I think you should go back to the very beginning and recreate your very first livery using all the new skills you have acquired over the years. Then you can put the 2 models side by side and marvel at the improvement. (Unless of course you've got worse since then ).
I had to look - my first repaint was 47522 in Parcels Green, uploaded on 14th October 2022. It has 17 subscribers. (The pic is of - I think - Version 2; I cannot find a pic of V1) That was followed by a couple more versions of 47522, then 47305 in TE Blue & Yellow; 47803 in 3 variations of Infrastructure livery; 40106 in Green and D200 / 40122 in Green. A lot of my repaints are only on the Hub; I don't have room on my Livery Designer for them - only 300 per TSW version (of which I have 3, 4 and 5). What I tend to keep on my computer are the base models of each loco or coach or wagon.
Back to Class 81s. There are a number of variations of Class 81 I can address. First, a few more bog-standard Full Yellow end examples: 81012
Back to Class 81. In the early 1980s, you could still see Electrics with Black headcode panels. Here are 2: 81007
The BR Class 81s were the only Electric locos allocated to Scotland in the 1980s, with all of them at Glasgow Shields Road. Some of them received the 'Salmon' emblem chosen for Motherwell TMD - allocated Diesels, again the only BR Blue Electrics to have such an embellishment. But herein lies a mystery - If you search for BR Motherwell Depot online, you will be taken to the now-Network Rail Depot on A721 Bellshall Road in Motherwell. If you search for Glasgow Shields Road Depot, you will be taken to St.Andrews Drive, off Shields Road, in the Pollokshields area of South Glasgow, which is rather a long way from Motherwell. It seems odd that Shields Road would adopt the same emblem as Motherwell when so far apart. What is even stranger is that there is a Shields Road off the A721 not far from Motherwell TMD, but which has no obvious railway connections! "And..." you may ask? Well, here are some 'Salmon' - flavoured Class 81s! 81003
You are the driver of a Class 31 about to take some vans from Hemel Hempstead sidings to Wembley Sidings, when the train Guard informs you of a fault with the Guards Van, meaning you will not be going anywhere. You set off to the Signal Box telephone at the far end of Platform 3 to report it. You are told to stay where you are until you are called back. So, you enjoy watching the trains roll by. After about a half hour, you are called back and told to return to your loco and await the arrival of a replacement Guards Van.
I didn't think I would be uploading Electric locos as part of a 'Team' , but actually the preserved AC electrics are in their 'own' Team - Team ACLG. The ACLG group was formed in 1996 and currently have 5 AC locos in their care: 81002; 82008; 83012; 85006; 89001. Over that time, they have also had ownership or care of a number of other AC Electrics: 84001 (owned by NRM); 86101; 86213; 86401 and 87002. I intend to model all the locos (except 89001) in a livery they have carried while preserved, or in the case of some, in a few of the liveries they have carried!
Next up on Team ACLG is 84001. Although it has never been owned by the group, it is the property of the NRM, the group did have custodianship for a few years and did some important and needed restoration work on it. The loco is currently on the turntable at the NRM, York; I know because I saw and photographed it yesterday! 84001
85006 was renumbered as 85101 in 1989. The loco received an unofficial livery during preservation, albeit one it could have received - Railfreight Distribution. Notice the FD markings are only on one side.
Team ACLG Class 86/1. 86101. This loco passed through the hands of the ACLG but is now owned by LSL. Here it is in preserved BR Blue.
Team ACLG Class 86/2 86213. Another loco that was preserved but has subsequently moved on - this time though to Bulgaria! In preserved InterCity livery without markings.
That concludes Team ACLG, but I have also done one other based on 85101, in What If.. Railfreight Grey
Before I go back to the 1960s, here is 84009 or rather, ADB 968021 in RTC colours. This loco survived until 1995.
Sorry, no Anglia. I actually never saw anything in Anglia livery, it was during my 'lean' railway years when I didn't / couldn't get out and about.
I like the NSE and Technical liveried ones. Although the nice bright screenshot (not a criticism) of the NSE one whacks you between the eyes a bit
The early NSE with the paler blue did tend to 'whack you between the eyes'! It was such a contrast to Corporate Blue.
I don't know why, but it always amazes me that BR introduced its first 25KV AC Electrics as early as 1959. For some reason, I expected them to be introduced in the mid to late 1960s. Steam locos were still being built when AL1 E3001 was taken into service. Using the JT Class 86 as a base, I am modelling all the AL series, 1 - 5, the Pilot-Scheme locos, if you like, and of course, the production version - AL6, complete in their Electric Blue and White livery with cast numbers and cast BR Crests. I'll be modelling one original livery and one with Small Yellow Panels for each Class. Beware the number trap of the ALs, they were not numbered in Class order: E3001 - E3023 were AL1s; E3024 - E3035 were AL3s; E3036 - E3045 were AL4s; E3046 - E3055 were AL2s; E3056 - E3095 were AL5s; E3096 and E3097 were AL1s; E3098 (originally E3303) and E3099 (E3304) and E3100 were AL3s! AL6 starts with E3101 through to E3200. One more thing. Because these are all based on the JT Class 86, the AL1-5s are all Representations only. I can do nothing about the discrepancies between the Classes, eg, windows, grilles, front end design etc, but have tried to capture the look. The Headcodes were a problem too and I have tried to make them look reasonable despite the fixed lamps which seriously hampered my fitting certain specific numbers! First up is E3001, the one that started it all:
The AL2 was the second of the AC Electric designs for BR, but as is often the way with BR, nothing was easy and the AL2s were numbered after both the AL3 and AL4s! E3046 - E3055 were built by Metropolitan Vickers between 1960 and 1962. Both the first and the last - E3046 and E3055 were withdrawn early and never received TOPS numbers. The others became 82001 - 82008 in numerical order. Notice the BR Emblem was higher up on one side only. E3046 in original Electric Blue. The headcode at one end shows a prototypically correct arrangement of blanking panels and number.
The turn of AL3. Built by English Electric in 1960 / 61, 2 were chosen to be freight-only and numbered as E3303 and E3304. Modified soon after and renumbered to E3098 and E3099 (the next available numbers after the AL5s and AL1 extras), they returned to normal duties. And as for E3100... I've already uploaded E3035 as a Team ACLG member, so only one other: E3098 in Electric Blue with small Yellow panels.
Class AL4 was built by North British between 1960 and 1961 and comprised just 10 locos. They were probably the least successful of the pilot scheme classes, with all members being withdrawn by November 1980. Numbered E3036 - E3045, only E3036 (84001) is preserved. E3039 Original Electric Blue
Moving on to AL5, these 40 locos were built at Doncaster Works by BR. They were successful, with many lasting into 1991. E3064 is in original Electric Blue livery.
BR AL6s were built as a result of the running of Classes AL1 - AL5 as pilot scheme testbeds. They were built in 1965 / 66 at 2 locations - 40 at Doncaster Works by BR and the remaining 60 at Vulcan Foundry by EE. All were painted in BR Blue, but unusually for the time, the locos were outshopped without small Yellow panels, but received them soon after. The cab roofs were a light grey colour. The Doncaster locos also had red bufferbeams, which were soon painted BR Blue and the EE locos had Blue bufferbeams from new. AL6 E3114
If you think about it, most of them are clones, I'm only changing the numbers and headcodes. I've always liked the idea of variety, even among similar things. To have 2, 3 or more of a loco class that just look the same is a luxury many of us modellers either can't afford or rarely consider. We often model the unusual locos or the unique liveries, but I love to see collections of locos that are the same except the numbers. That's how it was in real life, so why not model it?
