Going for Gold - GBRf Livery Blog

Going for Gold - GBRF Livery Blog

Introduction
GBRf was established in April 1999 and from the start were known for their distinctive blue and gold livery. Through the years it has seen many tweaks as different owners have left their mark but the colours have stayed constant throughout. In 2019, the livery is almost back to its roots with new locos being released in a very similar colour scheme to the original class 66s delivered in 2001.

Liveries
In the last 20 years there have been multiple classes that have worn the livery, including;

Class 08

08924 at Celsa Steel Works, Cardiff in April 2016. © Jeremy Segrott.

Class 20

20905 at Derby in September 2014. © Hugh Llewelyn

Class 47

47739 at Basingstoke in April 2019. © Justin Foulger

Class 50

50049 and 50007 at Basingstoke in March 2019. © Justin Foulger

Class 59

59003 at Eastleigh in October 2015. © Justin Foulger

Class 60

60095 at Arlington in September 2018. © GBRf

Class 66

66722 at Leamington Spa in October 2014. © Hugh Llewelyn

Class 73

73965 at Bewdley on the Severn Valley Railway in May 2017. © Hugh Llewelyn

Class 87

87022 at Weston on Trent in September 2007. © Phil Sangwell

Class 92

92032 at Acomb in June 2012. © Matt Buck

Colours

The main colours are GBRf Dark Blue (Pantone 282c) and GBRf Gold (Pantone 138c) and have been consistent throughout the liveries.

Recently there has been some talk on forums about the consistency of the Gold colour and if it has changed at all.  As we are reproducing the livery, we arranged with GBRf to go to check out the facts and see what the definitive answer actually is.

GBRf Roberts Road Depot

We were invited to GBRf’s Roberts Road depot in Doncaster to check out the different liveries that were on show on the Class 66s present. We also took our Pantone Swatch book to compare the locos against what they should look like. Present were 66705, 66720, 66725, 66726, 66728, 66744, 66748 & 66787.

The first part of the depot visited was the main repair roads inside the depot building.  66787 was on jacks having bogie work undertaken and 66748 was next to it undergoing a scheduled exam and straight away a difference in the Gold colour could be seen to appear different.  ‘787 has a stronger orange hue than ‘748. Behind ‘748 was ‘744, also on exam, and this had an orange a lot lighter than ‘748. The final loco in the shed was ‘720 painted in the special livery designed by the child of a GBRf employee.  Again, the Gold was less orange than on ‘787.

Next up was the wheel lathe road with 66726 getting ready for load banking (putting an artificial load on the main generator to simulate hauling a train).  The Gold on this loco was a deeper orange than ‘748, ‘744 and ‘720 but not as vivid as ‘787.

Finally, the last 3 locos (‘705, ‘725 & ‘728) were on the storage roads awaiting attention. With the locos lined up you could see a difference between the oranges with ‘705 being the darkest, then ‘725, then ‘728.

Confirming the Colours

Comparing to the Pantone Colour book was difficult as the locos are variously weathered but as you can see from the images below, none of the colours exactly match the Pantones in the book.

66744

66705

66725

66728

As you can see within just 8 class 66s there is a lot of variation, but what about other classes?  Well there is also a lot of variation between them as well but why is this?

Firstly, painting a fleet of machines is always a difficult task when they cannot all be painted at the same time.  If you have ever had to buy a lot of the same wallpaper you will understand how hard it is to ensure all rolls are all from the same batch so it all looks the same.  It is similar with paint. It is mixed in large quantities and then decanted into tins. But then you need to use the same undercoat, same preparation techniques, same varnishes (if they are used) and even have the same temperature and moisture in the air.

GBRf’s fleet has been built up over many years, with the 66’s alone arriving between 2001 and some still being delivered now (reconditioned from mainland Europe).  Even when a specification is used (in this case Pantone 138c) the paint will be slightly different depending on when and where it is sourced from. Then the people who apply it will have different ways of doing it, some will spray, some will brush paint.  Over the years the type of paint has changed as well, originally being oil based, for environmental reasons all paints used are now water based. And when the paint is dry, some painters will apply a varnish over the top (Brush Traction, for example, has varnished all of the recently painted Class 92s making them look slightly different).

The final part of the story is the aging of the paint.  Even if you could get every loco painted on the same day in the same colour and in the same conditions, the paint would start to change straight away.  Locos run on different duties and some are washed more than others, meaning detergents will fade the paint. The sun also changes the colour, with the red pigment being the weakest (just look at red cars from around 20 years ago and how they now look pink!).  This shows most when comparing the Gold and Warning Panel Yellow, on some locos it’s very difficult to tell them apart!

Conclusion

How does this apply to models? Well it depends what you want your loco to look like. If it is ex-works then it should be Pantone 138 and all of our models will be produced like this. If is to be weathered then reference images should be sought as the variance can be quite a bit once the locos have been in service for a long time.

GBRf has always been an interesting company with a very consistent brand identity which is instantly recognisable to most railway enthusiasts.  The colours it uses are the main part of this and, as shown above, it is a difficult task to keep them all looking alike.

GBRf liveried products can be ordered from HERE

With thanks to Bob Tiller and Paul Matthews of GBRf.

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