Br Blue In The 1970s And 1980s

A look at an iconic period in British rail history.

A very nostalgic and evocative collection of photographs documenting the rail scene around Brighton.

A fascinating collection of previously unpublished images of railways around this famous hub of British transport.

A fascinating collection of previously unpublished photographs documenting an interesting time in British railway history, focusing on British Rail's Southern Region.

An evocative collection of photographs documenting the history of the days of BR Blue in the 1970s and 1980s.

The British Rail corporate image and its Rail Blue livery was one of the longest-lived colour schemes carried by the trains of Britain in the forty-eight-year life of the nationalised railway network. Launched in 1965, after Beeching, the then new corporate image was an attempt by the BR design panel to raise the profile of the railway system countrywide and to sweep away the dull steam-era image as the swinging sixties got underway. By the mid-1970s, virtually all BR locomotives and multiple units were carrying Rail Blue livery, while most of the passenger coaches were in matching blue/grey. As the British Rail network was sectorised from the late 1980s in preparation for eventual privatisation, new bold, bright livery schemes for the fleet swept away the familiar, but by then somewhat jaded BR image. The BR blue era is now looked upon with affection as a golden age when the system was operated by an immense variety of locomotives and rolling stock, all now part of history in the same way that the steam era was viewed when the BR blue era ruled on Britain’s railways.

The author celebrates the era of BR blue, with a wealth of previously unpublished images. Illustrating perfectly why so many view the BR Blue period with such fondness.

With a wealth of illustrations, a nostalgic look back at the BR Blue era of British Rail in northern England.