Chiltern Class 168 - The Early Years

The story of the post-BR era's first new trains, in their initial ten years.

At Tyseley station on 28th April 1999, 168003 models the original Class 168/0 livery with non-contrasting doors.

It appeared that, had they not made history as the first post-British Rail motive power to enter service, the Class 168 'Clubman' units would have received no more than a pictureless footnote in the late '90s magazines...


The updated, post-2003 version of the Chiltern white/blue Class 168/0 livery, with contrasting doors, seen on 168005 at Bentley Heath, 12th July 2006.

BACKGROUND

The 168s' grand entrance came at a time when the magazines were overwhelmed with demand for coverage of the huge but imminently endangered stocks of ex-BR freight diesels. And even in their moment of historical achievement, the 168s were wildly overshadowed by the EWS Class 66s.

Tug Aesthetica: Making Sense of the Class 60's Earlier Visual History

"Most Loadhaul Class 60s remained either in full Trainload livery, or had the Trainload decals removed to render an unbranded triple-grey look."

Battling the Arctic-style conditions of New Year's Day 2002, 60034 flies the flag for Transrail grey livery.

With thanks to those who shared links to my Class 60 article last week, I'm making this payback time. Yes, I've dug deep into my photo archives to bring forth another selection of visual Class 60 studies - mainly from the long-lost era of film.

The theme this time is an exploration of the standard Class 60 aesthetics that sat across the transitional period from late British Rail into early privatisation. Did you know that the first Class 60 EWS repainted was not initially released in red and gold? Did you know that the 60s have a "clean end" and a "dirty end"? Have you ever wondered why so many 60s were stripped of their original nameplates in the 1990s? If not, don't worry. It's all coming up in this very post. And if you're just here for the nostalgic images, there's plenty here that the world has never before seen...

British Rail's Class 60 in the EWS Years

"One really interesting use of a Class 60 that encapsulated the transience of EWS cascading, was the Lickey banking duty."

60076 in the EWS-branded version of BR's triple-grey livery, with a Round Oak - Margam run on 6th June 2007.

They still felt new. It just wasn't what we were expecting to happen...

If any locomotive type seemed safe from the effects of post-BR renewal, it was the Class 60. Reassuringly bulky, with monster tractive effort, the Brush/Mirrlees Type 5s were a product of the late 1980s, starting service in the early 1990s, and the last of them had not been ready to run until 1993. Just three years later, the locomotive order which would rapidly end their reign of UK freight supremacy was signed and sealed.

HSTs in the West Midlands and Worcestershire: 1999 to 2009

Pictorially charting the period during which the HST's popularity really began to soar...

Looking seriously smart fresh from refurbishment, re-engined Arriva CrossCountry power car 43304 takes us back to the initial excitement of the new HST livery that emerged in 2008.

The ten year period between 1999 and 2009 marked a major rise in the popularity of the HST. The groundbreakingly futuristic train had left wide-eyed young spotters mesmerised upon its introduction in the 1970s. But by the 1990s, standardised in InterCity Swallow livery, it had become an ever-present wallpaper behind the much more varied realm of locomotive passenger haulage.


Classic late '90s. The original Virgin CrossCountry livery. Red and charcoal, with a yellow cab roof for the power cars. This is 43068 at Kings Norton on 10th September 1999.

However, the privatisation of British Rail through the second half of the '90s brought the HST back into focus. 1998 and 1999 saw a huge raft of old BR locos taken out of service, and simultaneously, for the first time, newly ordered passenger stock tangibly threatened the HST's reign of supremacy on diesel routes. Meanwhile, a sequence of new liveries spread across the HST fleet, creating a lot more appeal for the photographers who fed the enthusiasts' magazines. The scene was set, and fairly quickly, enthusiasts began to remember the excitement they'd felt when the HST first entered their world.