Class 119 GRC&W Cross-Country 3-car DMUs

Liveries

Green - whiskers

All the vehicles were delivered in DMU green (malachite) with whiskers and coaching crests on the power cars. Roofs were in a dark grey, cab roof domes were in white, bufferbeams in red and bogies / underframes in black. Seen still carrying it's original livery application in the summer of 1964 is Tyseley set 503, seen in the Knowle / Lapworth area, headed by M51057. Note the centre car carrying 'BUFFET' markings, some had this others didn't. Michael Mensing.

Green - yellow panel

A 7-car formation headed by a green Class 119 Cross-Country set containing a Hawksworth coach is seen at Reading. Date unknown. The shade of green would now be the darker 'Loco Green'. Adrian Vaughan.

Plain Rail Blue

This could possibly be the only set to receive plain rail blue livery, as most of the Class went from green straight into blue / grey. It is in the short-lived early style with just a small yellow panel. Seen just north of Dorchester West on the 4th June 1967. Michael Mensing. The 1970 Ian Allan ABC shows W51062 in this style.

Refurbished - white / blue stripe

The class did not carry this livery.

Blue / Grey - yellow end including cab doors

Early applications of the Blue / Grey livery sometimes wrapped the yellow end around to include the cab doors. Sadly the last digit of the W5108x number is obscured in this view at Swindon Works in the summer of 1967. Although the cab door is open it's clear that it has been painted yellow, as have the wipers. Underneath the BIS box is in orange and the radiator in silver. David Faircloth.

Blue / Grey

Class 119 set C583 (51069/51097) at Llanishen Stn., North Cardiff, circa 1989. Mac Winfield.

Blue / Grey with luggage markings

Sets used on Gatwick services had markings on the van (and often also on the buffet area) to show the luggage stowage areas. These were white text 'Passenger Luggage Stowage Area' on a red background as seen on 51056 at Old Oak Common on the 22nd December 1989. Robert Chilton.

Blue / Grey - Valley Train markings

51077 at Vic Berry's. Date unknown. It's on stands to have the underframe components cut off, this allowed vehicles to then be placed on the 'stack'. Malcolm Clements.

Blue / Grey - NSE markings

Class 119 set T589 heading northbound, taken from the steps of Llandrindod signal box (before it moved to station). David Rowe.

Network South East

L588 was the first set to appear in NSE livery, being repainted at Doncaster in July 1988. The set (51079 + 59437 + 51107) is seen on the 15:10 Reading to Redhill at Wokingham, 29-6-93. Kevin Dowd.

Midlands (Network South East)

When set L575 moved to Tyseley and became T575 (51088 + 51060) the red stripe in its NSE livery was painted blue. It is seen at Loughborough on the 11:54 Lincoln C. - Narborough, 14/4/93. Gazza Prescott.