Why Do British Trains Have Yellow Fronts?

Are they scared?
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jago...
Patreon: / jagohazzard
Just Watching Trains (2nd channel): / @justwatchingtrains-ji4ps
Threads: www.threads.ne...
Instagram: ...

[@rwm2986]

So, as a Hazzard, does Jago have a Yellow Front?

[@JohnADoe-pg1qk]

🤣

[@alanclarke4646]

Actually, yellow with black diagonal stripes! 😂😂 ( Sorry Jago )

[@bostonrailfan2427]

@@alanclarke4646high visibility fluorescent or just bright yellow/orange? 🤣

[@blairleipst4508]

@@bostonrailfan2427more probably an old donkey jacket with an orange panel on top back

[@Curmudgeonist]

More importantly, why don't they all have smiley Thomas the Tank Engine fronts?

[@iabcdhdhd]

Yeahh

[@andrewshearsby8125]

Because sadly they are not on Sodor

[@azuma892]

What are you talking about? The engines on the Mainland have faces too!

[@Thornaby37]

To be fair, the Great Northern class 365s had happy faces (unfortunately they were withdrawn from service in 2021)

[@Roland-pw5xj]

I always felt Mavis the Diesel's hazard stripes matched her personality.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

An notable exception to the relaxed rules about yellow fronts is the new stock on Greater Anglia. Due to the large amount of level crossings in that region, it was decided that the yellow fronts should stay regardless of how bright the headlights are.

[@SportyMabamba]

I was wondering about this earlier today!

[@noobling8313]

The only thing better than an exception is an exception to a relaxation, which would have counted previously as an exception, but is now just a yellow train. I love both this channel, and the commentary on it.

[@LordGriffin1994]

The trams in Manchester are all yellow (save for some grey on the sides), and people and cars still get hit by them. So I wouldn't worry too much!

[@wideyxyz2271]

Yup a Range rover got totaled by one only yesterday. Banana shaped Range-rover with only a loose panel on the front of the tram .

[@owengoodspeed5763]

​@@wideyxyz2271Perhaps all Range Rovers should be painted bright yellow? :-)

[@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858]

​@@owengoodspeed5763and there drivers

[@Lolwutfordawin]

Same in Dresden, Germany. Trams are huge, entirely yellow, run on predictable routes and still people manage to drive their cars into them regularly.

[@AussiePom]

@@Lolwutfordawin Same in New South Wales Australia where the XPT has a yellow front but also has flashing strobe lights which flash when the air horn is activated and reflector tape pieces down the sides of the whole train and people still drive into the side of the train. If a car driver's attention is taken by looking at a mobile phone they're not going to see the train whatever colour it's painted. Others try to beat the trains over level crossings and get hit and killed by trains even though there are flashing red lights but no boom gate barriers. In Adelaide South Australia they've recently installed cameras on roads that can take photos of drivers using their mobile phone when driving. At present they're only in a few locations and within a month they're reaped over $2M in fines because so many people are under the total control of their phone. A message comes in and they immediately reach for the phone and text back whilst driving. Even hands free isn't safe because you're concentrating on what the person on the phone is saying and not concentrating solely on your driving which on today's crowded roads is more important than ever before.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

Only exception I could find within British rail was the Waterloo & City line where the figures it would be unnecessary to have yellow when it’s operating entirely underground

[@JagoHazzard]

I missed that one, good point!

[@andygoodwincleeve]

And the Vale of Rheidol locos, painted in BR corporate blue, but without yellow ends

[@lordmuntague]

@@JagoHazzard I thought you'd mentioned that in a previous video? 🤔

[@paulhaynes8045]

@@JagoHazzard see - what would you do without us??

[@GreenJimll]

@@paulhaynes8045 Lead a full, rich and happy life? 🙂

[@Eric_Hunt194]

When Thailand bought a fleet of Class 158s from BREL, they were supplied in the same livery as their British Rail counterparts, but with the branding in Thai rather than English. They had matching yellow fronts too.

[@GreenJimll]

You'd be surprised how quiet a steam loco can be when it wants to be. Once many years ago I was half way up an embankment cutting back long grass and shrubs by hand with a long handled bill hook. So just swishes and the odd chopping thud. A quiet rural location with just bird song for company. So imagine my surprise when a large steam loco whistled on the track just below and behind me. It was doing a shunt move and had coasted down a slight gradient to clear some points and the whistle was an acknowledgement to the chap at the ground frame who was throwing the points over. Absolutely silent as far as I could tell. Sure, as soon as it started back over the points it started chuffing again.

[@fosterfuchs]

You just reminded me of James May's model railway locomotive with the "realistic chuffing sound". 😂

[@NiallWardrop]

Steam locos are only noisy under load. This was a problem in yards when diesel shunters were introduced as conversation between crews and yard staff on the ground was difficult because of the noise of the idling engine. I think the yellow end thing was more because the idea of secondary safety was getting more attention - the introduction of hi vis clothing was around the same time.

[@rogercantwell3622]

Steam locos are terrifyingly stealthy at night. If the regulator is closed and it's nit miving fast enough to make the track hiss and rumble, all you have is a feeble paraffin lamp.or two to warn you.

[@beeble2003]

Honestly, the steam locomotive in the video is very quiet until the driver opens the regulator. As @NiallWardrop says, they're only loud under load -- when idling, they don't make a whole lot of noise.

[@stevecarter8810]

Was coming here to say this. Diesels are the noisy ones. Except when the steam loco is venting under a bridge. Ouch.

[@tarnmonath]

Then there's the red light at the back. Not just a rear warning light. Originally it was to allow signallers to be sure that a train hadn't come apart. If there was no red rear lamp, then a bit of the train was missing, presenting a serious hazard on the line.

[@DanielsPolitics1]

I believe all workers are still obliged to look and check if they can, to ensure the train is complete and undivided

[@southcalder]

@@DanielsPolitics1Yes, you are still taught to observe the rear of a train and report any train lacking illuminated tail lights to the signaller. These days though it’s usually just some sort of failure to illuminate the lights by the driver, or a failure of the lights themselves. Multiple units tend not to fall apart.

[@petermichaelgreen]

@@southcalder And virtually all trains nowadays have continuous braking systems that will halt the train if it comes apart.

[@rogercantwell3622]

There was a serious accident at Shrivenham in GWR days when a goods train broke apart, the signaller didn't look for the red light, and the marooned guard of the goods train was woefully slow to react - he should have run back up the line placing detonators as soon as his part of the train stopped, but he left it far too late.

[@meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee2]

My Father-in-law was a Postman, one foggy night he and a colleague had been loading mail on and off a train. On finishing they pushed their trolley to the platform end and prepared to use the barrow crossing. A freight train then ran through the station, so as they could still see the rear of the train the mail had come off. They used the crossing in the knowledge that there would be a gap before another train could follow the freight. My father-in-law pushing at the rear had just got clear of the line when half a dozen wagons and a brake van rattled through the station. The freight train had divided in section and they had pushed their trolley across the line in the gap between the two portions.

[@lordmuntague]

This was also the reason for the two tone horn on BR trains, to make it distinct from road vehicles at a level crossing.

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

Which begs the question why they changed the horn code when approaching a crossing to a single long blast on the high/loud tone

[@lordmuntague]

@@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne Curious. I think there's an old British Transport Films feature "Driving The Train" from early DMU days that discusses use of the horn at crossings.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

@@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne considering some of the other strange UK laws about noise restrictions, presumably it was changed because people find the tooting annoying

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

@@thesteelrodent1796 I don't know, but it does not make sense to me.

[@phaasch]

​@@thesteelrodent1796in which case, don't live in Tooting 😅

[@johnallen7807]

I wouldn't call myself a "train nerd" and I live 250 miles from London so can't say I use the Tube much lol but I find your vids among the most interesting and informative on KZbin. Thank you.

[@colin.d]

Glad you cleared that one up - I often wondered about the yellow fronts.

[@jkang7265]

You know it's a good video when you stick around for the whole thing even after realizing the title is *not* "Why do British Trains wear Y-fronts?"

[@dougmorris2134]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Play_fare]

At least the 2 titles weren’t combined into “why do British trains have yellow Y-fronts”.

[@davebowman6497]

You're in urine jokes? why?

[@6yjjk]

British trains are pants. Y-fronts would, therefore, be redundant.

[@AussiePom]

As those Y fronts are heated they could be looked upon as a Willie/Camel Toe warmer for the last thing you want is frost bite in certain areas.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Thank you for keeping the actual volume level consistent with your voice-over even when demonstrating how trains are loud. The actual fact that you can't hear the speech communicates that quite effectively. I'm not sure if you run these through a compressor with sensible settings, or just balance-match by ear, but you did a good job. It's weird that that's become unusual! But so much TV now is like "make the explosion _actually_ loud! Make the shouting _actually_ loud!" when, like, there's so many other auditory cues to tell us when something is supposed to be loud or quiet. 90s TV had pretty much all the dialogue at the same level regardless of the situation the person was in.

[@madhatter1964]

When I started on the railway in 1980, we might as well have had candles for frontal lighting! Headlights did not come in until about 1984

[@meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee2]

I was once nearly run down by a (~75 MPH) parcels train with only a single dim bulb in the head code box. I did not hear it coming due to the noise from a nearby ballast cleaning machine, luckily there was a station in the distance behind it and the blinking out of the station lights as the train came between caught my eye. I don't think the train driver ever saw me, walking out of his path about 100 yards in front of his loco. But the yellow fronts were a very good idea, even now years later that particular shade of yellow still raises an alarm in my brain. While the front facing headlights are probably the best safety improvement for track staff in the last 50 years. There is still a place for the yellow end as in hot weather the heat shimmer can disperse the light beam, while the yellow front seems to flash and flicker as the heat distortions make it enlarge and shrink. As the front of the train has to be painted anyway why not use yellow paint. Then you get a free safety improvement, so however seldom it helps it is worth the cost being free.

[@dadobna2686]

I went on holiday to the UK a couple weeks ago, and my friend (being a train buff, honest) pointed at a unit on the other track and said: "I recognise that one, it's the one with the yellow front" And I'm there like "yeah that definitely narrows it down..."

[@roberthuron9160]

In the US,a number of traction companies[Streetcar operators],got together to come up with visibility standards! They came up with the,now standard colors,Traction Yellow,Traction Orange,and Traction Red! All bright,high gloss colors! The Traction Yellow is also used on Construction equipment[Caterpillar],and is carried over for fire engines,etc.! Short history,but overlaps British Railways! Forgot,this operation occurred in the 1920's! Thank you 😇 😊!

[@bostonrailfan2427]

and then the standard was dropped when it was unnecessary and impractical and utterly useless…and the attempt at standard high visibility for fire trucks was exposed as being a fraud by a psychologist who lied about the findings the only standards actually left are the fire trucks assigned to airports which have slime yellow to set them apart from regular trucks

[@cedriclynch]

In the UK in the 1970s British Telecom did research into the best colour to paint its vans so that they would be as clearly visible as possible in all weather and lighting conditions, because they are often stationary on or next to the road while their crews are working on telephone wires. As a result of this research the colour of the vans was changed from olive green to bright yellow. When the government sold British Telecom and turned it into a private company in the mid 1980s the first thing the company did was to repaint all its vans in pale grey.

[@erichhouchens3711]

Here in the states Yellow and Black hazard stripes are often applied to locomotives and cab cars (DVT's to use the UK term) in commuter service. Amtrak has also applied these stripes to cab cars converted from the old Metroliner EMU's. This is for passenger safety at stations and to make the train more visible at road crossings. Trying to beat the train to the crossing is almost a national sport over here. There are engineers over here in double digits when it comes to hitting cars at crossings.

[@6yjjk]

I've often wondered whether, instead of the alternating "ditch lights", it'd be more effective to have lights arranged in a V and cycle through them from bottom to top, creating the effect of "growth" and making the train look like it's approaching faster than it is. But... Florida Man.

[@erichhouchens3711]

@@6yjjk Actually the flashing "ditch lights" seem to be effective. As for Florida Man, well Brightline has been very effective at removing stupid drivers from road crossings. The locomotives they use (as well as Amtrak's) have removable noses that can be quickly replaced after removing stupid car drivers from road crossings. If you search for "Brightline Florida" you'll see lots of videos of this in action.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

that isn’t true wt all, the yellow/black are only on a small number of cab cars. several have added stripes to the ends but every system has their own choices of colors and looks for cab cars Boston has NEVER had anything like that even with the newest cab cars purchased: only lights and horns.

[@johnreed8336]

I like the sound of that idea ​@@6yjjk

[@ltdowney]

@@bostonrailfan2427 He didn’t say “always,” he just said “often,” which I think is fair to say, you see it with enough frequency around the country. It’s not a strict regulation and therefore not everywhere, partly because American railroads by convention made more use of bells and whistles/horns, such that these (and their use) are now required by regulation. In the UK/Europe it’s generally the opposite, engineers/drivers may only sound the horn under certain conditions and can be reprimanded/fined for using it casually (though that doesn’t stop a cheeky toot now and then for railfans, even if it’s technically against the rules).

[@IngieKerr]

0:20 _"... some trains need a lot a lovin' and some trains don't."_ 🎵

[@andrewlawson5779]

😂Rasey

[@andrewlawson5779]

Bad spelling, meant Racey

[@TefiTheWaterGipsy]

😂😂😂 thanks for making my soak my kitten with tea, I'm still laughing. Love it. 🎉

[@ruawhitepaw]

From the early 2000s, the Dutch railways abandoned the rule of always making the front of the train yellow, with the livery of the SLT trains being in white and blue. That was carried over to the FLIRT and SNG units of the 2010s. But more recently, they repainted FLIRT and SNG to have a yellow front again, to make them stand out more. So I guess even in this day and age, the yellow is still considered useful.

[@NokusSonus]

I think the story was the LEDs on SNGs weren't that bright (which was causing near accidents or something?), so they had drivers put the headlights on full (not full beam) to make them stand out more before they painted the fronts.

[@MidlandMark]

I suspect part of the reason for the lack of yellow fronts on trams is that, without exception, they're fitted with both a 'bell' or similar, and a VERY loud horn plus, as they rarely exceed 30kph when sharing roadspace with vehicles/pedestrians, the driver can sound their approach in good time (and drivers are not backwards in sounding off).

[@fetchstixRHD]

Probably also for the fact that they can also stop in a much shorter distance in emergencies, and that they're "usually" in the road and no other vehicle needs a special front either...

[@NotAMinifig]

The other reason is that trams almost always run on "visual braking distance" rules. meaning: the driver needs to be able to stop within the distance they can see. (if there's another tram or vehicle stopped on the track) Trains on the other hand have signals to take care of that, and their braking distance often exceeds the visibility of the driver.

[@MidlandMark]

@@NotAMinifig Yes, Line Of Sight rules - the only signals will usually be at junctions, when they're running on/interacting with non-grade seperated alignments, or when they meet traffic lights (the exception is the Manchester Metrolink, which still has a degree of rail signalling on the Altrincham and Bury lines).

[@dancedecker]

Thank you, Jago. Another excellent and informative video. I think it is commendable that when the replica "Blue Pullman" was created, the people concerned then upgraded the headlights to allow the yellow front panel to be left as it should be..all blue. Excellent.

[@dougmorris2134]

Steam locos/trains sneaking up on you? Well my live steam model locos are quite quiet and can definitely sneak up on the unsuspecting victim ( they are 7/8” scale, so big and bl@@dy hot at 60psi working pressure), and they only have red buffer beams. Another excellent video from Jago

[@luciadegroseille-noire8073]

regarding safety etc.: In, I think the 1970's, BR introduced TOPS or Train OPerating System for safety and efficiency. They had, it was said, a backup system in case it went wrong called Back On The Old Manual System.

[@paulspencer1590]

TOPS actually stands for Total Operations Processing System.

[@tree267]

Thanks

[@TheKlink]

3:55 dude went from sad to positively bereft!!

[@azuma892]

The KCR Metro-Cammell EMUs used in Hong Kong had yellow fronts too. There was a recent TVB documentary talking about the history of the KCR, the interviewee said it's because all electric trains in Britain were required to have yellow ends at that time, he said the law came about as electric trains are much quieter than diesels. He probably thought so because the KCR EMD diesels the Metro-Cammell EMUs replaced never carried yellow ends. It infuriated me so much when watching... Ok rant over. 🤣

[@PhillipBicknell]

As someone who lives near to pedestrian crossings at grade without signal controls, my jaw dropped when you mentioned that aspect of the need for high visibility. I only calmed down when you reminded us that modern stock have better lights. Phew!

[@Julius_Hardware]

0:44 Oh those noises were the train! I always thought it was Jago. I'll get my coat.

[@cjf97]

In fact a tooting Jago. Not his Northern line cousin though, Tooting Jago. I seem to have left my coat somewhere else. 😊

[@AlanSpooner-h9w]

Thanks Jago. Always interesting, informative and fun.

[@ignaciotorovillacura6342]

British trains and yellow ends fit so well. Trains without it look odd especially when they had yellow paint before.

[@scottfw7169]

Although not a Brit but an American, I grew up in the 60s, 70s, 80s, which to this day has resulted in my default mental image of a British diesel or electric locomotive being in BR blue with yellow ends.

[@professorjamesmoriarty5191]

An interesting fact is BR carried out an experiment with orange warning panels as opposed to the normal yellow. In 1966 a pair of class 25's were trialled with fluorescent orange on their lower fronts to compare with the yellow, the trial wasnt a sucess and they had both reverted to standard by the end of 1967.

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

I'm partially colourblind, and to me at least orange is much duller than yellow; even more so when it comes to paint. I have no idea if there's an objective basis for that, or if it's just me!

[@professorjamesmoriarty5191]

@andrewgwilliam4831 It is, but it was done with fluorescent paint so better in low light.

[@squeaksquawk4255]

IMO, the relaxation of the requirement was a massive downgrade. The yellow fronts on mainline trains are iconic, they're part of the identity of the british rail network! Even if they aren't necessary for visibility any more, they should be kept for branding purposes alone.

[@ordinaryorca9334]

It also still works, all Belgian trains have it as a standard livery and so did the Dutch trains. Rules were also relaxed there but a bad accident later they reverted the change. They didn't even wait for repairs to repaint the new SNG units with a yellow front. It still makes a difference so you can more easily see the train from the corner of your eye in full daylight.

[@mdhazeldine]

@@ordinaryorca9334 Having recently been to the railway museum in Utrecht, you are generally correct, but there are numerous examples of old Dutch trains that don't have yellow fronts. I'm not sure what year the yellow and blue NS livery came in, but before that, they didn't have yellow fronts.

[@Inverse_to_Chaos]

While I do prefer the present livery of London Overground trains, the way it was handled on Class 378 I thought was an excellent compromise: greater emphasis on orange and black whilst partially retaining the yellow on the cab.

[@alejandrayalanbowman367]

Having had to be on the track in an official capacity. a yellow front certainly does make the approaching train more obvious, lights or no lights.

[@angelmessenger8240]

My great grandfather was a platelayer in Folkstone back in the day. He was killed on the railway.

[@highpath4776]

An In-laws realtive worked in a goods yard, slow moving wagon took him out - the space between tracks at points narrows

[@BlueTangWebSystems]

Having grown up in the 60s in a house backing on the Southend line in Brentwood and being totally obsessed with trains, I have vivid memories of the introduction of the panels. First the lower panel then the full frontal. Also thrilling times watching the change from green to blue, with trains commonly half green and half blue.

[@AdamFaruqi]

How funny. Here in Los Angeles it's the opposite. Our older trains didn't have yellow fronts, but ever since the Kinki-Sharyo P3010s rolled out in 2016 with their iconic yellow livery, other trains have started painting their fronts yellow too! Despite the fact that most of our system is light-rail, we have a lot of at grade crossings here, so it makes sense why visibility would be a high priority.

[@stephenbacon7624]

As usual . . . just FABULOUSLY SPLENDID ! ! ! Thank you .

[@redheadedviking9415]

I loved that you showed GWR 5643 as the example to demonstrate the loudness of a steam engine. Big fan of most GWR engines.

[@andrewrussack8647]

Conspicuity: the quality of being noticeable or easy to see. When I got into rail over a decade ago, I learnt a new term!

[@southcalder]

From the trackside point of view, the bright lights are not the solution our masters think they are. In my area, we have a motorway parallel to much of our main line. It can be tricky to tell if that bright light you can see is a train that has been routed into your line blockage or a vehicle on the adjacent motorway. While I can see the bright lights from further away when trackside, the yellow helped me identify that it is in fact a train. Also, it’s very difficult to judge the distance to a train and its oncoming speed with bright lights. I feel it often makes them appear faster than they are. Finally, at night, those headlights are dazzling. They will dim automatically for stations and other oncoming trains, but they don’t do that for staff, though considerate drivers will sometimes dim them manually. Look directly at them and you will be dazzled. Not a great thing to be when working on critical infrastructure alongside a 125mph mainline. I feel the whole change was made purely in the name of aesthetics, and had nowt to do with safety. What’s wrong with both yellow and bright lights? I have to wear a suffocating amount of orange, even though these days working on open lines is banned across much of the network. But trains can now be camouflaged? Also, the reason railway staff wear orange rather than yellow Hi-Viz (except the BTP) is to make them distinct from the front of trains. So if the driver observes an orange ahead, they assume it’s a staff member who will move out of the way (or should already be out of the way) rather than a train. Also, in shunting and in yards, you can see a staff member between you and another loco. Finally, steam trains may be big and noisy, but in a noisy environment they really can sneak up on you. Especially at night. The Jacobite heading back to Carnforth done just that a few weeks back in the dark. Frightened the bejesus out of me. Also, a steam train in the pitch black looks like the fires of hell, with the glowing orange plume coming out of the stack.

[@laurencefraser]

The switch to overly bright LED headlights in cars has actually made things worse rather than better, as even the old lights were problematically dazzling, hence the ability to 'dip' them and the requirement that one do so when there is oncoming traffic... even 'dipped' (if the car actually lets you do that in the first place...) modern LED lights are bright enough to cause the same issues regardless, and of course people have them on to make their car 'more visible' in poor lighting conditions even when it's not dark enough that they need that light to see, which mostly serves to render Everything Else about the state of the road Invisible to all oncoming vehicles. Sooo... yeah, if the goal is to let the drivers see more/better the bright lights are a great help. If the goal is to do anything much beneficial for the people looking at the oncoming vehicle...well, 'brighter light' doesn't help anywhere near as much as 'coloures and patterns that stand out, lit up to the degree necessary in order to make them visible in the current lighting conditions and little more'.

[@stephendavies6949]

Joking aside for a minute, I'm really glad someone with your profile has chosen to discuss this issue. I think moving away from yellow warning panels/ends/stripes is a big step backwards in railway safety. IMO, there is nothing that catches the eye more effectively than these panels. It was a simple, genius idea that has no doubt saved many, many lives.

[@richardmcgowan6383]

I was wondering about that. What do people who work on the track think about this? Did their safety go out of the window after privatization? Ken Loach's film The Navigators argued that it did. The Ladbroke Grove inquiry was pretty incriminating about a general decline in standards, though that was almost 25 years ago.

[@meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee2]

@@richardmcgowan6383 The front of the train has to be painted, so use yellow paint a free safety measure. There can be no valid reason not to do it.

[@neilbain8736]

What an amazing collection of engines and rolling stock.

[@galinneall]

Thank you for the explanation. I'd always assumed the yellow front was for safety and visibility, but then I was confused as to why some trains, like the Grand Central and Trans Pennine trains, didn't have them. Now all is clear.

[@tsk67166]

When I was a kid (in the 90s) Polish Railways locomotives had usually yellow front panels. For some reason there were few expections (some painting schemes on EMUs; SM42 shunters were usually green with orange stripes).

[@trainworms]

im a bit sad about the yellow panel going i thougt it brought bit of unity to the national network. i hope that more operators choose to keep it in future rather than going for a rather drab grey or black front.

[@highdownmartin]

Steam and heritage diesel on the mainline have to have compliant lamps with high intensity beams. However a yellow end on a sunny day is noticeable well before it's headlamp becomes easily visible

[@TheWolfHowling]

1:15 Unless your train is on fire, which is not helpful for getting to your destination when expected

[@TheAltonEllis]

That KESTREL loco!! WOW!! Great vid, thanks Jago!!

[@jaakkomantyjarvi7515]

I was fully expecting "You are the yellow panel to my drab front".

[@sunjamm222]

Plus on a small note, most track workers now have a line blockage to work on the tracks so less needed for yellow fronts. if there's a worker on the track and trains are moving its for emergency work, or are in a position so that the lines can be opened for line traffic.

[@meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee2]

Heath and Safety they take all the fun out of life. BR used to have people working on the WCML on their own at night with out possessions. We also used to do daytime re-railing on the middle roads, with the outside tracks open to traffic at line speed. Thermite welding the rails next to the open lines (6' track spacing) was the tricky bit. Set the weld up, wait for a train to go by, quick check that the lutting sand was still in place, drop weld. That way the metal had a couple of minutes to solidify before the next train came past.

[@grahampaulkendrick7845]

Brilliant. Your explanation was great but the rules are totally baffling! 🙂

[@son_of_a_train]

I love the types of videos you do that answer questions we all think but never look for the answer. You learn something new every day

[@eggyboy123]

Person's working on the track should have lookouts. Those person's are not to be distracted. The PTS rule book is quite clear on this. On top of which if you are on the track you should be aware of you surrounding especially if the lineis open to traffic

[@cjf97]

It would appear that Jago has a phobia of showing us one of the new Satsumas and derivatives, class 8xx, with their very bright headlights. Thanks Jago for saving us from these bessts. Main line steam locos are carrying high intensity lights in combination with their noise 😊

[@mattayres5238]

Fascinating! Great to see our heritage keeping alive! 😉👍

[@leokimvideo]

Never had the relaxed rules in Australia, everything is still painted like a Duck bill, Yellow or Orange. The new Metro Trains had bright colours at the start then didn't, maybe because they are robot controlled driverless and work on a independant system. Yet like you point out the Sydney trams don't have any bright colours. They are always getting into car / truck incidents

[@Gideonsmythe]

I've been researching "modern" traction liveries (along with allocations, detail changes and other geek-rich info) for future publication in an online database. Finding out when small yellow panels, then yellow ends, then (sometimes) urgh yellow cabs were added. By 1st Jan 1962 only 14 locos had the yellow panels. D121 was the first to have them painted on, D129 the first to be delivered with them, both in Dec 1961. Electric locos seemed to take longer to have them added than the louder diesels. Class 33s were also stubbornly resistant to yellow paint until the end of the 60s. Of course, being BR, nothing was straight-forward. Western decided to paint their engines Maroon, LMR and Scottish painted most of their AC and a handful of DC locos in a lighter Electric Blue and by 1967 there was a bewildering array of Green with large yellow ends, Blue with small panels, Maroon with none, you get the picture. Some green locos had the new BR logo applied making it difficult to assess from a black and white photo whether what you're looking at was blue, green, black, maroon or beige (yes, that's right "beige"). It took from 1965 until 1980 to eradicate the green livery, the last mainline loco being 40106. Well it was until someone decided to keep it green for railtours and special events. There are many different opinions on whether it was painted blue then back to green or whether it was seen outside Crewe Works with blue undercoat. By the end of the 70's BR had soften its stance on everything looking the same and new liveries were being trialed. A year or so earlier and 40106 wouldn't have been so lucky to gain such celebrity status. Livery information for multiple units is harder to research, mainly because their numbers were less coveted by trainspotters so while there are loads of photos of DMUs and EMUs in the 60s they are rarely noted with anything more than the class type. So I may be some time with this project.

[@johnnyfivejmc]

Nice sound on the steam locomotives.

[@SeventhSwell]

3:41 If V.I.N.CENT were a train. Kids, ask your, what, great grandparents? I'm so old.

[@GreenJimll]

Well the money BR spent on buying them certainly disappeared down a black hole given their rather curtailed operational lifespan.

[@vacuumdiagram]

Great soundtrack, now playing on my head cheers! 😅

[@kjamison5951]

Thank you. I didn’t know this and I’ve only recently started to take an interest in railways and rolling stock.

[@Jimyjames73]

Hey Jago @ 0:58 - Very True - I think that I'd strongly agree with you there - If you can't hear a Steam Loco coming - then there is something wrong with you!!! 😉 Thank you for sharing this interesting info!!! 🙂🚂🚂🚂

[@treaclemooable]

Or you could be a track worker using a noisy power tool and wearing ear defenders.

[@Jimyjames73]

@@treaclemooable Could be 🤔🚂🚂🚂

[@beeble2003]

@@treaclemooable What's your lookout doing, then?

[@johnmurray8428]

A good explanation, thank you. I know this off topic a bit, but in the late 1960s early 1970s many municipalities started painting fire trucks/engines/appliances other colours but red. The Home Office did a survey/study and deemed yellow as the most visible colour to the human eye, but everything should be painted traditional red!

[@highpath4776]

A lot add shark stripes , which seem to work best

[@francesconicoletti2547]

An entirely sensible bit of branding. If a giant yellow vehicle came hurtling down the road enough drivers would not know it was a fire appliance to get out of its way. A giant red vehicle would not have the same problem. Everyone in britain has been taught since childhood that fire engines are red.

[@highpath4776]

@@francesconicoletti2547 Unless they were the Green Goddess RAF/Army ones, or the Yellow Ones airside at Airports

[@johnmurray8428]

@@francesconicoletti2547 I agree with you and I understood at the time. Big red fire trucks/engines of my childhood. Before the Home Office rules to keep red, we saw yellows and lime greens being used and for the reason you described it caused confusion. When I got to North America I never understand why police cars and ambulances had red flashing lights. The UK was always blue. Mind sets I guess.

[@Quince828]

It seems that now, in Canada at least they’ve gone to the British and european standard of both blue and red flashing lights on police and fire vehicles. I’ve seen ambulances also adopting that standard. Before that it was only a single red light or at most two reds.

[@MrGreatplum]

This is the content I come to this channel for! I hadn’t noticed that trains don’t have to have a yellow front anymore - I need to be more observant!

[@peterharris3563]

If electric trams needed to have yellow ends, then surely every other EV on public roads should be similarly painted.

[@mittfh]

The Midland Metro (CAF Urbos 3s - the blue trams in the video) tend to travel at a brisk jogging pace in street running sections (when they are actually running, rather than withdrawn due to cracked bogie boxes, cracked door panels, maintenance work or a confused driver mistaking the tracks for a road...) so can usually stop quite quickly - plus have a warning alarm the driver can repeatedly press to encourage pedestrians to get out of the way.

[@isashax]

That's a great explanation! Thanks Jago!

[@SeventhSwell]

Better a yellow front than a yellow belly, like here in the US. We're afraid of any infrastructure that doesn't directly benefit car and plane companies.

[@dukeofaaghisle7324]

I think the wrap-around yellow panel with BR blue looks magnificent on the class 37s, class 47s and class 50s. It just somehow looks really powerful.

[@tofuholland6145]

even when they dont have to i like when we keep the yellow fronts, theyre iconic and i think they look quite good, espcially now that you can stylize them a little with the laxer rules

[@birdbrain4445]

Huh. Yeah I've never actually really thought about this at all; I figured it was some kind of a safety thing and, yeah that makes sense. I guess it's also why, to me, the Class 345s and Class 710s used on the Elizabeth Line and some Overground lines respectively look so... futuristic to me, thinking about it - the absence of this design. Same goes for the newest Underground and DLR rolling stock. Most trains I'm used to (various Electrostars, Networkers and Desiro Citys, namely) all still have the yellow front, even when some of the trains mentioned are just a few years old. Great video!

[@matthewtrow5698]

"Oh look, there's something coming toward me really fast I hadn't noticed, but now I come to think of it, it's big and y..."

[@marcuskennedy709]

Irishrail seem to employ/have employed a similar policy with their rolling stock (including suburban trains like the DART, although recent mockups for their replacements don't feature any such yellow panel). Worth noting also that when the LUAS tram launched in 2004 it was almost entirely grey before being forced to add a yellow panel and strip around the entire tram to improve visibility.

[@adamlee3772]

Nice little informative video. Thank you.

[@martingrimmitt3992]

Never has that outtake footage been more fitting than on this video

[@mikeuk4130]

The visibility experiment started, I believe, in early 1960, when “dull green” Brush Type 2 diesel-electric, built in 1957, was painted all over in Golden Ochre, also known by some as Golden Yellow. Being a rather bronzey/mustardey shade, it wasn’t a success and the loco was repainted back to green, albeit with the by-then-mandatory small but much brighter-yellow end panels as shown in your video. It was decided that sister D5578 was, at the same time, to be painted all over in Electric Blue, as chosen for the early (from 1959) Class AL1-AL6 (later 81-86) AC electric locos, but there is some doubt as to whether this was ever actually applied. E&OE.

[@highpath4776]

what about the western region hyradlics in sand livery?

[@alanclarke4646]

I have a fleet of Brush type 2s ( TOPS class 31 ) ( well 3, in 00 guage )

[@alanclarke4646]

​@@highpath4776I think it was only some Class 52s ( Westerns) that had this livery, class 42s ( Warships ) tended to be green, and 35s ( Hymeks) were generally green with white cab window surrounds.

[@paultidd9332]

It’s interesting how the LNER Azumas have kept a part yellow front but other companies with 800’s haven’t, like Lumo and TPE, etc. I liked the large amount of footage from various heritage railway yards. We should have ‘Jago on heritage railway tours’ vidoes.

[@treaclemooable]

That's more to do with the way the LNER (and GWR) IEPs were procured by the DfT and the TPE, etc. trains through individual contracts.

[@jerry2357]

1:12 Deltic diesels are both noisy, and can produce impressive smoke, particularly when opening up the throttle after a period of idling. I always remember the first time I saw a Deltic, a light engine at York station, and the throb of its engine could be heard wherever you were under the station roof. There was no question that it was moving about.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Steam engines were not always loud, Charles Hamilton Ellis referred to "The awful stealth of a light engine" and I agree with him. I remember leaving Euston behind a 2P with what was almost a dayglo red buffer beam.

[@johncamp2567]

I love those blue (royal blue?) Scottish Pullmans!! 🤩

[@eastlancsesteem]

Thanks for expanding our brains.

[@justwobert9850]

i do think that the yellow fronts should stay because they're iconic

[@peabody1976]

It's great to hear about how small touches make (or made) trains safer for people and as technology improved, the older ways could yield. But "yellow fronts" is a long term: I suggest "y-fronts" as a shorthand. I'm sure that idea isn't pants.

[@markgr1nyer]

Another reason yellow was chosen was because if you are or start going colour blind yellow is one of the last colours you will loose

[@ltdowney]

As an American who’s visited your country - actually lived there 3 years - I’d noticed yellow on many trains, but I guess it never clicked with me that it’s literally ubiquitous. In the States we do see hazard stripes often enough that they’re understood/unsurprising, but it’s not a strict regulation. It’s probably most common on yard switching (shunting) engines, but shows up from time to time on mainline freight locos. Now that I know it’s literally all British trains though, I’m now realizing that, e.g., every HST I ever saw had that yellow nose. 😂 My favorite British livery was easily GNER, smartest looking trains by a mile, only the current GWR redesign comes close. I’m also now realizing GNER incorporated that yellow into the lettering intentionally, making it look like the hazard paint was part of the design scheme - which I’d always assumed - very clever industrial design.

[@hannahranga]

Thanks for the video. Interestingly as an employee of a railway where most of our trains are white/silver I've had the opposite property where a yellow train blended in coming through a construction site full of yellow builders sand and miscellaneous yellow construction equipment. Wasn't a near miss but wasn't great either

[@29brendus]

Well that certainly puts a new gloss on things, especially if buffered!

[@tonysplodge44]

There's a Y-Fronts gag somewhere, but I can't quite make it work.

[@hughs591]

Thanks for covering an interesting subject. It pleases me that we have the insect world to thank for the yellow and black hazard warning colours. Wasps and bees use similar stripes to caution us of their stinging ability if provoked, and insects like hoverflies copy the livery to protect themselves in the same way, disguising the fact that they have no stings at all . . .

[@mrbojangles8133]

a colourful tale

[@aquilarossa5191]

The British rail blue with the yellow snout looked great on Hornby sets when I was a little lad during the early 1980s. On a school trip to Normandy when I was 12 I got a SCNF train set that was compatible with Hornby. Cool, but not a Hornby Deltic or class 37 etc. Making Hornby locomotives look good is not the reason for the yellow though. 😆 P.S. I had a few interests back then. Train sets. My BMX and mods for it. Scalextric. Revell model ships and planes. Dungeons and Dragons. These new gadgets called space invader machines that gobbled up my spare change. Fish and chips - and Mars bars, because mum always cooked super healthy vegetarian food, so I had to pay for my own junk food. I ended up doing three paper rounds every morning to pay for it all. 12 quid per week. I was rolling in money! Now most of my hobby money goes on electric guitar stuff or PC builds. BTW. When the news agent opened in the morning about a dozen paper boys would gather around a stack of papers to check something out. Nope, not the football scores. Yep, to check out the latest page three. Our other great interest. Knockers. 🤣

[@davidquirk8097]

When I a was working on Class 710 stock at Bombardier we were going through the process of justifying the Orange front end and one of the tests we discussed and carried out was to do with the visibility, from the point of view of a driver of another train, of a person in 'full tango' (hi-viz jacket and trousers) walking in front of a 710. At ballast level the Orange panel starts around five feet from the ground so the majority of the person's body is actually seen against a dark background.

[@BobTheBorracho]

Some of those newer headlights were absolutely blinding for maintenance workers. If you got landed with being a lookout and one of the freightliner 66's was coming, you had to look away even in bright sunlight at 1 mile or more. Granted you could see them coming and give a warning to the gang, but you also needed retina implants afterwards having had them burnt out by a miniature sun mounted on the front of the loco. As usual in Britain, we went from one extreme to the complete opposite.

[@Andrew-xg5ge]

I have always believed that excessively bright headlights are counter-productive to railway safety.

[@batman51]

And they are not much fun for passengers either. Do drivers of trains going the opposite way not complain?

[@BobTheBorracho]

@@batman51 It wouldn't matter if they did complain. With the current regime, anything done in the name of safety can't be criticised, however misguided or even wrong it is. I'm glad I retired and don't have to put up with it anymore.

[@meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee2]

Did anyone else notice that EWS class 66 locos had a yellow tinged headlight while Freightliner locos were blue/green. Could tell the livery of the loco from the front a mile away once you knew that.

[@ianhelps3749]

Yellow ends are definitely effective. I would wait at Crowthorne station for a train to Guildford. The line from Wokingham approaches on a mile and a half straight. When a train turns into the approach you see it clearly in the distance as a yellow blob, which slowly grows until you see the whole train.

[@michaelvyse9728]

According to various pictures, 1961/62 seems around the time that the yellow warning panels came in. These panels remained standard for the first year or two (c.1966/67) of the ‘Rail Blue’ livery: en example of this is at 2:18, on the class 73’s front end. The full yellow front ends were then introduced c.1968.

[@vicsams4431]

Yellow ends were mandated by RSSB's Railway Group Standards. As these don't apply to London Transport tube trains, trams, buses, planes, boats, submarines, hovercrafts, bicycles, and prams, these were not painted with yellow ends. When the 1922 Standard tube stock (BR Class 485), 1938 Stock (BR Class 483) and D78 stock (BR Class 484) moved to the Isle of Wight, they gained yellow ends because they operated on a line covered by mainline standards. As you say, the powers that be reckoned it was not needed for a steam engine nor a modern train fitted with a modern headlight. But only in recent years have train operators decided to use the offside (secondman's side headlight) to blind oncoming drivers. In sensible days, the headlight was always on the driver's side and pointed towards the left hand cess. Vic National Operations Standards Manager (retired)

[@radiosnail]

Very interesting. Many thanks.

[@highpath4776]

Older trams had gongs to warn of their approach, still killed by great aunt (she was deaf)

[@stephenbarker5162]

When I was researching local newspapers from the 1880s I came across a report of an elderly lady killed on a foot crossing. She was wearing a bonnet which limited her side vision and she was hard of hearing so did not hear the train approaching. As there had been a number of incidents at the crossing the Coroner 's inquest recommended that the foot crossing with a footbridge, which did occur. As a child I would watch steam trains pass underneath.

[@neville132bbk]

Another stand-out contribution from Jago of Five Oaks..... NZ goods train diesels , also on the Wellington-P. North passenger trains are in the Kiwirail colours of yellow and orange...the Wellington electric units are ( originally) shiny brushed steel with bright fluorescent lime green bands ... with flashing ditch lights when approaching crossings or stations..... says LeviNZ.

[@laurencefraser]

Unless someone did a sneaky when I wasn't looking (and I'll admit to not looking much the last few years), main line trains in the South Island have been using the same model engine (or at least identical looking ones) for everything for 30 years or so, only changing the paint jobs... and they've had yellow cabs and ends the whole time. And then there's the shunters, which definitely had yellow ends, but I can't recall what colour the cabs were (being in the centre).

[@NirateGoel]

A suggestion for a future video along similar lines, "why British tail lamps flash" as opposed to constantly on. In Ireland we require two constant on, a result of the Cherryville Junction crash of 1983

[@CallumClass450]

My favourite use of the yellow front on a train was the Pendolino in its original Virgin Trains livery. I like how they managed to make the yellow a part of the design of the train especially when it swooshes to the roof.