Class 103 Park Royal 2-car DMUs

Liveries

This page looks at the liveries carried by the type while in passenger use.

Green with plain end

They were delivered in green with cream lining, red bufferbeam and pale grey roof. The first sets were delivered without speed whiskers. The edge of the gutter was painted black. Some sets, such as the one in the first image, had their shed code painted on the buffer beam.

The crests were carried only on the power cars, and initially there were handed, both facing towards the cab. When the vehicles received their first repaints only left hand facing crests were used.

Green with whiskers

Some seem to have been delivered with whiskers (those that didn't didn't necessarily get them added straight away). In the image of a whiskered set on the left, note the markings above the bogie on the solebar which had the text "VEHICLE TO BE LIFTED BETWEEN THESE LINES". The sets could also be found with the shed code painted on the buffer beam. In 1964 M50350 was noted as having WL stencilled on in place of 2G (Walsall).

Green with yellow panel

Overhead line warning flashes seem to be carried at random, sometime only on the inner ends, sometimes also on the cab ends, sometimes both sides, sometimes one side, and at different heights. On the rear of the power car, the lining stopped at the exhausts and did not wrapped all around.

When yellow panels appeared sometimes the crests were omitted, as in the view of 50408. The blue square indicating the coupling code is now moved outwards from under the marker lights.

Rail Blue with yellow panel

The small yellow panel continued on some vehicles when rail blue first appeared. This short lived variant also had red buffer beams, the BR logo on the cab door and smaller 3" numbers.

Rail Blue with yellow cab doors

At least one set was noted in 1967 with the cab doors on both vehicles painted yellow, it also had red buffer beams.

Rail Blue with yellow end

What became the standard blue livery was a full yellow end and 4" numbers, the logo on the bodyside and black bufferbeam. By now it wasn't unusual to see the set formation carried on a board in the windscreen.

The route indicator blinds broke up the yellow, when these fell out of use they could often be found crudely boarded over and unpainted, before later being properly plated over.