One of the better liveries to emerge from
the private operators is the version of maroon chosen by
charter operator West Coast Railway Company. It has
acquired the former purple machine 57601 along with
47845 and has treated then both to a repaint. Hopefully
other operating companies will follow suit and adopt a
more traditional approach to painting their traction.
47854 & 37197
47851 & 31452
The West Coast Railway Company was set up
in 1994 as the trading name for most of the activities
carried out by the group of companies, including the
Fort William - Mallaig "Jacobite" Steam Train, which it
took over in 1995. WCRC became a Train Operating Company
in its own right in 1998, the first privately-owned
company to do so. In addition to "The Jacobite", WCRC
has also operated regular services this summer between
York and Scarborough, which it intends to repeat in
2003. Additionally it operates frequent "one-off"
charters for a wide variety of charters, both steam and
diesel, including the scenic Cumbrian Coast route.
57601 passing Coed Kernew
Another operator to rethink its house
livery is Ian Riley Engineering. The company has wisely
decided to drop its original design in favour of a more
traditional livery. Rather than preserver with its
version of green and grey, it has decided to adopt
traditional British Rail green for its latest overhaul.
Fragonset is one company that seems to
have got it right from the start with its black house
colours.
