Class 69 - Return of the body snatchers?

[newbryford]

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159629436243417&set=pcb.10159629436923417

 

 

[Grizz]

I like it and it is definitely different. The speed whiskers kinda work above the head lights.

It seems to break up the slab front effect created when the grill was removed.

[PaulRhB]

I’m looking forward to the next Anglo, American names. 
Boston Tea Party

Burnin’ down the (White) House

Independence 

. . .

[BernardTPM]

No. Just no.

 

Not even well shaped. Incidentally, where are the air horns now?

[Steadfast]

Hmmm, I guess strange looking is polite.

Really not sure on the speed whiskers! The general design of the livery doesn't look very, well, designed. The clip art flags are different shapes rather than a matching pair, the speed whiskers aren't level on the cab sides, the upper orange stripe is too low and the GBRf logo and number don't line up. It might be that I'm fussy, but it just doesn't work for me. Compare how the GB livery sits on a 50 or 60 for comparison of a neater arrangement.

 

Jo

[RPNaylor0301]

Some extra shots on GBRf's Twitter account. Core livery looks good, sits as well as on the 60s and 47. Don't mind the whisker too much but think better without (anybody else get a deltic vibe from it?)

 

The flags though. The flags look spectacularly half arsed. Could've at least done with some fading or blending. 

[PaulRhB]

I think they missed a trick, 

69001 Kama Sutra

69002 Lady Chatterley

. . . 

[russ p]

I wonder what the Americans think about their flag on a loco design that has connections to a former communist dictatorship! 

Surely anything to do with transatlantic partnerships should be on a 66?

Speed whiskers..... just wrong!  

[Davey]

Yet another abomination! It's a railway locomotive, NOT  a feeble attempt at art!!!

[Phil Mc]

First impression was they’d given it a weird moustache, but the more I look at the pictures the more it looks like a mono-brow !! 

 

cheers,

Phil.

[PaulRhB]

4 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

Surely anything to do with transatlantic partnerships should be on a 66?

 

It’s just a reference to the internal new fit out in a UK loco 

[kev]

Like it a nod to Lincolnshire after all Boston is were there journey for freedom started when they escaped from the local jail

[black and decker boy]

3 hours ago, Steadfast said:

Hmmm, I guess strange looking is polite.

Really not sure on the speed whiskers! The general design of the livery doesn't look very, well, designed. The clip art flags are different shapes rather than a matching pair, the speed whiskers aren't level on the cab sides, the upper orange stripe is too low and the GBRf logo and number don't line up. It might be that I'm fussy, but it just doesn't work for me. Compare how the GB livery sits on a 50 or 60 for comparison of a neater arrangement.

 

Jo

The logo & number appear set by the other side as the new grille cuts well down and doesn’t leave much space for the number. They’ve simply matched the number location on both sides.

[lmsforever]

Still looks like a 56 the whiskers not brilliant and the flags  not right  .wonder if the noise is still 56 will have to wait and see. At least the locos were not scrapped and will live again probably cheaper than new.

[97406]

I’ve seen worse liveries and I’ll become accustomed to said whiskery appendages, no doubt.

[russ p]

46 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

Still looks like a 56 the whiskers not brilliant and the flags  not right  .wonder if the noise is still 56 will have to wait and see. At least the locos were not scrapped and will live again probably cheaper than new.

 

It will sound just like a 66 unfortunately.  I'd rather they stayed as they were someone may have used them or preserved them , they are now nothing like they were originally so may have been better scrapped as can never realistically go back to a 56

A 56 is probably the best freight loco I've ever worked with and the 66 the worst.  Fitters won't agree but from a drivers point of view...

[Corbs]

aaaaaand this is what happens when the boss says 'Why do we bother paying graphic designers? It's just drawing, how hard can it be?'

[Titan]

15 hours ago, RPNaylor0301 said:

Core livery looks good, sits as well as on the 60s and 47. Don't mind the whisker too much but think better without (anybody else get a deltic vibe from it?)

 

 

I get more of a first gen DMU vibe from it:

 

[Legend]

Didn't think it looked too bad really . Better than the Large Logo livery that , to me, sits very uneasily  on the loco .  I think the lack of handrails and other clutter on the front , while making it clean , makes it a bit featureless .  Maybe that's the reason for the whiskers .   I think the same about modern fronts on 37s , that just don't do it for me , much prefer the classical old styles 

 

Overall a much more handsome loco than the ubiquitous 66 and the plain ugly 70

[eastwestdivide]

The blue whiskers have an orangey-red keyline against the yellow. Odd. I think it makes the front end look 'busy'. 

Playing around with someone else's photo, if you remove the whiskers, it gives a cleaner look without being completely bare or featureless.

[BernardTPM]

Getting rid of the rather clunky horn grille (much better done on early 56s, but still not as neat as the roof cowl like the 47) does improve the front, but those very poorly shaped whiskers detract, in my opinion. I can see no point to the side extensions; they're neither level nor do they visually connect up with anything, indeed they finish as if someone mismeasured and cut too much off a vinyl sticker.

 

The way the upper orange band is broken by the original grilles does the sides no favours either.

 

The 'Large Logo' blue version looks much cleaner.

Edited June 15, 2021 by BernardTPM

[RedgateModels]

So where are the horns? Speaking as someone who used to test them as part of my job (my ex-boss still manufactures them for the whole of Europe in Nottingham) the best place for them from an audibility point of view is on the roof! A front mounted grille is good too - the HST's have a special 90 degree angled horn to fit between the lights.

 

Worst place ever is on the underframe, too much sound gets absorbed by the ballast

[newbryford]

16 minutes ago, RedgateModels said:

So where are the horns? Speaking as someone who used to test them as part of my job (my ex-boss still manufactures them for the whole of Europe in Nottingham) the best place for them from an audibility point of view is on the roof! A front mounted grille is good too - the HST's have a special 90 degree angled horn to fit between the lights.

 

Worst place ever is on the underframe, too much sound gets absorbed by the ballast

 

They are behind the grid under the coupling hook. flickr pic

 

[BernardTPM]

Thanks. I asked that yesterday and got no reply.

 

And that picture proves it looks better without that awful paint job

[RedgateModels]

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

 

They are behind the grid under the coupling hook. flickr pic

 

 

oh dear, aesthetics over safety once more. Problem is it's VERY difficult to up the output of Airchime horns, increasing the air pressure does not significantly raise it. We had this problem 30 odd years ago with the first "new generation" dmus where the horns were located in a similar position. We got complaints that our horns were not meeting standards when in reality the mounting location was the problem.