As the initial batch of Class 321/3 units remained operating on the Great Eastern routes for their entire lives, the variations of liveries were limited by the route only having 4 operators since privatisation. Nevertheless many livery variations did appear throughout the units lives, with some being ‘one offs’ and some being only small variations between units.
When First Great Eastern took over operations from Network SouthEast, units began to receive one of two variations of the white, grey, blue and green livery, with many units receiving this repaint along with few Class 315s and the many Class 312s still in operation with FGE. The new Class 360s meanwhile were introduced in the new FGE blue and pink livery, which no Class 321s ever received. Following the decision of the Strategic Rail Authority to merge the Anglia, Great Eastern and West Anglia franchises into one operator, National Express took over this operation and branded themselves ‘One’ as to signify the unity between the three existing operations. Before National Express rebranded to National Express East Anglia only one Class 321, 321446, ever received the colourful ‘one’ rainbow livery as the operator chose instead to repaint the Class 315 fleet.
Following the rebranding of services National Express began repainting serval units in their corporate colours of silver and white introduced in 2008. These matched sister operator National Express East Coast, which rebranded from GNER the previous year. Many of the units which received First Great Eastern livery previously were now due for a repaint, as well as the several London Midland 321/4s introduced during this time from other operators requiring repaint to match the existing fleet. Many units survived up until their scrapping in this livery, although with the National Express branding long removed. Varamis Rail operate 321428 and 321429, which are the final pair of units to remain in National Express silver and white 13 years after National Express ceased operations on the Great Eastern.
As the National Express Great Eastern brand only lasted 4 total years, when Greater Anglia took over there were still many units left to be painted. The new Greater Anglia livery was a quite boring all over white livery. Variation did exist however, as some units retained the blue doors from the NXEA livery while others were painted in the new Greater Anglia red. Eventually however the repainting of units ceased, with First Capital Connect units introduced to Greater Anglia in 2017 remaining in their blue livery until withdrawal, this was due to the potential large scale refurbishment of units which was started a year prior. As these were the most prevalent of all liveries upon withdrawal, many survive, Varamis Rail unit 321440 retains it’s white with red doors livery, as well as units 321338, 321339, 321341 and 321342 retain their white with blue doors livery. In addition to this Eastern Rail Services unit 321434 is also in as withdrawn white with blue doors livery.
Beginning in 2016, the first 30 Class 321/3s underwent a massive refurbishment at Doncaster works. Named the ‘Renatus’ programme, units received a brand new interior, the fitting of a Universal Access toilet as well as air conditioning. Traction packages were also replaced, with the 1980s DC motor equipment replaced with new Vossloh Kiepe AC equivalent. These units were in a drastically different livery from the other members of the greater anglia fleet, receiving a much more modern white, red and grey livery upon release to Greater Anglia from Doncaster Works. Additionally however was prototype for this work 321448, which received a unique Eversholt Rail livery, later given Greater Anglia branding.
In addition to the 321/3 fleet, there was the addition of the 48 Class 321/4s. A few of these were transferred to Great Eastern services before privatisation, which share the same history as the 321/3s. Meanwhile other 37 units began operation with Silverlink following the end of Network SouthEast. SIlverlink painted their units in a blue, white and green livery which matched the many other train types they operated on their Silverlink Metro and Silverlink County services. London Midland then took over operations of the Silverlink County in 2007 when the franchise was separated upon the introduction of the London Overground. By the time London Midland had taken over operations on the West Coast the growing Class 350 fleet began to replace the Class 321s on the West Coast Main Line. London Midland painted only 7 units, the 7 units they intended to retain beyond the introduction of the Class 350s, in green, black and white. These were then used for peak hour services only as well as the St Albans Abbey branch line. The remaining units withdrawn by London Midland were shared between National Express East Anglia, First Capital Connect as well as a few converted to Class 320s for use with ScotRail.
First Capital Connect units began operation on services on the East Coast Main Line out of London Kings Cross, and were painted in blue, pink and purple livery named by the operator ‘Urban Lights’. With only 13 however their use was limited, only working select services to Peterborough and Cambridge. Upon introduction of further new trains to FCC, now Great Northern, these units were once again withdrawn. They were further split with a some going to Greater Anglia and a some seeing the same conversion to Class 320s for use with ScotRail. The Greater Anglia units, as mentioned previously, were never repainted from their unbranded FCC blue. This has meant two units have survived in this livery, as Varamis Rail operate 321407 and 321419, however unit 321419 has since received the Varamis Rail branding over the existing blue base coat.
TOP (1) National Express East Anglia 321311 at London Liverpool Street station (Public Domain). (2) First Great Eastern 321359 at Norwich station (Public Domain).
TOP MIDDLE (1) Greater Anglia White (Red doors) 321440 at Stratford station. (2) Greater Anglia White (Blue doors) 321341 at Crewe. (3) Greater Anglia Silver and White 321426 at Wickford station.
BOTTOM MIDDLE (1) Renatus 321321 at Shenfield Station. (2) Renatus Refurbishment standard class interior. (3) Renatus 321312 at Clacton-on-Sea station.
BOTTOM (1) Silverlink 321411 at Watford Junction station (Public Domain). (2) London Midland 321411 at Watford Junction station (Public Domain). (3) First Capital Connect 321404 at Hornsey Depot (Public Domain).