BR Class 308/2 Liveries

[rufuskins]

I am currently creating a set of Class 308 repaints for MSTS and so far have worked on 308/1 units - currently seeking permission to upload. I am also looking at 308/2 units, which were briefly used on the Tilbury line with an MLV rather than an MBS.

These were originally painted in BR Green, and then I presume BR Blue - probably when the MLVs were converted to a type of MBS.

Can anyone confirm the above and also provide an answer as to whether they ran in BR Blue/Grey?

Most of my information is based on MLI No 183, but it is not complete.

I know that they were also used as postal sets (from 1984 onwards), but I am not clear as to the livery and what sort of conversion was carried out. Again any help or guidance would be most appreciated. I was tempted to assume something similar to the Class 302 postal units?

After that I will look at the 308/3, akin to Class 305s but powered as Class 308s and hence classification as Class 308/3 - these appear to have been liveried in BR Green, BR Blue and BR Blue Grey?

Alec

[rufuskins]

I have recently come across a picture of a 3-car Class 308 (308137) in Network South East livery taken in 1994 at Stafford.

Now I also understand that this unit may have gone further north to operate on Scottish rails?

My questions are:-

1. Were any 308s ever painted in Regional Railways livery?

2. What livery did 308s carry if they did run in Scotland?

Any answers would be most gratefully appreciated.

In hope, Alec

[rufuskins]

Further "rooting" about on the "net" has suggested that the parcels version remained in BR Blue Grey.

Confirmation that it never received specific parcels/postal livery would be appreciated?

As ever, in hope, Alec

[passedcleaner]

I have recently come across a picture of a 3-car Class 308 (308137) in Network South East livery taken in 1994 at Stafford.

Now I also understand that this unit may have gone further north to operate on Scottish rails?

My questions are:-

1. Were any 308s ever painted in Regional Railways livery?

2. What livery did 308s carry if they did run in Scotland?

Any answers would be most gratefully appreciated.

In hope, Alec

I moved to Stafford with my family in 1994 (aged eight) and I distinctly remember seeing an NSE 308 in platform 6 around that time.

The 308s that moved north eventually ended up working out of Leeds along the recently electrified Aire valley routes to Bradford / Ilkley / Skipton. However between leaving the SouthEast and arriving in Yorkshire they were 'poached' to cover local services in the West Midlands (mainly Cross-City) during the period when the new Class 323 units were struggling to achieve certification for passenger use. Some of the 308s were already in red 'MetroTrain' livery (quite surreal seeing one of those under the caverns of New Street! See link http://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/3049315533/ ) and a couple were still in NSE livery. I assume the unit I saw at Stafford was working either a Stafford-Stone-Stoke local diagram (at that time usually booked to a 304 unit) or a Trent Valley local although the former is most likely as most of the latter were booked for Sprinters.

I don't think Class 308s ever reached Scotland and I'm pretty certain none ever carried Regional Railways livery. The electric units that worked the North Berwick line were very similar Class 305s which were displaced from the Liverpool Street - Cambridge line (the 308s came from the Colchester line.)

You may find this a useful website: http://www.acemu.co.uk/308.htm

I hope this answers some of your queries! (I would be interested to see the pic of the 308 at Stafford as it will bring back some memories and I may be in shot )

Seb

[rufuskins]

Further research on the internet has discovered photographs of Class 308/2s in BR Blue Grey livery with MLVs.

Therefore even more versions can now be created for MSTS; i.e. BR Green, BR Blue and BR Blue Grey.

Still need more information on the MBS units converted from MLV units when the traffic for Tilbury docks declined.

Alec

[nutterjknights]

Have you looked at Railway Herald's Imaging Centre? I just typed in Class 308 and have come up with 7 pictures. Or look at this link
http://www.railwayherald.org/imaging.ce ... p?type=282

[rufuskins]

Thanks for the link, which i have not looked at before. More areas for future research. Unfortunately no Class 308s with MLVs or MLVs converted to MBSs - I have a picture in MLI 183 but it's a B & W image and hence not sure whether it represents BR Blue or BR Green!

Alec