Isle of Man Railway Locomotives - Liveries

Liveries

The original company livery is thought to have been a deep green colour with black lining and either white or vermilion outer lining. This remained the standard livery of the line, although the white lining gave way to orange/red at some point. It wasn't until 1944 that the railway changed the standard livery to Indian red which is a rusty, orange colour, akin to red lead paint. The "Indian Red" paint as produced in the railway's workshop and tended to oxidise over time. Recently repainted locomotives would be a deep red colour with a hint of orange; those that had not visited the paint shop in some time would be a reddish brown. This remained standard until the 1967 re-opening when Lord Ailsa had service locomotives repainted into a fresh "spring" green livery very similar to London and North Eastern Railway apple green. The story goes that the Rev. Teddy Boston, a friend of the Marquess had a model of an Isle of Man locomotive that he had painted green and said it was effective, the rest is history! Green became standard livery until nationalisation. The Isle of Man Railways management decided to repaint the locomotives in a variety of colours to dispel the notion that there were only two engines on the line. The first so treated was No.4 Loch which appeared in a non-standard maroon livery for the 1979 season. Two years later No. 11 Maitland appeared in a variation on the Indian red scheme, followed by the most bizarre incarnation of them all, a royal blue No. 12 Hutchinson complete with alleged "Mannin-Style" square cab. This was never popular with the enthusiasts and was eventually reverted to traditional Beyer, Peacock "house" in 2001. No. 13 Kissack also appeared in a darker green. Locomotives were different liveries for the period, with No.1 being outshopped in spring green in 1998 for the "Steam 125" event. Upon the arrival of new management in 1999 all locos were painted into Indian red, harking back to the post war years (with the exception of Caledonia which was painted dark blue). Locomotive G.H. Wood was out-shopped in spring green in 2007 marking the 40th anniversary of the takeover by Lord Ailsa, and Caledonia reverting to her original Manx Northern livery. The only exception to the liveries above, is No. 11 Maitland and she received all unlined matt black livery in 1988 for use in filming the BBC drama serial The Ginger Tree and this livery was retained for the rest of that season.

The railcars from the County Donegal Railway were in a deep red and cream colour scheme when they arrived on the island and when repainted by the railway company they retained broadly similar colours but the style was altered slightly, as cream was retained only for the waist stripe, whilst the window surrounds were repainted deep red. They remained in this livery until 1981/1982 when they visited the paintshops, one being outshopped in a cheerful blue and white livery for a very short time, but the Falklands War had begun and having them in Argentine colours was not deemed appropriate so they were hastily repainted to a red and white scheme (the same as that carried by the island's buses at the time) and they remained like this until withdrawal from service. No.17 Viking was a deep green colour upon arrival in 1992 and was repainted (but with black/orange lining added) for the naming ceremony in 1993. In 1999, when a local support group voiced the opinion that one engine on the line should be in the spring green livery, the management chose No. 17 to be so treated; it remains in this colour scheme, albeit slightly more grubby, today. No. 18 Ailsa was all over white upon delivery and there has been mention that it would be painted into another colour, spring green being mooted owing to the loco's name, but this has yet to happen. The two Simplex locomotives are painted blue, and yellow, whilst the Wickham railcars are also blue with yellow chevrons.