Your favorite and least favorite Turbostar Livery

[Prestige15]

For TPE, The side of it i like, Just the front end that looks....ergh!

 

[RailWonderer]

The SWT livery was the best. Classic timeless colours. I would have liked to see the similar EMT livery on them but the aubergine looks odd. Anglia Railways white and turquoise was great as well, and third place would be Chiltern for their timeless 168s. Proof is, variations of the same livery have been running for 25 years now.

TPE and One NXEA were the worst, and XC third place for worst.

 

[Techniquest]

I'm considering the many liveries I've seen on the 170s over the last 19 years, and there's been a lot. To make a list of my personal preferences would take a while, and to be honest it would come down to petty differences.

Even so, while enjoying a decaf, I'm going to say 3 of my favourites are:

First ScotRail Barbie
Central Trains
London Midland

I would be here for a long time discussing all of the reasons why they have made the podium! Honourable mention has to go to the current ScotRail Saltaire livery, that works really well on the 170s. It misses out on the podium because of bias towards the Midlands fleet!

To choose ones I don't particularly care for, well it's tough really. To some extent or another, they've all looked quite good. My memory of the One livery on 170s is not sufficiently strong to say it wasn't good. I have a bit more memory of the Chiltern livery on the former 170s, and to be honest I'd probably down-vote it. I'd have to consider doing the same on the old TP livery on 170/3s, it just doesn't form a connection in my memories all that much.

Other honourable mentions must go to those special liveries that 170399 wore for some time, I completely forget what they are, but they were certainly different. I probably have it on a camcorder tape somewhere! SWT livery on 170s wasn't too bad, from memory.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Favourites for me would have to be Midland Mainline ‘Stag’ and South West Trains ‘Swoops’ which I felt both sat really well on the units, although I do get what a previous poster meant about how narrow the blue skirt was on the SWT one.

I was never a fan of the Central Trains livery (felt the green/blue/red bits didn’t really go together and the large web/phone looked a bit tacky) or the previously discussed ‘big front’ of the Transpennine Express units, but the blandness of Greater Anglia and Transport for Wales take the worst spot for me.

Although some of the various advertising liveries were quite in your face/untidy looking, they did add something different to the scene. Particular favourites were Central Trains 170513 for Robin Hood Line and 170399 for Be In Birmingham, while I didn’t particularly like 170208 The Brecks on a debranded ‘one’ base livery or 170414 all-over Borders Railway.

 

[Bevan Price]

No strong favourites (and I have not seen all versions except in photographs)

Least favourites: XC (brown looks drab except in bright sunlight); post-2018 West Midland "orange" mess.
Quite liked : Trans Pennine, Midland MainLine, Central Trains (and continuation into pre-2018 London Midland), Scotrail Saltire, Chiltern.

 

[Bayum]

Original MML ‘Orange and Teal’. I also liked the First TPE dynamic lines livery too.

 

[william.martin]

I quite like the WMR orange/gold livery, it is quite classy and modern,
I also have an interest in the London Overground livery, as it seems quite almost like someone has photoshopped the London transport style livery onto it.

The worst I think currently is the cross country livery, it's an awkward half assed attempt of pasting a wordart X onto the side of the unit

They used to run my line in WMR orange and white then the one day I saw an aubergine one... What a horrific shock.(I didn't realise at the time they were transfering to EMR)

 

[Prestige15]

Im sure some may remember this livery from Central Trains

 

[Davester50]

I've always like the Southern colour scheme.
Wasn't a fan of the original ScotRail one, but the current polka dot saltire one has lasted well.

 

[hexagon789]

Wasn't a fan of the original ScotRail one

Oh come on, that was by far the best one!

 

[Intercity110]

first scotrail and ONE ONE becuase of the rainbow bits going round the sides, and scotRail because i like first barbie.

 

[Davester50]

Oh come on, that was by far the best one!

Oh no! Those colours just did not go well together.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I like EMR’s livery on them, particularly the treatment of the lights with the inner pair of lenses outlined in yellow and the middle and outer pair of lenses in black, with a slightly less bubble shaped yellow “bib”. Subtle changes that makes them look much more dynamic, I think.

 

[RichJF]

The Southern-liveried units still manage to look modern in the green.

Not bad for near 20 years service!

 

[hexagon789]

Oh no! Those colours just did not go well together.

Seems to be one of those 'Marmite' liveries - you either love or not...

 

[Davester50]

Seems to be one of those 'Marmite' liveries - you either love or not...

Looks like it!
The basic Swoosh scheme itself is fine, just the palate used didn't do anything for me.
A variation using three blues (light, mid, dark around the windows) could well have worked.

 

[hexagon789]

Looks like it!
The basic Swoosh scheme itself is fine, just the palate used didn't do anything for me.
A variation using three blues (light, mid, dark around the windows) could well have worked.

Personally I liked the multi-coloured choice of white, violet, aquamarine and terracotta - it seemed emblematic of the early-privitisation rainbow of Train Operating Companies and liveries, when it seemed as though the railway was full of grand plans, new stock and gradual improvements. I know it wasn't perfect, some ideas never came to fruition and others barely lasted anytime but it did feel as though there were many larger changes. I still firmly believe NatEx was the best holder of the ScotRail franchise.

Today's railway seems stuck in an unchanging rut by comparison.

 

[Davester50]

Personally I liked the multi-coloured choice of white, violet, aquamarine and terracotta - it seemed emblematic of the early-privitisation rainbow of Train Operating Companies and liveries, when it seemed as though the railway was full of grand plans, new stock and gradual improvements.

Yes, it's very much a scheme of it's era. I guess the original post-privitisation ScotRail sprinters were an interim, with the same basic BR idea of stripes and dark window band tweaked, before the same colours used with a bit more graphic design for the Swoosh.

I still firmly believe NatEx was the best holder of the ScotRail franchise.

Today's railway seems stuck in an unchanging rut by comparison.

I had no real truck with them, or First to be honest.

 

[Tayway]

I actually quite liked the SPT carmine livery – especially with the teal band that IIRC only the 334s had in addition to the 170s. What this was meant to signify I'm not sure – simply that those two classes were the most modern on the network, or maybe that the routes they served were seen as more important?