What Was the Best Metro Colour Scheme?

With the classic Tyne and Wear Metrocars sadly on the way out, I decided to take a look back at all of their previous liveries and find out which design colour scheme was considered the best... would it be the elegant original two-tone design, the 90s multicolour rave-trains, or the latest dark and moody affair?
Have your say in the comments below!
Chapters:
Intro: 00:00
1980s: 03:28
1990s: 07:07
2010s: 10:56
What do you think?: 15:07

[@alfiestewart6312]

I loved the RGB ones. The mismatched feel is something I loved.

[@DDRailways]

Here’s an idea: For the yellow line, they could keep the original yellow and cream livery. and for the green, they could use the green only (from the RGB posse) It gives the liveries different designs and it would be easier to tell what line you wanted to travel on.

[@Tez_Thorn1405]

4002 (one of the prototypes) left for scrap this month 🥺💔, the first metro car to go for scrap was 4022 due to heavy damage in 2017, it was scrapped in 2020, my favourite livery will always be the Yellow and White with the M on the front

[@Justamandoingthings114]

Nice video. I’ll always favour the original livery as it’s how they looked when I grew up. I agree that the blue was the best of the bunch in the 90s and that lack of consistency wasn’t great. The current livery does nothing for me, but I’d put that down to it being a modern livery on old trains which for me looks a bit incongruous

[@Lighting_Desk]

I like all of them for different reasons.

[@musicgarryj]

In my opinion the original yellow and white livery looked welcoming and friendly, while the black and yellow looks quite the opposite!

[@danielnesbitt9565]

The original is still my favorite to me, visually attractive and the Metro trains were designed around the aesthetics of the livery too, as the body profiles taper inwards where the blue stripe was placed. It is also from the era where the Tyneside/Tyne and Wear PTE was very bold and future thinking. The 90s schemes was OK (the corresponding refurbishment was great though), though with the co-launch of the NEXUS brand mark the start of the stagnation era and the mess we currently have now with the incompetent management of Tobyn Hughes and company. The livery on the new trains suits them well and also seems to be a nod to the past.

[@officialmcdeath]

That the original livery 'doesn't stand out a lot' is true but the system's very unique nature at the time did much of that work for it - making it super snazzy from the start might have hindered longterm adoption - the functional step change was the point \m/

[@SoupMagoosh]

I was a bit disappointed when I found the new trains would be mostly yellow, I love the contrast of the yellow with the black. Also feels like the end of another era having new trains

[@supertrains156.66]

That note is like scotrail class 156 in scotrail in 2025

[@BrySkye]

I'm a bit more specific in the classic livery I favour, which was its final incarnation used in the 90's until the RGB phase and its not actually shown in the video. The classic colours, but all references to PTE were removed, having the M logo on the ends, the River emblem by the driver doors was replaced by a stylised TW emblem and the "Tyne and Wear Transport" titles simple read "Tyne and Wear Metro" with another M logo. That was the design that was applied to things like the 30cm rulers and paper-fold models they used to sell at the information kiosks.

[@jasonw4601]

Original PTE, yellow and white with the blue stripe

[@jasonw4601]

Not discussed but the mock livery North Eastern Railways one and the GNER advertisement livery too

[@paulgalloway5220]

i remember when the metro child ticket was 10p years ago

[@volvoolympianforever]

Personally I prefer the original yellow and cream livery. While the livery looks dated even for the 80s, I think its appeal comes from its simplicity. The simple two tone livery gives out a feel that taking the metro is both easy and comfortable, while also blends in with the environment well enough. The two colours also match each other in that neither of them are flashy, giving out a sense of simplicity that is comforting and lighthearted at the same time. If you want to find a livery scheme that is both simple and modern, then I would recommend you to search up the KCR light rail orange livery from 1988, Hong Kong. While the system’s operations lean more towards a tramway-esq feel unlike the Tyne & Wear Metro, it also has a simple livery, but the orange were lined in sort of an arrow style that gives the vehicles a more modern and forward looking feel.

[@davidgrant5245]

Looking forward to the new cars! Is that your voice-over, on the station announcements?

[@edificity]

On the metro? Afraid it's not my voice. I wish!

[@stephenmcculley7]

I like the Original Livery even if it did look very boxy. It gave the system at the time a unified livery. The current livery seems a bit too dark for me.

[@deadtotheworld22]

As someone who's only known the new ones (came to the city in 2010), it's interesting looking back at the past ones. I think if they were pristine, there's something nice about the original livery but the creamy white can't handle dirt and it does spoil the look a bit. I agree with what you said about the RGB ones - individually they're interesting but as a whole they just look like a jumbled toybox. In terms of the video style, I think it's a fine approach (and indeed I can see it's probably a bit easier to record one of these), and if you want to continue with this approach, it'll come with practice in the same way you get used to it if you're doing a radio show or a podcast - while it didn't diminish from the quality of the video by any means, I think you could hear a bit of hesitation or apprehension in your voice, presumably because it's a new format. I don't know whether you recorded in one take or did it in sections, and indeed if you just did it fully off the cuff or with notes, and indeed how you found it as a format, so I think it's really about how it works for you in terms of video creation compared to some of the shorter videos you've done on the channel. I'll continue to watch either, so it's up to you (and potentially the algorithm!)

[@edificity]

Thank you so much for the feedback, and for watching regardless! I agree, with practice it would come more naturally

[@pragueuprising560]

The first design is the best, because you can sit in the front seat and pretend you are driving the train.

[@steveg5881]

I think the original single window across the whole train seemed to give them more light and a better experience facing forward. The light colours were uplifting when the train arrived at an underground station. The low waist line made them seem more spacious and inviting compared to London underground trains which are more like entering a cave. The original PTE buses that met the metro trains were freshly painted and looked much better than the old Northern buses. They were also much faster which added to notion that transport was much better with a dedicated passenger transport executive. The PTE set a high standard. The original metro trains were akin to London Transports Routemaster buses. I only hear bad things about its replacement, Nexus.

[@caramelldansen2204]

5:25 Liverpool Overhead Railway would like a word!!! Then again, depends on your definition!

[@edificity]

No shade to the Overhead. I just think of is as a proto metro more than light rail

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@edificity Everything had to start somewhere!! Ah, well... I'm just sad Liverpool doesn't get the representation we deserve for being the birthplace of modern railways! (I wonder if things would be different if we weren't poor...)

[@M0XXQ]

Born in 1981, so I grew up with the Tyne and Wear PTE Livery, which is my favourite. I used to work at a factory in Gateshead that made the replacement wiring harnesses for these Metro Cars, over the 4 decades of service they had a few refurbs, mainly traction motors and door systems however they fundamentally remained the same - Designed and built in Birmingham, England with a slight twist of German influence. Not sure of the class no of these vehicles, was it something like 599 or 595?

[@katrinabryce]

I don't see how the original colour scheme would have worked with modern accessibility regulations. What colour would you make the doors so it stands out from both colours? And then you have three colours on the trains. I suppose you could have had white doors on an all-yellow/orange body.

[@edificity]

Yeah, it would definitely have had to change

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

No real favourite, the PTE and RGB were both OK. Whilst it is distinctive and innovative I am less keen on the black livery. As you said, the RGB livery varied over the years as the passenger doors were progressively changed from RGB to partial yellow and eventually full yellow. Metrocar 4027 was, for a while, painted in a variant of the original livery selected by the North Eastern Railway when it first electrified its Tyneside trains. Its a shame that the 1940s LNER (garter blue, etc) livery was not also reprised in the same way. It would have been interesting if one of the Metrocars had also been painted in the new livery, as is being used by the new Stadler trains.

[@waynetodd1641]

The Metro looked best with full advertisements… the horrible triangle colour scheme was designed to show the route… for example, the blue trains would be for the airport… but that soon showed impractical when I broken train needed replaced and maybe only a green was available…. Just like the buses are route branded, but impractical when a spare isn’t route designated…. The reason why metro stopped it and the reason why Go-NorthEast have now stopped route branding and all buses will adopt a standard livery.

[@joinedupjon]

I thought I was going to prefer the original which was still in use when I left. But tbh it looks a bit 'milk float'. Much was made in the early years about it being 'light rail' so maybe they were trying to make the metrocars look as light as possible. The last livery does make them look sturdier.

[@keegs1996]

The RGB ones are my favourite as that's what I grew up with. Can't remember seeing the original livery and the modern black livery is too bland for me.

[@MrJohnMurdoch]

Original is best for me. PTE all the way.

[@MrJohnMurdoch]

Nice to see an Atlantean in your video too.

[@sglenny001]

It looks lovely and clean

[@tomjardine100]

It's not 1980 anymore, looks very dated now

[@lnerb1class3172]

I was always a fan of the coloured liveries, but what do I know, I don't even live in Europe let alone Tyne and Wear

[@edificity]

Eh, it's all a matter of taste

[@lnerb1class3172]

@@edificity how the hell did you respond to MY comment?

[@TransportGeekery]

Really don’t like the front end of the modern livery. What the heck is that random yellow rectangle? Front end would look better either fully black or fully yellow, or at least the colours matching something in the shape of the cab

[@edificity]

It's not the best, for sure. I assume, since the trains run on national rail lines, the yellow was necessary just like on all trains at the time

[@TransportGeekery]

@@edificity I did wonder that. I think all yellow front would definitely look better.

[@tomjardine100]

I think the new trains look too clunky and not all that different design to the previous trains on the exterior. There will be no front seat either, so no drivers view.