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Why do you model BR Blue?


tractionman
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I really like the blue era I also like class 66 loco's so i  done a class 66 i got on ebay at a very good price and after remove numbers and company logo's i painted it BR Blue with double arrows and lare fox's transfers numbers with the double arrows on the cabsides and large numbers on the body it's turned out like i would like to think if class 66 was around in this era.

keep doing the blue.

 

mcrook62

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My earliest memory of seeing real trains en-masse was on trips down the M6 past Bescot at the end of the 70s - 'twas a veritable sea of blue diesels. And my first proper mode locomotive was a blue class 33 in HO from Lima. Trainspotting years encompassed the transition from blue to sectorisation, and I left the UK around 1991 so developments since then are very strange to me. On my last trip to the UK I kickstarted my N-gauge collection with a bunch of BR blue diesels from Graham Farish, and reluctantly an InterCity-liveried HST from Dapol as the blue/grey flying bananas had evidently mutated into rocking horse droppings. In the meantime I've also acquired a Dapol Railfreight-grey 58 (had a cab ride in one once) and an NSE-liveried 86, also from Dapol. Not a fan of the NSE livery but it was on offer.

 

For colour I have my Japanese stuff.

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  • 3 months later...

My dad used to work at the NCB washer at Waterside in Ayrshire. During the 1970's I would cycle down to see him at his weighbridge office in the school holidays. As well as the NCB's "pugs" I used to love watching the class 20,25,26,27 & 40 locos in BR blue. I was also privileged to get cab rides to the exchange sidings on each of these classes. I also have fond memories of being allowed to drive some of the pugs. Happy days! That's why I love the BR blue era.

My dad used to work at the NCB washer at Waterside in Ayrshire. During the 1970's I would cycle down to see him at his weighbridge office in the school holidays. As well as the NCB's "pugs" I used to love watching the class 20,25,26,27 & 40 locos in BR blue. I was also privileged to get cab rides to the exchange sidings on each of these classes. I also have fond memories of being allowed to drive some of the pugs. Happy days! That's why I love the BR blue era.

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from my early train spotting days in 1980 when I had the WCML in my back garden, I still have my loco shed book so I know what loco's I saw mostly class 81 - 87, a few class 25s 47s a bit boring for locos but always remember the variety of freigth trains and the excitment of hearing a rare diesel coming running down the garden and up the the bank to get the number

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I really like the blue era I also like class 66 loco's so i  done a class 66 i got on ebay at a very good price and after remove numbers and company logo's i painted it BR Blue with double arrows and lare fox's transfers numbers with the double arrows on the cabsides and large numbers on the body it's turned out like i would like to think if class 66 was around in this era.

keep doing the blue.

 

mcrook62

 

You must post a photo once you have this completed!

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  • 3 years later...

Just found this post, and thought I would throw my comments in. 

I admit that at times I disliked the image of locos being bland blue boxes with lots of yellow on the end, and looked mournfully over pictures of Class 47s in the two tone green with small yellow panel, similarly with Deltics.

But - my first exposure to BR was by the time 99.9% of the stock was blue. If I went with father to his work place in Potters Bar, I could watch Deltics, 47s and 31s pass by, with Cravens DMUs on the local services. If father had a parcel to send to the exotic-sounding Uddingston I would accompany him to Watford Junction and pester him to spend some time on the platform so we could watch 81-87 AC electrics, 310 EMUs and the occasional diesel loco passing. Also easily accessible was the Midland Main Line with semaphore signals, Peaks, 47s and 25s, and the 127 DMUs.

As has been said before, it was still an "old" railway with much different traffic, and distinct regional flavours. My first long trip on a train could have been Watford Junction to Paignton for a ride on to Kingswear. I thought that the Mark 1 compartment was fascinating, with roller blinds on the partition and even an opening window in the sliding door out to the corridor. 

When I was a bit older and went out on train trips, I often treated myself to something from the Buffet car. WCML often had trains with a Mark 1 RBR, so that allowed me a stop-off in one of those moulded orange seats to have my coffee, while HST rides saw the novelty of a cooked breakfast in a little plastic tray.

Back in Blue days, there were differences to look out for and make notes on: would the 47 headcode be "0000", black domino dots or yellow with domino dots? Would the next DMU be blue, blue-stripe or blue/grey?

For all of the same-coloured uniformity, there were little variations to look out for, such as grey roofed 47s or white windowed Deltics. Still the colour blue, but with a twist. Until the mid 1970s, the only named locos were hangers-on from the previous decade, but then it was decided to fit names to some of the AC electrics I saw at Watford, along with the Class 50 Warship names. 

Although HSTs killed off loco haulage, their introduction was exciting and gave Paddington and KX  a sexy new train. The introduction of Large Logo Blue gave us a more colourful rendition of the familiar livery.

I think back in the blue days, there was a sense of a cohesive railway, and that gave a sense of order.

Sectorisation was a positive development in that we had multi coloured trains, but it all still seemed to belong together. 

Towards the end of the unified BR, dare I say that perhaps the divergence from uniformity went a it too far? Nameplates were fitted like confetti to anything with wheels on, and depots seemed to make every loco in their allocation a "celebrity".

At least when BR designers created BR Blue and BR sector liveries, they actually designed something that suited the look and shape of the recipients, not like the current ideas of swoops, swirls, random shapes and fade-outs.

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Hi,
 
EddieK - post 132 - wrote:
 
"If father had a parcel to send to the exotic-sounding Uddingston ....."

 

 

I've heard Uddingston called many things, but never 'exotic'!

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

Edited by Alex TM
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Hi,
 
EddieK - post 132 - wrote:
 
"If father had a parcel to send to the exotic-sounding Uddingston ....."

 

 

I've heard Uddingston called many things, but never 'exotic'!

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

 

In 1987 I spent three months living in the Glasgow area and passed through Uddingston on the train a few times. My visions of exotica were brought down to earth....

 

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I really like the blue era I also like class 66 loco's so i  done a class 66 i got on ebay at a very good price and after remove numbers and company logo's i painted it BR Blue with double arrows and lare fox's transfers numbers with the double arrows on the cabsides and large numbers on the body it's turned out like i would like to think if class 66 was around in this era.

keep doing the blue.

 

mcrook62

 

BR Blue liveried Class 66s?

 

Nah it'll never happen Nostradamus.  :jester:

 

 

 

Jason

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BR Blue liveried Class 66s?

 

Nah it'll never happen Nostradamus.  :jester:

 

 

 

Jason

 

 

They'd been off to Brush again for more freight engines, but may be with Ruston rather than Mirlees

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In my case, the question works back to front: why don't I model BR blue?

 

I probably ought to, for all the nostalgia-fest reasons already discussed. BR(S) was utterly fascinating at the time, much of it stuck in a time-warp of semaphore signalling, timetabling developed in the 1930s, even 1930s EMUs until c1972, with near-forgotten byways of single-track operation with full steam-age equipment and ceremonial ...... id certainly make it one of the visits given a time-machine, and a huge proportion of the rolling-stock is now available r-t-r in 00.

 

But, I started working for BR at this time, and, for reasons that I can't quite put a finger on, I have no inclination whatsoever to represent in miniature my working world. Its not that I didn't enjoy work at that time, I did, it just doesn't seem right. My one venture in this direction resulted in a collection of stock, which I then sold un-played-with.

 

I do enjoy seeing other people's models of the period, though ......... so keep at it folks.

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  • 3 months later...

Early seventies, me aged betweeen eight and ten years old. Stood on my brother in law's rear garden watching all the movements at Westhouses shed. Plethora of type 1's - 2's 3's and 4's (20's, 25's, 37's and 47's in new money) and all in Rail Blue. Those days are fixed permanently on my cerebrum and the fascination I've carried with me ever since. Not at all boring to me

Edited by larryblag
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  • 5 months later...

I model late 60's BR western region so got westerns warships etc, (I'm only 33) but I live in south wales but model the west country on my layout, however I've got some steam for modellers license i.e. Bachmann 43xx and Bachmann Manor,

All westerns are lima so is the warships, hymeks are all triang.

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On 27/07/2013 at 19:55, Alex TM said:

Hi folks,

 

This is not so much "why I model BR blue" because at present I don't, but a rhetorical question along the lines of "why should I model BR blue?"  It's the era I grew up with and it was the 'only' colour around when I became interested in the hobby and the prototype.  It's memories of classes 06, 08, 20, 25, 27, 37, 40, and 47 and all in blue.  It's memories too of occasional journeys by rail when plain blue 101s ruled the day (later I would see them in blue-grey, and with the odd 121 and 116 thrown into the mix).  The era brings back memories of school and of a lack of worry about anything other than exams, music, girls, and why my Hornby green class 25 had 'died' again.

 

Whatever era and area I model I always seem to find myself being drawn back to BR blue.  Perhaps it's time to once more revisit my layout ideas .....

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

Hi again,

 

At work, I usually make a point of never, ever, quoting myself.  On here, I'll make an exception!

 

When I wrote the above, over six years ago, it was accurate.  Now I have finally succumbed to the railways of my childhood.  My memory may be playing tricks however I do seem to remember some green diesels, though most were as I described above.  My new layout is at the design stage, but will feature mostly blue diesels of the early 1970s.  There will be classes that I do remember (20, 25, and 27) as well as those that I don't (17 and 29).

 

Eventually I'll add a layout link to my signature.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

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As with many here because this is the era of my youth. At the time my idea of cool would be something like an LMS dutchess both in model and life size. But 30 / 40 yrs later a 108 or 110 is no longer so common place as to be unoticeable. The railways still had semaphore signals and signal boxes, plus many other old railway items still in use back then. It was grimey, unloved and rundown often, but had much character that is now gone.

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A few thoughts from a younger modeller of BR Blue (and sectorisation liveries, but blue is still my favourite):

1) I just like the livery

2) A lot of my rolling stock belonged to my father when he was a child, so I had a lot of BR Blue trains to start off with

3) There is a larger variety of rolling stock. The brief period when GWR were changing over from HSTs to class 800s, and still had a few items of rolling stock in FGW purple is the most interesting period in my lifetime. I still remember an HST going past with a mixture of green and purple, as well as a first class coach in swallow livery. Every other point in my life has been watching the same shaped trains go past, wearing either purple or green. My love for EWS 66s must have something to do with the breaks from the relative monotony that they provided.

4) Related to 3, there were loco-hauled trains in rail blue. I live in the former WR, and have had a few trips on former SR routes as well as one journey from Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly. I have never been hauled by a locomotive on the mainline (excluding class 43s). In fact, I'm not sure that I've seen a diesel locomotive moving at high speed before (although I did get a very good view of the Flying Scotsman a couple of years ago).

5) It's escapism. I don't want my hobby to look like the world I see every day.

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1 hour ago, DK123GWR said:

In fact, I'm not sure that I've seen a diesel locomotive moving at high speed before

That stuck out to me, as it shows just how much the scene has changed since my 'spotting days. :(

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On 10/05/2020 at 21:53, DK123GWR said:

A few thoughts from a younger modeller of BR Blue (and sectorisation liveries, but blue is still my favourite):

1) I just like the livery

2) A lot of my rolling stock belonged to my father when he was a child, so I had a lot of BR Blue trains to start off with

3) There is a larger variety of rolling stock. The brief period when GWR were changing over from HSTs to class 800s, and still had a few items of rolling stock in FGW purple is the most interesting period in my lifetime. I still remember an HST going past with a mixture of green and purple, as well as a first class coach in swallow livery. Every other point in my life has been watching the same shaped trains go past, wearing either purple or green. My love for EWS 66s must have something to do with the breaks from the relative monotony that they provided.

4) Related to 3, there were loco-hauled trains in rail blue. I live in the former WR, and have had a few trips on former SR routes as well as one journey from Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly. I have never been hauled by a locomotive on the mainline (excluding class 43s). In fact, I'm not sure that I've seen a diesel locomotive moving at high speed before (although I did get a very good view of the Flying Scotsman a couple of years ago).

5) It's escapism. I don't want my hobby to look like the world I see every day.

Oh dear , if an EWS 66 breaks the monotony , then we are in trouble !

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Just loved the combination of noisy modern diesels and largely Victorian  era infrastructure, signalling and working practices. We still had wagonload freight and lots of loco hauled trains. 

 

I've strayed a little into the sectorisation era recently. 1990 was a great year when the sprinter shortages bought great new loco haulage... 20s on Derby locals, 50s on the Barnstaple branch, 37s on all sorts of cross country trains... often hauling Mk1 carriages spruced up in Network South East livery. The introduction of 158s and the demise of Speedlink was the real end of 'BR Blue' era for me. 

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On 14/06/2020 at 05:27, rob D2 said:

Oh dear , if an EWS 66 breaks the monotony , then we are in trouble !

 

it's all relative really I guess, I remember the BR railscene in the '70s and '80s and I am sure those then who remembered the 1930s or 1950s bemoaned how boring the 'modern scene' was compared with 'their day'!

 

a decade later, 1990s BR passed me by a bit, but now looking at scenes such as this at Man Vic in 1992 I should have been more conscious that the world was changing, and even though the liveries had changed from BR Blue (in most cases) the locos I loved back in the '70s and '80s still roamed the rails:

 

 

so I understand how an EWS 66 (now 20 years old) is 'variety', today--plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

 

cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

PS--watch the vid, it's amazing...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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