Derby Lightweight (Yellow Diamond) 1, 2 & 4-car DMUs
Liveries
Green
The first sets were delivered in BR loco green with light yellow lining above the windows and at waist level. The bodysides of the power cars (and some trailer cars, such as West Cumberland sets) carried the early type of the British Railways emblem with the lion sitting atop a wheel. The images shows M79121 leading a twin set with 'Lichfield via Four Oaks' on the destination blind, in Birmingham New Street, date unknown. Stuart Mackay Collection.
Green with whiskers
On the 1st March 1956 a 2-car was on display in Euston station. It carried whiskers on the cab front and was noted as the first application of these. From this point vehicles would be delivered with whiskers, and most vehicles already delivered would have them added.
M79009 is seen in Carlisle station carrying whiskers on March 14, 1956. Hamish Stevenson.
At the start of 1958 when vehicles were due for repaint it would be into the lighter DMU green, along with the round coaching crest. One of the first sets noted in the lighter green were M79147/79665, returned from Derby to Monument Lane as the first at the depot to carry the new emblem on the power car.[1]
In the summer of 1960 the standard shade of green would revert to the darker loco green. Sets returning to Norwich from works repainted in the darker livery would also have a light green rubber panel added behind the cab doors as a means of protecting against damage done chen changing tablets.[2]
Green with yellow panel
In 1963 whiskers would give way to yellow panels for better visibility of oncoming trains.
Seen with a yellow panel is an original West Cumberland batch set arriving at Windermere in the 1960s. Nigel Walls.
Green with full yellow end
A handful of vehicles received a full yellow end while still in green. The image shows one (one of the original West Cumberland Lighweights) at Tebay Station on 14.5.67 with an afternoon Preston-Carlisle service. Note it also has a yellow stripe for first class, unusual in green, normally only associated with ScR vehicles. George Woods
Route Learner 975010 had an almost full yellow end applied in green - they left one cab corner unpainted so as not to paint over the vehicle data.
Rail blue with yellow panel
Around half the class would be withdrawn while still carrying green, but many did appear in corporate rail blue, and at first there were a couple of short lived variations of this colour applied to very few vehicles. One was a more matt looking blue with small yellow panels and brown underframe and bogies. The BR arrows were on the cab door and the vehicle numbers were just 3" high (they were 4" in green).
With the DMBS in this new colour scheme and the DTC still in green, the 1.45pm Whitehaven - Carlisle approaches Harrington on June 20, 1968. Michael Mensing.
The LMR vehicles in this style had the yellow panel in a similar size to that in green, the ER interpreted it differently and it was the full width of the front, rising up to the bottom of the cab windows, as can be seen on this image on flickr.
Rail blue with yellow cab doors
The second short-lived variation had the full yellow end but also yellow cab doors. An example can be seen on flickr at Shap in Easter 1968.
Rail blue with full yellow end
The standard style for plain blue would be with a full yellow end, as seen on this set at Oxford around 1967. The BR logo is on the cab door, it would also alternatively be placed under the front passenger window, and the vehicles numbers are still 3" high in this example. Graeme Phillips Collection.
Liveries carried by M79900 / 975010
In November 2001 a survey was done of the liveries carried by 'double-ender' 79900 by carefully sanding through the layers of paint. This showed that after leaving Derby Works the vehicle had been repainted into green twice, the first having lining over lining, the second time was in the lighter DMU green, the green painted over the lining then relined. Next was RTC red/blue (with blue solebar?), and finally the retro-green which it carried at the time of the survey. The following details were noted:
First Lining: The lining under the cab windows began 3/8" below, and was a 1 3/4 line with black edges top and bottom which each were just under 1/16". At the sides the top edge of the black met the bottom of the window frames. The top lining is 1" thick, the lower edge meeting the top of the side window frames. It did not have black edges. The image probably shows M79900 in this condition at Banbury Merton Street station with a service for Buckingham - c.1958. 53A Models of Hull Collection.
Second Lining: The lining under the cab windows started 1/2" below and was a 1 1/4" line with black edges just over 1/16".
Whiskers: these had an 1/8" black edge, and there was one layer of green beneath. There was two further layers of green before the yellow panels were found.
Yellow Panels: The top of the yellow panels started 5 3/8" below the lower edge of the window frames, the lower edge being 3 1/4" from the bottom of the cab.
DMU Green: The top of the waist lining was 1/4" below the side windows. It was 1 1/8" thick, with no black edges.
Red/Blue: The two colours were seperated by 5/8" white tape. There was a 2" gap from the bottom of the gutter (below the bottom angle with the rivets in it) to the top of the tape. There was 1/4" gap below the windows to the top edge of the tape. The sides were 4" from the cab doors, the outside of the curves being a 2 1/2" radius.
Replica Green: The roof was light grey, with white domes. The yellow panel was 2' high and 7' wide. This started 3/4" below the waist lining. This lining was 1" wide, and the top edge was 1/4" below the lower edge of the cab windows. It did not have black edges. It was on average 3/8" below the side windows. The location of he yellow diamonds varied between 3 1/4" and 3 1/2" below the windows and 2" and 2 1/4" from the yellow panels. On the yellow panels was '975010" hand painted in black 4" numbers, 5" from the left edge and the tops 1" below the top of the panel. To the left of the yellow panel was handpainted vehicle data. On the No.1 end was:
| No. 1 end | No. 2 end (guard's van end) |
| MBTO (1" high, remainder 5/8") ??NS (some lost due to repairs) 57'.0 x 9'.2" S.P. 6.90 LIFTED 54?? ??3.6?? ??17.5?? C4 3.6.?? 5458 |
MBTO 57'.0 x 9'.2" 27 TONS |
PRIVATE was hand painted on the cab doors, the top of the 1" letters being 5 1/4" below the window edge. The M79900 itself was also hand painted in 4" figures, the bottom of these being 9 1/2" from the bottom edge. The coaching crests were 4" from the bottom edge of the body and 4" below the bottom edge of the windows. LOAD 15 CWT DISTRIBUTED was handpainted white centered below the guard's window. The bottom of the 1" writing was 3" from the bottom edge of the body, and the text was 21 1/4" long. The solebar and bogies were black, the bufferbeams red. The top lining was 1/2" thick. On the cab the top of this was 1 1/4" below the lower edge of the gutter, but on the sides it was 5 1/2" below, with a 1 1/2" gap from the bottom edge to the top of the windows.
References
The Railway Observer is the journal of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society