A FAMOUS railway fanatic has unveiled a new retro train designed in Bournemouth.

The special livery on the Class 455 train was inspired by its original 1980s British Rail design.

Francis Bourgeois, a social media star with more than three million followers on TikTok, was given a special preview of the train. 

The retro look was created at South Western Railway's Bournemouth Depot and is inspired by the original British Rail blue and minerva grey livery customers would have seen when the trains first arrived on the southern region of the British Rail network in 1982.

Speaking on the new and improved train during a preview in Wimbledon, Francis said: "The Class 455s mean a huge amount to me, so I am overjoyed to see the class’s heritage and service celebrated with a British Rail-inspired blue and grey repaint on 455-868.

"When I first saw 455-868's new appearance for the first time I was gobsmacked by the finish, attention to detail, and also the refresh of the bogies received during its recent maintenance, which without the British Rail-inspired livery is a very welcome sight on the network, but with the livery, makes an overwhelmingly beautiful appearance.

"Well done to all those at South Western Railway who did such a great job with this.

“I can't wait to ride on this on the network, and happily see it spontaneously on my trainspotting outings."

Claire Mann, South Western Railway’s managing director, said: “The Class 455 fleet has worked tremendously hard over the last 42 years.

“As we look to the future with the introduction of our Arterio trains, we feel it’s only right that we celebrate their service and the people who have worked on them, and we were delighted to show Francis this very special livery.

“The livery was painted with a great deal of care by our colleagues in Bournemouth last month, and it's a nod to the original paint scheme from the unit’s introduction in 1983 - though we’ve made a few adjustments to ensure that it meets today’s standards.

“It’s a special moment for our colleagues at our Wimbledon Depot, the place this train calls home.

“These colleagues work every day to keep the 455-fleet running, and their efforts are regularly recognised at the Golden Spanner awards, something we've commemorated in this livery."