BP Oil Trains

[WhiteRoseRambler]

I have acquired some new Bachmann 100 ton TEA bogie tanks; 3 are in all black BP livery and the other is grey with a green flash, also BP. There is also an all green BP TEA. All come under the same Bachmann era.

 

I wondered what the different colours signified and would they have run together in the same train?

 

Thanks for any assistance.

[rob D2]

I have acquired some new Bachmann 100 ton TEA bogie tanks; 3 are in all black BP livery and the other is grey with a green flash, also BP. There is also an all green BP TEA. All come under the same Bachmann era.

 

I wondered what the different colours signified and would they have run together in the same train?

 

Thanks for any assistance.

Hi

from memory the black ones were used for heavy oil (crude ?), the grey for any version of refined ( petrol etc) the green was a new livery introduced in about 1989 but I think only a handful were painted. The green four wheelers have become associated with aviation fuel in recent years (prestwick) but without bp branding, also green teas are seen on the service to fortwilliam

 

I think the grey and green teas may well be in the same consist but the black ran as block trains

 

hope that helps a bit I'm sure several of the real wagon experts willbe along later

[Guest stuartp]

The old colours were grey for Class A (low flashpoint - petrol, aviation fuel, crude), and black for Class B (high flashpoint - deisel, oil etc). Not sure where the more modern green fits in, that's a bit past my era.

 

Crude is a Class A despite its appearance as it still contains the low flashpoint fractions.

 

 

[Mark Saunders]

The old colours were grey for Class A (low flashpoint - petrol, aviation fuel, crude), and black for Class B (high flashpoint - deisel, oil etc). Not sure where the more modern green fits in, that's a bit past my era.

 

Crude is a Class A despite its appearance as it still contains the low flashpoint fractions.

 

The livery of Dove Grey with Red solebars was mandatory for Class A products till either the late 1980's or early 1990's when this livery requirement was dropped!

 

Hence Murco, BP, Petroplus and now VTG hired vehicles come in the livery of the customers/hirers choice only the Hazchem is compulsory.

 

Mark Saunders

[Pugsley]

ISTR that the class A livery specification was dropped in the early 90's, 1991 - ish, after application of the Hazchem warning panels became mandatory.

 

Whilst it isn't exactly common, there are instances of class A and B tanks in the same train, although normally the 45T TTA/B variants, but you could run them together in a rake without it looking wrong, if you wanted to - they'd be grouped together by type though.

 

HTH

[The Stationmaster]

The old identifying livery requirements (e.g red solebars with grey/silver tank barrel) were dropped mainly to allow the tank car owners and oil companies greater range of choice with their liveries (although I think the only ones who really exploited the relaxation were BP with their green cars?).

 

As already noted changes in hazchem markings etc were what allowed the change to take place as they overtook the previous protocol.

[WhiteRoseRambler]

Thank you all very much for your assistance. It is most appreciated.

[Glorious NSE]

The old identifying livery requirements (e.g red solebars with grey/silver tank barrel) were dropped mainly to allow the tank car owners and oil companies greater range of choice with their liveries (although I think the only ones who really exploited the relaxation were BP with their green cars?)

 

Murco has tanks painted red/blue and all-over red, and Petroplus also has an all-over red fleet, Carless has tanks in dark grey with a logo on a white band, there are CAIB or VTG leasers in red, blue and dark grey schemes, Freightliner had a small batch in their house dark green (which have since passed into the VTG fleet also) - pretty colourful, although much of that has been delivered new since the rule was relaxed!

 

Plenty of stuff about where either it's not been repainted since then or they didn't feel the need to get colourful though, the Fawley based ESSO class A TTA fleet is still all in plain grey with a red solebar, and seems to be repainted regularly.

 

The BP green livery now seems to be in use on most if not all the current Grangemouth based BP fleet (both TEA and TTA) so it's no longer an oddity livery.

 

 

[Poor Old Bruce]

Whilst it isn't exactly common, there are instances of class A and B tanks in the same train, although normally the 45T TTA/B variants, but you could run them together in a rake without it looking wrong, if you wanted to - they'd be grouped together by type though.

You could also find that the Class As would be in the middle of the train with Class Bs either end.

[crazynitwit]

The old colours were grey for Class A (low flashpoint - petrol, aviation fuel, crude), and black for Class B (high flashpoint - deisel, oil etc). Not sure where the more modern green fits in, that's a bit past my era.

 

Crude is a Class A despite its appearance as it still contains the low flashpoint fractions.

The bp green livery was adopted in the 1990s when the rules for livery colours on class A wagons were relaxed.