South Western Railway (SWR) invited TikTok star Francis Bourgeois to unveil a retro look for a Class 455 London commuter train.
Class 455s are one of trainspotter Francis' favourites, so SWR invited him to a preview of the train at the operator's depot in Wimbledon, the home of its 455 fleet.
The train, number 455-868, has a retro look inspired by the original British Rail Blue and Minerva Grey livery used when the train first ran on the Southern Region of British Rail in 1982.
The retro look was applied at SWR's Wimbledon depot, and differs slightly from the original in order to meet modern accessibility standards, such as the doors, which are fully painted in Minerva Grey.
The train carries SWR's name and twelve Golden Spanners, representing the twelve awards won by Wimbledon Depot at the Modern Railways Golden Spanner awards, in the category of ex-British Rail Electrical Multiple Units.
Sporting its new livery, the train returned to service on the SWR network on Thursday 7 March.
Since its introduction forty-two years ago, SWR's fleet of Class 455s has carried millions of passengers across its suburban network, serving busy stations such as London Waterloo, Guildford, Hampton Court, Kingston, Richmond, Twickenham, Wimbledon, Windsor and Eton Riverside and Woking.
Eventually, the fleet will retire and be replaced by SWR's new, billion-pound fleet of Arterio trains, which the operator says will become the “beating heart” of its suburban network.
Francis Bourgeois, after seeing the train for the first time since its makeover, said:
“The Class 455s mean a huge amount to me, so I am overjoyed to see the class' heritage and service celebrated with a British Rail-inspired blue and grey repaint on 455-868.
“When I saw 455-868's new appearance for the first time, I was gobsmacked by the finish, attention to detail, and also the refresh of the bogies received during its recent maintenance, which without the British Rail-inspired livery is a very welcome sight on the network, but with the livery, makes an overwhelmingly beautiful appearance!
“Well done to all those at South Western Railway who did such a great job with this. I can't wait to ride on this on the network, and happily see it spontaneously on my trainspotting outings!”
Claire Mann, South Western Railway's Managing Director, said:
“The Class 455 fleet has worked tremendously hard over the last 42 years. As we look to the future with the introduction of our Arterio trains, we feel it's only right that we celebrate their service and the people who have worked on them, and we were delighted to show Francis this very special livery.
“The livery was painted with a great deal of care by our colleagues in Bournemouth last month, and it's a nod to the original paint scheme from the unit's introduction in 1983 – though we've made a few adjustments to ensure that it meets today's standards.
“It's a special moment for our colleagues at our Wimbledon Depot, the place this train calls home. These colleagues work every day to keep the 455 fleet running, and their efforts are regularly recognised at the Golden Spanner awards, something we've commemorated in this livery.”
If you have to leave negative comments about what he does, you obviously don’t know what he does, he spends days doing these videos and has even written a book on it, good luck to him, he’s making an effort to show you what he gets up too.
It might shock you to find that there are rail enthusiasts who make a living out of broadcasting via social media. It’s a different world out there from the traditional trainspotter at the end of the platform with anorak, camera and notebook
I think everyone has an opinion on social media and the way the choose to express themselves. Francis Bourgeois whom I follow, just to say myself and my son are enthusiasts of the railway we also post online. Farncis has a fair amount of followers and some of his posting are quite impressive and imforitive. I can honestly say I never have had any issues in telling someone I’m a rail enthusiast. And I do hope the young keep up the enthusiasm of the railway. Current and past.
Shame about the dent in on the side of the train next to the picture of Francis.
Hmm – you can, of course, just ignore this sort stuff… I think it’s good that young people still take an interest in railways and if they can ‘spread the word’ and paint the hobby in a good light, then great.
Why is some young bloke who , apparently, “writes” about trains on TicTok a “star”.I have been a rail enthusiast for many years and know of personalities that would be more worthy of doing such honours.Traditionally most train enthusiasts like to be quiietly anonamous, which is usually good as many people are, quite frankly bored by railway issues.Why do such people feel that the world is being done a favour by their babblings on social media.I could bat on all day about rail topics but why would I be so conceited to think I should do such a thing and blurb it out on social media ( dedicated rail chatlines excepted).
Steven Foster, jealous much?
You sound a litte jealous and bitter about this young man who is a star, and if you would do research before your bitter comments, you will find that he has been on TV. You carry on with your boring life and let him get on with his very successful life.
Sad that you have to be so negative, I’m 74 and frankly I find his posts very refreshing, maybe if you could maybe embrace the current media platforms a little more you would fine new and exciting aspects of our hobby.