon.

Is that way the 309s got a grey stripe when they went blue?

 

[Gloster]

Some, at least, of the former GWR railcars appeared in blood and custard; the parcels ones were all-over maroon. I presume that these were early BR repaintings before it was decided to standardise on green.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Green was the standard colour for all multiple units, from railbuses to express passenger 4CEPs and 6PANs. The AM9s were an exception (and the 5BELs of course)

 

[Sun Chariot]

However, they were then classed as “motive power”, so they were painted from new in green livery. Subsequent DMU deliveries followed suit.

I have always thought British Railways' original "Multiple Unit Green" - lighter shade - more attractive, than their later use of "Locomotive Green" on DMUs / EMUs (AM9, 5BEL excepted).

 

[Rob F]

Maroon (and "blood and custard" before) was for express passenger stock; which is why the AM9 (class 309) EMU 100mph sets were delivered maroon.

What colour were the non-gangway mark 1 suburban stock when first introduced?

 

[Sun Chariot]

What colour were the non-gangway mark 1 suburban stock when first introduced?

Plain unlined crimson. Ditto the non-gangwayed / suburban stock of LMS, LNER and GWR.

 

[Taunton]

Some, at least, of the former GWR railcars appeared in blood and custard; the parcels ones were all-over maroon. I presume that these were early BR repaintings before it was decided to standardise on green.

A number of the GWR railcars remained in crimson and cream livery to the end, into the 1960s, they were some of the last vehicles in this scheme left running on the Western Region.

 

[Rescars]

The original plan for the first Derby lightweight units was that they, as coaching stock, were to be painted in blood and custard livery, just like the GWR railcars were at the time.

However, they were then classed as “motive power”, so they were painted from new in green livery. Subsequent DMU deliveries followed suit.

This adoption of a " motive power" classification was presumably a BR innovation. Historically not only railcars, but also steam railmotors carried coaching stock livery (especially if the power unit was enclosed within the carriage body). Others will know more, but I think when the LBSC shrouded a loco in carriage profile casings to be marshalled centrally between autocoaches, these casings were painted in coaching stock livery also.

 

[Bodiam]

A number of the GWR railcars remained in crimson and cream livery to the end, into the 1960s, they were some of the last vehicles in this scheme left running on the Western Region.

W20W was in crimson and cream when it arrived on the Kent & East Sussex in 1966.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jan 2026 ==

A simple question to which there may be no definitive answer. In pre BR blues days, why were DMUs painted green like locos and not maroon like hauled coaching stock,?

The British Railways original livery scheme had all multiple units in green. In 1948 they would have been mostly electric and a majority of those would already be in some shade of Southern Railway green

 

[Beebman]

W20W was in crimson and cream when it arrived on the Kent & East Sussex in 1966.

AIUI W20W spent much of 1965 sitting at Worcester Shed waiting for the K&ESR to come and collect it, I've attached a photo from Wikimedia Commons dated 5/9/65:

 

[Gloster]

AIUI W20W spent much of 1965 sitting at Worcester Shed waiting for the K&ESR to come and collect it, I've attached a photo from Wikimedia Commons dated 5/9/65:

Withdrawn in week ending 6 October 1962. As it was Worcester allocated from December 1958 it was probably dumped there well before the first report on 2 July 1963; presumed to have remained outside the closed Worcester Works until at least 28 November 1965. Moved to a store at some time; purchased by K&ESR in February 1966 and left on 9 March 1966.

Source: Harris’ Allocation History, Part 3, Self-published, 2017.

 

[Bodiam]

AIUI W20W spent much of 1965 sitting at Worcester Shed waiting for the K&ESR to come and collect it, I've attached a photo from Wikimedia Commons dated 5/9/65:

Unfortunately for BR, their stores person had sold it to the K&ESR for a price including delivery to Robertsbridge. This was a problem as the Hastings line tunnels were still less than standard width. I believe the railcar had to be hauled down from Tonbridge early one Sunday morning when there were no trains running in the other direction, and with a lot of brake blocks piled up on one side so that it tipped over enough to give enough clearance from the tunnel walls.

 

[Taunton]

The two last depots for the GWR railcars were Worcester and Southall, about 6 at each by 1962. A survey in a magazine at Southall at this time showed several parked there, some withdrawn, others still in stock, and for livery even at this late stage about 50-50 between green and red/cream.

The main reason that "local service" vehicles, both multiple unit and hauled non-corridor stock, were in a single colour in the 1950-57 scheme was that they were generally not housed in carriage sheds, nor very regularly received external cleaning. This would otherwise cause the cream paintwork to go grubby and discoloured (with the pigments of the era), whereas corridor hauled main line stock was more regularly kept in better condition.

Southall shed was right next to the works of the AEC company who built the power train and had been key in the original design of the cars, and there were probably contacts between the two. They were operated from there on the several short branches from the GW main line. Worcester's cars were used on various rural lines in the area.