The 'Great' Livery Reveal... IS HERE!
- ACMU Director
- Mar 7
- 3 min read
ACMU Society Press Release-
The ACMU Society announce the repaint of DMS No. 64571 of Class 315 No. 315856 into First Great Eastern livery
LLANELLI, Wales—The ACMU (AC Multiple Unit) Society is thrilled to announce the partial repaint of DMS No. 64571 of the sole-preserved Class 315 unit, No. 315856, into First Great Eastern livery. The set is currently based at the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway (LMMR) in South Wales.
The repaint work was an unpublished secondary objective of the first phase of Project Yellow Submarine: a rolling series of weatherproofing work on the vehicles' roofs and bodysides, beginning with 10 days of intensive indoor work in January 2026. In December 2025, the ACMU Society launched a corresponding fundraiser to support this work, which successfully met its £1500 goal in just three days.
The repaint was carried out in secret to avoid any risk of overpromising and underdelivering given the project's strict time and budget limitations. A new livery application was desired to showcase a bold visual change to the vehicle, signaling a clear statement of intent and countering the perception that limited work on the vehicles could ever be successfully completed.
It also forms part of the '315 at 45' celebrations, marking the Sapphire anniversary of 315856 entering service in February 1981. The unit entered preservation in 2023 after its retirement from mainline service, originally under the Class 315 Preservation Society. The Society was a victim of financial embezzlement in 2023 which threatened the continued viability of the project. To help address this, in July 2025 the society re-formed and merged with the Clacton Express Preservation Group to become The ACMU Group C.I.C, Trading as The ACMU Society. The new organisation assumed ownership of the 315 and began to plan how it could turn the unit's future around.
The ACMU's mission is to promote unity in the EMU preservation space by forming strategic partnerships with owners and organisations who own AC EMU vehicles, providing a single unified point of support, promotion and publicity. The group currently owns 315856 and currently supports 4 other organizations and 3 other preserved AC EMUs.
The new livery departs from the Class 315 Preservation Society's previously published aim of restoration to the as-built British Rail Blue/Grey condition. The ACMU chose this new direction to establish a USP for its vehicles. Because similar vehicles have already been restored to this look, as well as a growing trend of privatisation-era liveries being represented in preservation, the group decided to take the Class 315 in this new direction. This is now the only preserved vehicle to carry this scheme.
"We are absolutely delighted to showcase the fresh new look for the leading vehicle of our preserved Class 315 in its new First Great Eastern livery. This partial repaint work will provide a strong foundation for the unit's continued life in preservation, and is a scheme which strongly resonates with many of our younger members." - Lakshman Pathak, Class 315 Project Lead.
“We are delighted to support the ACMU with this important project and they have worked very hard to achieve this. We are sure that the new livery will attract more interest to the group and to the railway as a whole.” - Mark Thomas, LMMR Chairman
The first opportunity for the public to access the vehicle is at the LMMR's open day on Saturday, March 14th 2026, with further opportunities to be made available later throughout the year.
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