Green Diesels In View

When British Railways took its first hesitant steps towards modernisation, it was probably disappointing for railway fans when the first main line diesel locomotives emerged in the black livery used on steam traction in the same power classification.

Railway bosses must have had a change of heart in the mid-1950s because, on 19th August 1956, a party touring Derby works discovered Nos. 10000 and 10201 standing in the paint shop bedecked in green livery together with a diesel shunter that was undergoing the same treatment. This marked the beginning of the green diesel era which lasted until official policy changed in favour of corporate rail blue in 1965.

The change was only gradual, however, and it was many years before green disappeared completely from the scene.