Class 69 - Return of the body snatchers?

[newbryford]

56 minutes ago, BR traction instructor said:

…there has to be many lost liveries that could be reactivated and perform a valuable service in doing so.

 

BeRTIe

 

Like this one....?

(flickr pic)

 

 

Not.

[MidlandRed]

2 hours ago, Steadfast said:

 

With the green livery, whilst as an enthusiast I can see the merit of the class 56 liveries being used as a throwback, a livery designed for the 33s that doesn't sit well on the 56 / 69 shape just looks off. It needs the green band over the windscreens to break up the mass of cream and grey at the front. Perhaps class 47 style green would have sat better? 

 

Still,  doesn't matter what we think, it keeps the Twitter / Facebook  / LinkedIn propaganda machine's wheels turning!

 

Jo

I think the mistake with this livery has been having the middle cream band too low - the grille at the other end was ignored so why not ignore the grilles where the line has been placed below - that’s why the lines are too low on the cabs and fronts giving an unbalanced, even droop nosed look!! The middle line needs repainting to correct this and the front colour proportions similar to the 27/33s as built (plus syp). 
 

I agree that two tone green class 47 livery style (with the yellow panel and red buffer beams) would be great (but ignore the bl**dy grilles in getting the alignment of the lighter green band - forget the side symmetry with the grilles to get the overall balance right). That livery had heavy involvement from the Design Panel, hence suiting the loco well (as did the Hymek - that version would look good as well!!) 😀

Edited April 30, 2022 by MidlandRed

[BR traction instructor]

…that one (last one above) makes the existing ones look good.

 

BeRTIe

Edited April 30, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[SHMD]

I must admit that I like the idea of re-using the 56 bodies, with not just a newer prime mover, but with better "electronics" for efficiency and control.

I can even live with the different liveries - I actually quite like the "whole class" being different as a concept... but...

I don't think this livery is that well thought out or applied.

 

The cream colour, (especially around the windows), just looks like faded BR yellow to me and I think will make the loco look "old" very quickly when it gets a bit dirty.

Regarding the wrap-around cream body strip. It is definitely lower at the far end compared to the near cab. (Look at the area of green below the cab side window, and also how much cab hand rail is above and below the cream stripe at each end of the loco.)

 

 

Kev.

 

[balders]

Wrong choice on this one, full stop. Load Haul was a fantastic livery for a 56 as was and would look great on that. I dislike the NSE ice cream van livery intensely. I admire the thought process mind. Kudos to that. The RTC livery is a nice touch. 

 

Regards 

 

Guy

[Phil Mc]

I'm hoping for BR Blue on 69006, as a nod to 56006.

 

Cheers,

Phil.

[rob D2]

46 minutes ago, balders said:

Wrong choice on this one, full stop. Load Haul was a fantastic livery for a 56 as was and would look great on that. I dislike the NSE ice cream van livery intensely. I admire the thought process mind. Kudos to that. The RTC livery is a nice touch. 

 

Regards 

 

Guy

I agree loadhaul would look cool, but those brands were owned by EWS who morphed into DB cargo , so I don’t think we’ll see those on the main line 

[97406]

I’ve applied transfers a little wonkily before and squinted at the result for a while before removing and redoing them if they were too bad. I’d be doing the same with 005 too. There are elements I like about the livery despite the wonky bits.

 

Mind you the RailAdventure livery on the HST power cars is perhaps a worse example of a good livery idea wonkily applied around the cabs. The ability to paint clean horizontal lines around a locomotive seems to be a dying art, alas.

[Nova Scotian]

2 minutes ago, 97406 said:

Mind you the RailAdventure livery on the HST power cars is perhaps a worse example of a good livery idea wonkily applied around the cabs. The ability to paint clean horizontal lines around a locomotive seems to be a dying art, alas.

I'd cut them more slack on that - the complexity of the compound curve at that height transitioning around the side... I think the only option they had was to allow it to climb slightly?

[Grizz]

Perhaps this loco, 33008, was the inspiration for the livery? (Not my photo). Especially as 69005 has been named Eastleigh. The livery layout is perhaps easier to do on the Crompton, as it has fewer body side grills etc? 
 

If it was the inspiration then the other difference with the 56 is the lack of a green strip above the cab windows, which is the break between the cream and the grey roof.
 

Personally I like what GBRf is doing with the 69s. As mentioned earlier perhaps 69006 could be in BR Rail Blue as a nod to 56006. 
 

[97406]

6 hours ago, Nova Scotian said:

I'd cut them more slack on that - the complexity of the compound curve at that height transitioning around the side... I think the only option they had was to allow it to climb slightly?

 

Still can’t work out why it wasn’t straight, and the lower edge of the grey windscreen surrounds clashes with the detail underneath the windscreen.  The Pullman liveried one is a better application, and they got their masking lines much straighter, apart from the nod to the original Pullman livery atop the windscreen. 

 

Being a glutton for punishment, I have a Lima HST power car stripped back ready to go into the original blue livery, so I have similar to come (wibble!). If this turns out OK, then an executive one will be attempted after that. Much squinting to follow!

 

[4630]

There's a move listed for GBRf in the schedule on Tuesday 3rd May from Eastleigh East Yard to Tonbridge West Yard - could be 69005;

 

0Y69 Eastleigh East Yard to Tonbridge West Yard

Edited May 1, 2022 by 4630

[DY444]

Very easy to nit pick on the little details but I think they should be applauded for doing something a bit different.  They could quite easily have just painted them all in their standard house colours (which probably would have been cheaper) but they chose instead to show a bit of imagination and originality. 

[97406]

On 29/04/2022 at 23:11, big jim said:

the leading cab looks droopy, hopefully just an illusion because of the line

It could be due to collision repairs, or even the Romanian build quality. It’s definitely warming on me as a look, and a real credit to the crank(s) working at GBRF.

[4630]

69005 tucked away in Eastleigh East Yard on 2nd May 2022 in the company of 66762...

 

 

 

 

[Ncarter2]

That stripe definitely doesn’t look level. 

[97406]

7 hours ago, Ncarter2 said:

That stripe definitely doesn’t look level. 

It could be worse!

 

[Gilbert]

32 minutes ago, 97406 said:

It could be worse!

 

In both cases some one has tried to make the most of an old, battered and abused body.........enough said....do they ache I wonder?

[Pandora]

9 hours ago, 4630 said:

69005 tucked away in Eastleigh East Yard on 2nd May 2022 in the company of 66762...

 

 

 

 

I was down to Eastleigh on Sunday for work,  I had the time to look over 69005.  The sides and roof are OK,  but that cab front,  it is too harsh,  a bit more styling  to soften the look of 69005 please

[Pandora]

On 06/04/2019 at 21:35, Davexoc said:

The thing is, currently diesel emissions are seen as the bad boys, and this has come about because we were incentivised to switch to diesel by HMRC many years ago, because petrol emissions created too much CO2. The extra CO2 came about because we converted CO to CO2 in catalytic converters. So now with people switching back to petrol, CO2 is on the increase again.

 

Choice then, a few with lives lost to diesel emissions, or runaway CO2 levels possibly wiping out the human race. 

 

The emissions from a handful of 69s pales into insignificance against the private motor vehicle.

You are correct about CO2 and the petrol vs diesel debate,  the diesel may win win the  CO2 emissions but loses over Nox emissions,  the scientists are stating that Nox has 250 times the potency of CO2,  a gram of Nox does the environmental damage of , acid rain, ground level ozone, human cardiovascular  damage, and others,  of 250 mg of CO2. Neither can claim to be "safe and green".

The emissions debate around the IC engine continues to baffle! 

[phil-b259]

9 hours ago, Ncarter2 said:

That stripe definitely doesn’t look level. 

 

Trick of the light and perspective!

 

If you carefully look at the GBRf liveried 66 then it will appear as if the G is larger than the R

 

So lets wait until we get proper photos of the thing in close up before passing judgement, not pics shot from a distance - which, however good digital cameras are at picking up details, will always be distorted simply by perspective and viewing angle.

[John M Upton]

It could be that the stripe is straight but the body is wonky...

[stewartingram]

The G could in fact be larger than the R?

 

My late Grandad was a vehicle signwriter. I've watched him lay out the side of a vehicle, in chalk. The 'roundy letters (C, O, G etc) were always taller than the straight letters. It gave an optical illusion that balanced them all out.

 

Stewart.

[stewartingram]

I seem to be in the minority of those who actually like the 69005 livery (but I don't care). However I've just done a very crude experiment on the pic of it at Eastleigh a few posts back. With it on screen  I've taken a Sharpie pen (!) and drawn a green area between the windscreen top and cab roof & (extended round over the cab sides) - ie aka a BRCE type 2 (26/27/33). This breaks up the large light colour area, (I think the roof is a tad too light grey as well). To my eye, an improvement. 

 

Stewart

Edited May 3, 2022 by stewartingram

[Ncarter2]

4 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Trick of the light and perspective!

 

If you carefully look at the GBRf liveried 66 then it will appear as if the G is larger than the R

 

So lets wait until we get proper photos of the thing in close up before passing judgement, not pics shot from a distance - which, however good digital cameras are at picking up details, will always be distorted simply by perspective and viewing angle.

I was actually looking at how the depth of the stripe changes as it runs under the far body side grill, it appears to become a thinner band as it runs towards the cab. Having seen a close up shot of the cab end, I stand by my opinion, and it is just that, an opinion.