to 1956, the livery which BR applied was malachite green. Following this, BR green, with a yellow warning panel on the cab ends, was applied. By the early 1970s, the livery was all-over Rail Blue, with the cab ends repainted as full yellow. From the late 1970s, the livery became BR blue and grey, which the units carried until withdrawal. The preserved set was repainted in LMS all-over maroon, in 1985. Withdrawal and preservation Withdrawal The class was replaced by Classes 507 and 508. Although some had been withdrawn from June 1980 onwards, the majority of the Class 503s were progressively withdrawn from June 1984, the final service train running on 29 March 1985. This was followed by a farewell tour on 13 April 1985. Cars 28672, 29271 and 29702 had been used as a sandite unit on the Northern Line, after initial withdrawal in 1981. The departmental number of 977115 was allocated to car 29702 but never carried. This set was again withdrawn on 6 December 1984. DMBS car 28686 was gutted during a fire brigade exercise on 19 June 1983, before being left at Cavendish sidings. Some units were scrapped at Cavendish sidings on the Birkenhead Dock Branch line, whilst others were scrapped at the nearby Mollington Street depot. The remainder were scrapped at Alexandra Dock, BREL Horwich and also in Northwich, mainly under contract to Vic Berry, TW Ward and HP Cartwright. Preservation A single set, formed of vehicles 28690, 29720 and 29289, was earmarked for preservation. Though never carried on the unit, the set was numbered under the BR TOPS code as 503 019. This was the last of the units built in 1938 to have been brought into service. The unit is also one of the only two pre-war main line EMUs in existence which are still in original formation, the other being the 2-BIL belonging to the National Railway Museum. The set was kept in serviceable condition and operated occasional special trains on the Merseyrail network until 1988. During this period, the set was used for the opening of the electrified line between Rock Ferry and Hooton on 30 September 1985 and for special services during Christmas 1985. At the same time, Merseyrail decided not to preserve a second set, due to a lack of spares. Following this, the surviving set participated in the Merseyrail 100 celebration on 6 April 1986. The unit, named