MAIN MENU:
 
----------------
Tramways
----------------
Buses
---------------
---------------
 
 
 
BUSES
 
 
Liveries and Painting:
Prior to 1948 paint was supplied to the department in dry powder form and was mixed as required by the paintshop, after this date, ready-mixed tins of paint were supplied by 'Dockers Paints Limited'

The 'official' name for the livery colours of the current fleet is: Metro Middle Brunswick, Metro Grass Green, Metro Lemon Chrome and Metro Blackburn Cream, all supplied by Williamsons Limited of Ripon

 

 

LIVERIES:

 

The first buses in Blackburn carried the same livery colours as the trams, olive green and ivory. Wheel arches and mud guards were painted black.

The fleet numbers were again the same as the trams, which were gold shaded green.

 

The double-deck vehicles from the same period were again in olive green and ivory, the green was also carried on the rear dome.

All vehicles at this time carried the same styling lining-out as the trams.

  Further batches of vehicles had the same styling but had green roofs.

The first batch of single and double deck buses were subsequently re-painted with green roofs.

All deliveries of buses up to World War II continued with this livery.

  The first variation on the style came with the utility bodied vehicles of 1943, when a more austere livery was applied to the vehicles delivered during this period. The ivory band below both the upper-deck and lower-deck windows was omitted.
  After the war further deliveries of vehicles saw the ivory band re-introduced and the upper-deck window surrounds also painted ivory. The Leyland PD1A batch No.' s 105-119 of 1947/48 were the first vehicles delivered without lining out, though the 1948 batch of Crossley bodied Guy Arab had the lining out in full.
  The two batches of Crossley bodied vehicles, No.'s 95-104 on Leyland PD1 chassis and No.'s 120-139 on Guy Arab chassis, delivered in 1947 and 1949 respectively, both had the ivory band from below the windows on both decks omitted.
 

When the War-time utility-bodied buses were re-bodied by East Lancashire Coachbuilders a new lighter shade of green was first introduced and this became standard for the next 30 years.

The East Lancashire bodied vehicles all had the ivory band below the lower-deck windows.

  A slight variation on the East Lancs livery had the upper deck corner window pillars also painted green.
 

1966 saw the introduction of the first under-floor engined vehicles with the Leyland Tiger Cubs, these also carried a new style livery where the ivory became the more prominent colour.

This style was applied to a further batch of Leyland Cubs, the two batches of Leyland Atlantean PDR1's and also to the 1972 delivery of Seddon Pennine/East Lancs vehicles.

 

The Atlantean version of the new livery also saw the green continued around the front of the vehicle.

 

  The first Leyland Atlantean AN68's, delivered in 1972, saw the lower band of green moved to the bottom of the lower deck panel and also the coat of arms moved to the front of the upper-deck side along with the BLACKBURN legend.
 

The amalgamation of Blackburn and Darwen in 1974 introduced a complete new livery, which was applied to all new deliveries and all re-paints. Roofs were painted red and a much darker shade of green was applied to the bottom of the lower deck.

The Coat of Arms was replaced by the Blackburn Borough symbol and the BLACKBURN legend was altered to black lettering, as was the fleet numbers.

  The second version of the Blackburn Borough livery was introduced from 1979 with the delivery of the No.'s 125-130 batch of AN68 Atlanteans, where-by the dark green covered all the area below the lower-deck windows, and BLACKBURN TRANSPORT was used as the legend
  A slight variation, applied to (at least) four vehicles, had the red around the upper-deck windows
 

In 1983 No.'s 23-29 entered service in an olive green & ivory livery, and this then became standard livery on all subsequent repaints.

The Blackburn Corporation coat of arms and gold shaded lettering was also re-introduced.

  The first two-tone green and cream livery appeared in 1986. Bristol RESL6L No. 409 (Ex-Darwen) and Leyland Atlantean No. 141 being the first vehicles to receive this livery. The Blackburn Coat of Arms and shaded lettering was retained and the BLACKBURN TRANSPORT legend was applied in cream on the lower-deck, along with the wording 'YOUR LOCAL BUSES SERVING YOU'.
 

When the first Midi buses were introduced they received the so-called 'coachline' livery version of the two-tone green.

 

  A new livery was introduced from 1991 and applied to all re-paints and new vehicles. This new livery being all pale cream bodies with dark green roof and bottom of the lower-deck panel. A green band was applied to the 'cant' rail which at the front of the sides merged into a BLACKBURN legend in sloping italic lettering.
  The single-deck variation of the new Transport livery had pale cream roofs, and the Dennis Dart MPD and Wrights/Volvo B10 vehicles of 1999 eventually had 'Easy Access' logos added to them.
  Ex-London Leyland Olympians were purchased in 2000 and along with the Ex-Lothian Leyland Olympians obtained in 2001/2 there was the re-introduction of the two-tone green livery, though the lighter of the two greens was a more 'grass' green. The darker green continued at the same height around the front of the vehicles. Several of the Leyland Atlanteans still in service received this new livery.
  The second batch of Dennis Dart MPD's No.'s 661-667 in early 2002 saw the introduction the 'Low-Floor Easy Access' livery. A sweeping band of two-tone green and yellow were the dominant feature. The Wright/Volvo B10 vehicles were subsequently repainted in this style and the first double-deck vehicles to receive this livery were the Dennis Tridents in 2002. This livery was the first of several designed by WizzWorks.
  A variation of the new livery was applied to the Volvo B10 vehicles No.'s 418-422, which is the so-called 'Front Line' livery which omits the sweep of coloured bands at the rear of the vehicle.
 

Further second-hand Leyland Olympians arrived in early 2004 and they received the double-deck version of the 'Front Line' livery.

 

 

  A further variation of the 'Front Line' livery on single deck vehicles saw the omission of the 'sweep' of colour on the 'skirt' of just the two-tone green. This livery being applied to the Volvo B6R class.
  A new livery, introduced in September 2004, and known as the Schools+ livery. This is a variation of the High-Floor livery, where-by yellow replaced the cream and light green replaced the yellow.
  The first 'route branding' livery was introduced in March 2006. When another WizzWorks livery of Royal Purple, Orange and Metro Yellow was applied to vehicles operating The OC, Blackburn's Outer Circle route.
     
^ back to top