Special livery Eurostars

This is quite a bespoke subject as pictures of any special liveried Eurostars are quite rare, there haven’t been that many. The best known was of course the Da Vinci train which ran from London to Cannes non-stop on 17th May 2006, setting a world record for the longest non-stop international train journey.

The Da Vinci Code Eurostar:

This was probably the most well known (and the most photographed) of the special livery Eurostars. The units employed for Da Vinci were 3209/10

The celebrated Da Vinci Code Eurostar at Waterloo international. Source: Twitter

The Da Vinci train had Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bethany, and the film’s director Ron Howard on board.

The train at Waterloo the day after its record breaking run. Source: Flickr

The Da Vinci train leaving Waterloo. Source: Twitter

At Gare du Nord. Source: Twitter

Gare du Nord again. Source: Twitter

Full set of Da Vinci Code train pictures taken on 16th May 2006 – at CBS News

The Da Vinci Code train without its special livery 14th August 2017. Source: Twitter

Another view of the Da Vinci Code train in plain livery, seen at Gare du Nord. Source: Twitter

The Da Vinci Code train was refurbished and continues to be in service as a ‘E300.’

One thing is evident from these pictures. The Yellow Submarine Eurostar and the Disney Eurostar – as shown below – didnt have their power cars specially adorned. Clearly that added a lot of cost to the total job and only the more important ones (Da Vinci, General de Gaulle etc) came with special liveried power cars.

The Yellow Submarine Eurostar:

Pics of this are rare… however its known it took two weeks to print all the decals and six whole days to fix them to the train! Although it was mostly yellow Submarine stuff some of the images (eg at Shutterstock) do show Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band also had a showing on the train’s special livery.

Paul, Ringo, George and John depicted on the side of the Eurostar train. Source: Twitter

Here’s the train near Factory Junction heading away from Waterloo towards Brixton in 1999. Source: Twitter

The Yellow Submarine at Gare du Nord, 1999. Source: RTL

The artwork is the result of four months of hard work by Apple Corp’s art director, 26-year-old Fiona Andreanelli…. ‘We wanted each carriage to have not only a different design, but to tell a different part of the Yellow Submarine story,’ explained Fiona. ‘Nobody has ever run 1,200 feet of movie designs down the sides of a train before. It was a tough order and I’m chuffed with the results.’ Many passengers had booked their tickets without realising the train was being used to promote the re-release of the Yellow Submarine. Source: BBC News

Courtesy of Eurostar Jo comes these Yellow Submarine mementos in French.

What is yellow and powerful and advances quickly under the sea? Source: Twitter

Remember! Yesterday was the Yellow Submarine, the famous yellow submarine of the Beatles. Source: Twitter

The 102 Dalmatians/Dalmatiens Eurostar:

This one was from 2000 to launch the new film based on the earlier 101 Dalmatians film. It was both a French and a British initiative, and that’s why we have the title in French as well as English.

The train at Waterloo International. Source: Tumblr

Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans at the launch of the special train. Source: Standard

I had thought I would not be able to show a photo with the train’s English title, however the Standard came to the rescue with its Eurostar 25th Anniversary photos and there was one example in that set. Here are some links to others: Shutterstock and another from Shutterstock.

102 Dalmatians at Gare du Nord in 2000. Source: RTL

The Entente Cordiale special:

This wasnt a fully decorated train (like the next one the Fete ‘Europe) however it was quite adorned with decals and flags and and messages to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Anglo-French agreements.

The Entente Cordiale, having just left Waterloo International. Source: Twitter

This wasnt just any normal Eurostar rather it too was the Eurostar that set the record breaking run on HS1 a few months earlier.

The Queen named the train Entente Cordiale at Waterloo International before making her way to Paris. The naming ceremony can be seen on this Youtube video.

The train leaves Waterloo with the Queen aboard en route to Paris for the celebrations. Source: Twitter

On the French side this Youtube video shows the train’s arrival at Gare du Nord (note the flags and messages on the front of the train.) The Queen is received by dignitaries at the station and then goes on a tour of Paris.

The front of the train. Source: Andrews Transport Blog

The train at Gare du Nord. Source: Twitter

The special Entente Cordiale nameplate plus the UK Rail Speed record plaque. Source: Le Web des Cheminots

This train was actually a North of London set and it eventually became a SNCF Eurostar. Records say its currently stored at Ambérieu.

The River Thames Eurostar:

Yikes! A real Eurostar on the Thames. This was stunt specially created for the 10th anniversary of Eurostar’s services.

Comin’ under the bridge! Source: Twitter

Tower Bridge opens for a Eurostar! Source: Twitter

Close up of the special 10th Anniversary Eurostar. Source: Langlands & Bell via Wayback Machine

It is said this event was used to cover bad news that had just been made known at the time – the cessation of Waterloo as a Eurostar terminus. Previously Eurostar had said both Waterloo and St. Pancras would be served by its trains.

After conducting extensive research, we have concluded that the benefits of moving the whole of Eurostar’s operation to St Pancras International substantially outweigh the need to operate a handful of services from Waterloo. This move will bring many new passengers for Eurostar from other parts of London and south-east England, the Midlands and Yorkshire and, additionally, benefit domestic commuters using Waterloo. Source: London SE1 News

Outside the Tower of London. Source: Twitter

Moored by HMS Belfast. Source: Twitter

Disneyland Eurostar:

Eurostar has been serving Euro Disney since 1996. However there was also a special Eurostar Disney train – it was launched in the first week of March 2004 – picures of this are exceedingly rare….

The Disney Eurostar! Euro Disney CEO Philippe Bourguignon and Richard Branson are on the extended footplate LOL! Source: Twitter

That wasnt the real Disney Eurostar by the way! The actual March 2004 event was a tie-in with the relaunch of the Disney brand, thus in a way the special Eurostar train was too a relaunch of those services that had been running since 1996.

This one special Eurostar, launched 6th March 2004, proved to be very hard in terms of sourcing pictures! I had begun to think it didn’t even exist and was just a figment of my imagination! I spent ages trying to find some examples…

There seems to be just a handful of pictures of the actual Disney train itself. First here’s one picture from official photograph agencies here and another (same pic different provider) take during the train’s launch on 6th March 2004.

The following two images are from Smugmug:

The Disneyland Eurostar at Waterloo 26th June 2004. Source: Smugmug

Another view of the Disneyland Eurostar at Waterloo 26th June 2004. Source: Smugmug

Update: An intensive search through Smugmug located this interesting photograph of the Disney Eurostar approaching Kensington Olympia en route from North Pole depot to Waterloo…

Disney Eurostar at Olympia. Source: Smugmug

This was units 3000/3001. Scrapped in 2018.

The Fete l’ Europe train:

This wasn’t a full livery just partial! There have been many Fete l’ Europes – however this one was 2006.

The Fete l’ Europe train at Waterloo. Source: Twitter

An incredible rarity in terms of pictures! Just one other here.

3205/3206 is one of the lucky Class 373s. Its refurbished and still in service as a E300.

The General de Gaulle Eurostar 2010:

This again was was a work from the French side of Eurostar to celebrate June 18th 1940 – the anniversary of the call for a France free from the Nazis. The title of the train was actually L’Appel du 18 Juin 70deme Anniversaire – an important event in which General de Gaulle participated during his residency in London. Its for that reason the celebrations began in London and then moved on to France with the President of France Nicholas Sarkozy present on the train.

The train at Gare du Nord. Source: Eurostar (France)

The train at Gare du Nord. Source: RTL

The train at St. Pancras. Source: Twitter

Interesting side view of the ‘General de Gaulle’ Eurostar. Source: Flickr

A very dirty looking 3018 at Brussels. Source: Twitter

3018 was last seen in a derelict condition awaiting scrapping at Valcenciennes. Source: Flickr

Eurostar 2012:

All the Eurostars received 2012 Olympics branding on the power cars. It wasn’t really a significant thing, just the 2012 logo and the words ‘2012 provider’ because Eurostar had become one of the event’s sponsors.

A pair of Eurostars at St. Pancras with the London 2012 branding. Source: Oxford Prospect

The E320 (Class 374)

Not really that important however the whole E320s initially were going to have a light coloured livery as the mock up train showed. I don’t know why it was changed, possibly it was experience with the 373s, which could get quite dirty looking, showed the company a darker livery would be better. As experience shows its just the front cars that received the all-blue, the remainder of the E320 carriages did get this newer look.

The prototype E320 in Kensington Gardens during 2010. Source: Wikipedia

However, pictures of E320s show the do get very dirty so really its not much difference, except the dirt is more visible early on a lighter livery!

Yikes! A filthy E320 at Bruxelles. Source: Twitter

Other special liveries:

These are some other Class 373’s on high speed duties with a different look – but not as a Eurostar service.

SNCF Eurostar:

SNCF 3203/04 on an Étaples – Le Touquet working. Source: Wikipedia

Early form of the SNCF livery seen at Gare du Nord 29th January 2006. This was one of the units that saw service with GNER between London, Leeds and York. Source: Train Testing

This SNCF Eurostar is unusual in two ways. Its in the original Eurostar livery rather than a special SNCF livery. Its also the Entente Cordiale and its name plate can just be seen on the cab’s side. Seen at Gare du Nord in April 2009. Source: Wikipedia

A number of the SNCF sets were in the original Eurostar livery and it seems just a handful were in the special French livery.

Just for compares, the traditional Eurostar in SNCF guise alongside a fully fledged SNCF Eurostar at Gare du Nord. Source: Flickr

Former SNCF Regional Eurostar seen at the Rail Technical Centre in Derby earlier this month. Source: Twitter

Izy Eurostar:

A special low cost service between Paris and Brussels using a Eurostar 373 set in a new livery. On a few occasions (for example see this tweet) a new Eurostar E320 unit has used in place of the one Izy 373!

Izy 373 at Gare du Nord. Source: Twitter

The Izy set at St. Pancras! Seems it might have been on a positioning move en route to France, as it was painted in the UK. Source: Twitter

The Izy at St. Pancras on 14th October 2018. Its livery wasnt fully complete – some decals to be put on in France obviously. Source: Twitter

The Izy’s first trip in Belgium apparently. November 2018. Source: Twitter

Detail of the section denoting the fact Izy is managed by Thalys. Source: Twitter

Current & exs at Brussels. 3213 is on an Izy service to Paris and 4031 Eurostar to Amsterdam. Source: Twitter

Some may notice I have not included the GNER Eurostars. These deserve a page on their own – they were not in any sense a high speed service as are the others on this page.

I also find that even though both Virgin and GNER wanted through trains to the continent using 373’s, it was said these trains (in their respective liveries) would have not been accepted in France.

Most of these regional Eurostars now languish unused in sidings here at Ambronay in southern France – either in plain Eurostar or SNCF Eurostar livery.

The National College Eurostars (#Brumstar and #Donnystar) are not included either since those liveries ironically wont have been on the high speed lines. The fastest these would have travelled is perhaps 60 miles per hour on the back of a low-loader!

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