Arriva Trains Merseyside - turquoise livery?

Merseyrail is not Arriva.

 

It was until 2003, not long before the image linked to above was posted.

That is indeed an actual livery as well: That one vehicle of 508123 was selected as a prototype for the refurbishment programme for Merseyrail as far back as late 2001, and received corporate Arriva livery.

 

"Arriva Trains Merseyside" never did have quite the same ring to it as "Merseyrail". Fortunately the Merseyrail brand name was strong enough to remain in common usage by the PTE and is now the TOC name once more.

 

Indeed the name wasn't prescribed as part of the original franchise (won by MTL who traded as Merseyrail Electrics before being taken over by Arriva). This was an oversight on Merseytravel's part which was corrected on the subsequent tender. Had Arriva retained the franchise they'd have been required to rebrand.

There were also a pair (I think) of Pacers which were run by First North Western then Northern which were Merseyrail branded as they were funded by Merseytravel.

 

Interesting image. Suits the unit well!

142046/47/48/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58 were the former Mersey rail branded units.

They also had some 150/2 in the mid 90s I believe these were 150201/203/205/207/211/213

 

Didn't realise there were that many Merseyrail pacers!

 

The cream swoosh at the front appears to be different on each side of the unit. On the side closest to the camera, the swoosh terminates firmly in the turquoise area, but on the other side, it seems to wrap around to the front of the unit, seperating the yellow and turquoise.

 

Well spotted. I guess each side was given a slightly different livery treatment to try out different options.

The Arriva corporate colours have actually been applied quite thoughtfully to this unit in contrast to the later "slap it on regardless of the shape of the train" approach that we are used to at ATW.

 

There were actually a few more than those listed by Geeves. The Merseytravel liveried and refurbished 142s were (still are, as far as those shocking interiors are concerned) 142041-049 and 142051-058.
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Yes, that was indeed the case.
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Indeed. I usually cannot stand the sight of the Arriva corporate livery, but I think that, for a change, it actually looks quite good on the 508.

 

The arriva livery works best when the white is kept to a minimum. The large white front-ends on the former standard livery ruin them.

 

Talking of the Merseyrail 150s does anyone remember what the seat covers were like? Were they the standard 150 blue/orange colour or as seen in the ex merseyrail 142s?

 

508 123 had one car refurbished and was eventually put on display in Southport station, although by the time it got there it had recieved a variation of the current merseyrail livery (pretty much exactly the same as now but with a black area from solebar upward). The TOS and other DMS were untouched. I remember seeing it in February 2002, sitting on one of the un-electrified platforms, I think 5. Apparently it was popular at this time for crew familiarisation as there was no risk of electrocution!

Thank god it didn't wear that god-awful livery for too long!

 

From memory I'm 99% certain that they were the same yellow and black colours on grey background found on the ex-merseyrail 142s.

I'm fairly sure that the blue/orange 150 seats were fairly uncommon (in general) in the Northwest by the mid 1990s, the first time I remember seeing those seats was only a few years ago when Northern got hold of an ex Anglia (or something) unit.

Out of interest can anyone remember what the seat covers were on the GMPTE grey 150s?

Phil

 

Makes sense to leave it with the regional operator - Merseyrail (the TOC) don't have Diesel maintenance facilities, and their drivers (which I believe are on the lowest income out of all the TOCs) only have one type of unit to train on (2 classes, but I believe they're on the same card like 321/322?).