Coach Livery

[multivac]

Hello

 

When did the Mk 2s get black roofs and could black and orange roofs appear in the same train?

 

Thanks

[Railer]

I was wondering this myself and I think it was around 2002/2003. I was going through pictures online to try and pin down when the black roofs came in. I have never seen black and orange roofs in the same rake but I'm sure it must have happened like when the mixed Cravens liverys ran together in the late '80s to mid '90s

[RedRich]

I have a picture of a MK11 aircon EGV taken in Inchicore in the early 2000's. It could even be from 2001. The EGV had been fully overhauled and was sporting a black roof. It was an IRRS tour of the works. One of the EGV's had an orange roof up to the day the class were withdrawn. The class ran with with orange and black roof coaches, although they were so dirty you would have to look close to work out which was which. I have observed roofs from rail foot bridges and the signal cabin in Waterford and I had thought that it was a case of black paint being painted over the orange and the black paint flaking from being out in the elements, but in most cases the roofs had not been painted black. So it wouldn't be unprototypical to run MM orange roof aircons with the black roof ones, or even with Galway models.

 

Rich,

[jhb171achill]

It was indeed at that time they came in and yes, they were to be seen in the same rake, albeit not that often. The "Galway" liveried ones also ran mixed in with others of normal orange and black livery. While I never saw all three variants in the same train, there is no reason why it shouldn't have happened.

 

Back in the day, a train could have Park Royals, Bredins, several types of laminates, along with Cravens in the same train - but that's another story.

[Weshty]

Back in the day, a train could have Park Royals, Bredins, several types of laminates, along with Cravens in the same train - but that's another story.

 

Sigh! If I'd have only appreciated it at the time.....

[jhb171achill]

Very true, weshty. I remember standing at Port Laoise thinking "will I bother taking a pic of this" - the subject was the 10:30 to Cork, with a pair of 141s up front, and eleven carriages, a BR van and a "tin van". That train tended to be busy. I noticed even then that almost no two coaches were alike. There were numerous varieties of "laminates" to start with, but some tended to be altered, often quite a few times. There was at least one Bredin in it, and one Craven. I eventually took one pic of it disappearing into the distance, but it's not a great one....