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CNELG
Class 90 Electric Loco Group
             Gaining fulfilment from 23 years of cl.90 passenger operations.

Livery Combinations

The class 90s have seen 21 different liveries of various shades, branding and colour during there 23 year history. However, of those 21, only 8 liveries remain in active use today (May 2011), with the remaining 13 having become obsolete. As new, there were 3 main liveries:-

 

 

The original liveries cited above remained in place for the first few years of operations before change was inevitable following the break up of BR. The newly formed ‘Rail Express Systems' (Res) resulted in 90016 to 90020 being transferred to the PXLE pool operating mail trains and repainted into Res livery. Incidentally, 90020 was the first 90 to be applied with the Res colours in 1997 and it was subsequently named Sir Michael Heron after the opening of the new Royal Mail centre in Warrington.  

 

The next batch of repaints came after 90021 to 90025 were transferred to RfD from Inter-City - these were painted into the original RfD house colours, which left 90026 to 90036 in Inter-City Mainline. However, these suffered the same fate as 90021 to 90025 e.g. painted into the same RfD colour scheme. Interestingly at the time of being stored, 90025 and 90027 still carried their original BR RfD livery and a handful of 90s were still sporting the revised RfD paint job when stored e.g. 90038.

 

The sole remaining 90s left in their original BR livery from new until privatisation were 90001-90015 sporting the iconic swallow "Inter-City" colours, which remained in place until Virgin Trains took over the operations of the West Coast in April 1997 onwards. The first 90 to be painted into the Virgin Trains colour scheme was 90002 and this engine was subsequently named Mission: Impossible.

 

In 1992, as part of a rail freight exhibition, 90022 was named "FreightConnection" and retained the original RfD livery, but this did not last long and 90022 was soon outshopped in a revised RfD livery which it had until stored in 2006. In parallel with the naming of 90022 - 90028/29/30 were painted into three new European liveries; Belgium for 90028, DB for 90029 and SNCF for 90030 - these 3 class 90s were also named Freight connection, but in their appropriate European language.

 

The revised RfD livery adopted for 90022 was also applied to other members of the class - notably 90021/23/24/33/34/38. At the same time, an experimental RfD livery (known as Sybic) was applied to 90036 - numbered 90136 at the time and later reverting back to a 90/0. This livery survives to the present day in 2011, albeit slightly modified with EWS branding.

 

After privatisation of BR in 1993, a number of new liveries appeared on several class members including Virgin Trains for 90001 to 90015 from 1997 making the Inter-City livery obsolete. Other new liveries have come and gone since railway privatisation with only 8 different liveries in use today.

 

 

 

 

 

The various liveries carried by the 90s over the last 23 years has been summarised above. This does include the latest new Freightliner Powerhaul which was unveiled in July 2010 to a class 90 notably 90045 and then 90049 a few months later.

Livery Variations 1988 - 2011