55022_20121103_0355022 Royal Scots Grey at East Lancashire Railway, Rawtenstall

Visiting the BR Blue theme day at the East Lancashire Railway the other week-end brought back memories of my youth and everything was painted in BR corporate blue. It seemed normal at the time that everything was painted in the same uniform manner since British Rail (BR) operated a strict corporate image policy. No livery infringements were allowed in any form.

In the late 1970s, however, staff at certain depots began minor embellishments. Stratford depot painted some of the roofs of its Class 47 locomotives silver and Finsbury Park depot began to give its allocation of Deltic locomotives white cab surrounds. I remember at the time, the excitement of seeing these small variations to certain locomotives - something that would be lost to a modern enthusiast brought up on a diet of varied and colourful liveries.