South Western Railway livery launch

[coachmann]

..............And all those works grey locos a complete sell-out.   

[Godfrey Glyn]

Some more of the old and the new at Eastleigh this afternoon. I gather the inside decoration remains as per SWT. I wonder what they will do with the 450s.

 

alll the best

 

Godfrey

 

 

[petethemole]

You must have been near me then. I had a feeling there was at least one other RMwebber about.

[coachmann]

Good to see more photos. From jelly-mould to angles of taste............Much tidier.

 

I suppose if one has grown up with gaudy colours as common as Benedorm and Blackpool's golden Mile, I suppose shades of grey must look positively pedestrian.

Edited September 4, 2017 by coachmann

[brianusa]

Sleeping through most of this debate (because of location rather than content!) it has given me a chance to see all the reactions so far.  The nays appear to be winning!  I like the carriages but the colours of the power cars are spoiled by all the black.  If the base colour was continued, the unneeded yellow panel could have been dispensed with and some other colour(s) perhaps Malachite green in respect to its ancestors or even earlier could have been applied, as has been suggested.  Black is not a very good hi viz option!  Also, the font is too modern; looks a bit like it should be on a Walmart store! 

 

Brian.

[Legend]

Well if you like 50 shades of grey , or two in this case, must be the cut price version.

[Ron Ron Ron]

You must have been near me then. I had a feeling there was at least one other RMwebber about.

 

 

Was it the matching anoraks that got you thinking?

 

 

(...said in jest...naturally.)

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Edited September 4, 2017 by Ron Ron Ron

[bimble]

I don't mind the livery per say, though I can only assume that all the trains are going to be in that colour scheme, which will be a shame as I've quite liked my colourful railway.

 

I do get the logo, but it annoys me that they've not made it the same size as the letters in the SWR square... it's not like it's the franchise routes to scale so they could have made it fit!

[Zomboid]

Given that yellow is the accent colour, a stripe above first class would be beneficial. Might argue that you can get away with it with a 444 which usually won't run in reverse formation, but that scheme on a 450 would give no obvious external clue as to where us plebs can sit.

 

Also a big contrast between the shiny new vinyls and the grubby underframes.

[jjb1970]

I'm with those who think this is an inoffensive livery that has at least avoided being technicolour vomit gaudiness. I woldn't get especially excited about it, but it could have been much worse and it's restrained looks are quite tasteful IMO.

[4630]

Given that yellow is the accent colour, a stripe above first class would be beneficial. 

 

 

... unless of course it's just another part of Chris Grayling's master plan* to do away with first class entirely on some services.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40690621

 

* I've made a broad assumption that there is actually a plan.

[Zomboid]

Sadly his constituency is Epsom, so since he doesn't get first class, nor should anyone else.

I bet if Bournemouth's MP were the secretary of state for transport there would be no such suggestion...

[coachmann]

I wonder of godfrey Glyn minded me making a slight alteration to square off the windscreens and yellow warning panel.... Happy to remove it if asked....

 

[Nearholmer]

Yes, a quick reminder of the old livery is more than enough to make one deeply grateful for the new.

 

It is rather "stealth" though, isn't it? As if they are trying to sneak the trains about unnoticed. Perhaps it's a ploy to reduce overcrowding.

 

I wonder if the stripes are designed to somehow mislead heat-seeking missiles, or give massively blurred images on radar?

[Godfrey Glyn]

I wonder of godfrey Glyn minded me making a slight alteration to square off the windscreens and yellow warning panel.... Happy to remove it if asked....

 

post-138-0-68821300-1504550458_thumb.jpg

 

Coachman, very happy for you to play around with the photo, just as long as I can doodle on any package coming to you from Paul T  .

 

The SWT livery on the 444s never seemed as attractive to me as the one they used for the 450s which I liked the first time I saw it. I rather think Bachmann may have problem bringing out an updated version of the 450s if SWR persist with the grey stripes on them. 

 

Anyone on here really au fait with Chinese symbols? Could there be some inscrutable meaning behind the logo?

 

all the best

 

Godfrey

[phil gollin]

You think this is drab????????????????

 

Unrelieved loco hauled stock green models always sell well......

.

 

No !  The Southern Railway and BR used a lovely varnish finish - it gave a rich, deep colour.  Yes, close to the end of its life it could look dull, but a new coat of varnish worked wonders.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100795926@N02/31912042841/in/dateposted/

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100795926@N02/31654436640/in/dateposted/

 

------

 

I like the modern Southern two-tone green scheme, but think this South Western scheme is dull.  I think that the yellow will spread along the side (probably as a sort of diagonal cheat line.

 

.

[lapford34102]

 

There's an animation on the SWR Twitter feed,...........................................................

Thank you for that RonRonRon, all becomes somewhat clearer with the logo. All roads lead to London.  No idea if this apparent London centric approach is significant or not.

 

Having seen the good photo's that clearly showing the tiger stripes so  on reflection now feel my earlier jibe of looking cheap may be unwarranted. Perhaps subtle would now be more appropriate, though so subtle you've got to be closer than 20ft. What it's going to do to your eyeballs passing at some speed 10ft away time will tell.

Sadly every time I see it the phrase "kitchen appliance" comes to mind. Hopefully with time I'll come to appreciate and love it.

 

Stu

[Gwiwer]

.

 

No !  The Southern Railway and BR used a lovely varnish finish - it gave a rich, deep colour. 

.

 

Sadly we have lost the days of coach-painting and, I suspect, we have lost our coach-painters.

 

The Southern (and others) would undercoat, rub back, undercoat, rub back, undercoat and rub back a third time before any top coat went on.  Then the same process was followed of application and rub-back for three or four coats of green before a couple of coats of varnish rounded off that deep green colour with a genuine shine.

 

You cannot replicate that with vinyl just as you cannot readily apply today's complex (overly complex?) livery styles with paint.  

 

I too have a love of those deeply varnished shades of green once seen south of the Thames.  And of the deep soft seats inside those trains (even the 4TC units had deep sprung cushions though were never green) and the satisfying clunk of the doors as they closed.  You knew one was "on the latch" if you only heard one or two click instead of three.  

 

I also rather like the current Southern livery style which is modern, sympathetic to the designs and respects the past.  

 

None of the above applies to SWR's multi-tone grey livery which, with the angled stripes which are barely there, frankly looks just bizarre to me as well as being dull.  

All roads lead to London.  No idea if this apparent London centric approach is significant or not.

 

 

If all roads lead to London why are SWR replacing an hourly Weymouth - London train with a Weymouth - Portsmouth one?

[Chris116]

I'm net really getting it (no change there), what is the motif or emblem under the S in SWT. Looks like an arrow pointing NE

I think it looks like a backwards "f" with a stick to hold it up.

[lapford34102]

 

If all roads lead to London why are SWR replacing an hourly Weymouth - London train with a Weymouth - Portsmouth one?

Quite so, I've already sounded off about this elsewhere.

 

Stu

[dibber25]

Always thought the various versions of the Stagecoach livery were among the best of the modern liveries. Made the train look bright and attractive against what was often a drab and colourless background. Bold and showy. The new livery, like First's apology for a GWR livery, is drab and merges the train into its background, as if ashamed to be seen. If we must resort to dredging up names of long past railway companies - presumably because it's so long ago that no one remembers whether their reputation was good or bad - then perhaps we should look to use their colour combinations, too. Otherwise, maybe, the old penchant for turning initials into nicknames may come in to play again. "Simply Woeful" anyone?

[Ron Ron Ron]

.....If all roads lead to London why are SWR replacing an hourly Weymouth - London train with a Weymouth - Portsmouth one?

 

 

Only guessing as I haven't got the numbers, but quite possibly because Weymouth no longer warrants the previous level of service to London?

 

It's no longer a ferry port after all and I recall reading somewhere that a large percentage of passengers to/from Weymouth are travelling to/from points west of Southampton and Bournemouth.

 

As far as I can tell, the new Weymouth-Portsmouth service is performing two tasks.

Providing a direct service connecting the three large conurbations along the Solent (Portsmouth-Southampton-Bournemouth/Poole).

Providing the local service between Bournemouth and Weymouth.

 

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Edited September 4, 2017 by Ron Ron Ron

[phil_sutters]

As they have included a south-bound route in their logo, perhaps they are going to take over the Brighton line - a good idea as their management is reported to have undertaken to keep two staff on all trains!

[jim.snowdon]

As they have included a south-bound route in their logo, perhaps they are going to take over the Brighton line - a good idea as their management is reported to have undertaken to keep two staff on all trains!

That'll be the service to Dorking. As logos go, it really has no style, although plastering the square SW*R logo on every carriage is probably worse. It's one of those liveries that I think could only be classed as amateur, although I dare say they paid a design (!) consultancy a significant sum to come up with it. Whether they really earned it has to be a moot point.

 

Jim

[Zomboid]

I read the logo as being (anti clockwise) Reading, Exeter, Weymouth, Alton, Portsmouth.

But it could equally apply to the London suburban network as Windsor, Shepperton, Guildford, Chessington, Dorking.

I think it's quite clever in that way, but maybe I'm looking for depth which isn't there.