The car body and skirting over the traction equipment was painted in "Midland Red" with the roof in grey and separated from the red body by a black strip and black underfloor equipment and running gear. Car numbers were painted in gold on a black background, but were later replaced by solid white numbers during the TMS era. The livery was slightly modified in 2008 by KiwiRail for safety reasons when the red outer car ends were repainted yellow for better visibility at level crossings, this modification being confined to the three heritage sets.