390010 new livery

[TangerineWizards]

I crossed the Runcorn Bridge just as this was approaching the station.

 

I don't particularly like it but given the West Coast franchise is up for renewal in March 2019, it probably would have been wasteful to relivery in full-on Virgin splash, just in case they lose the franchise (again!). 

 

I wonder if the Voyagers will end up looking the same in due course given they are a similar age?

[phil_sutters]

White-van-man has taken over the railways!

[luckymucklebackit]

Thank goodness for Scot-Rail!!  Perhaps if the rest of the country followed suit we wouldn't have these wasteful re-livery exercises every time a franchise changes. Decide a livery for a specific route/region and stick with it, the franchise owners can then apply a small sticker on the doors as per First/Abellio on the Scotrail Stock.

 

Jim

[black and decker boy]

Thank goodness for Scot-Rail!! Perhaps if the rest of the country followed suit we wouldn't have these wasteful re-livery exercises every time a franchise changes. Decide a livery for a specific route/region and stick with it, the franchise owners can then apply a small sticker on the doors as per First/Abellio on the Scotrail Stock.

 

Jim

That is indeed the 'grand plan' of DfT.

 

So far, we have grey/white base liveries with little operator specific branding being rolled out on VTEC, GTR, Anglia, Northern, South West Railway and now West Coast Trains.

I'd expect EMT to follow suit at renewal.

GWR is a brand free livery (i.e. Not branded as first group) as is XC which has little to say it's Arriva (unlike Wales&Borders).

[Karhedron]

Whilst the principle is sound, the drab grey and plain white liveries that have chosen to implement it are as dull as dishwater. Maybe some privatised liveries were a bit garish but at least they provided some variety.

[woodenhead]

I suppose when you are paying these TOCs to run your service and the first thing they do is come up with a paint job for every train which will be within the bidding price with a bit of profit, then the DFT has probably identified a cost saving.

Edited September 15, 2017 by woodenhead

[Luke Piewalker]

Jeez... if the IC225's on the ECML are a guide, those will get manky, quickly...

[jim.snowdon]

That is indeed the 'grand plan' of DfT.

So far, we have grey/white base liveries with little operator specific branding being rolled out on VTEC, GTR, Anglia, Northern, South West Railway and now West Coast Trains.

I'd expect EMT to follow suit at renewal.

GWR is a brand free livery (i.e. Not branded as first group) as is XC which has little to say it's Arriva (unlike Wales&Borders).

The new GWR livery may not carry the usual First flying f everywhere, but it does still carry branding to tell you it is a FirstGroup company. My understanding is that it was a deliberate attempt by First to lose the Worst Great Western image.

 

And is not the outbreak of neutral grey on Thameslink / ex-FCC in part down to awaiting the franchise change that will follow the completion of the Thameslink works?

 

Jim

[black and decker boy]

The new GWR livery may not carry the usual First flying f everywhere, but it does still carry branding to tell you it is a FirstGroup company. My understanding is that it was a deliberate attempt by First to lose the Worst Great Western image.

 

And is not the outbreak of neutral grey on Thameslink / ex-FCC in part down to awaiting the franchise change that will follow the completion of the Thameslink works?

 

Jim

Neutral liveries are a conscious decision of DfT. GTR was first as DfT ordered the class 700s not the operator but it won't change, just any "operated by xx group" logos.

 

All of the neutral schemes (including scotrail) have small owning group logos. arriva have their "arriva -part of DB" on XC and chiltern but they are small vinyls. What DfT want to get away from are liveries such as EMT and Vrigin West Coast sin which the entire train is in the colours of the owning group and which copyright/trademarks would be infringed by a different owning group.

[Nearholmer]

I saw both gWr and white Class 800s today. Are the gWr ones now officially a sin too?

Edited September 15, 2017 by Nearholmer

[John M Upton]

The Thameslink dealer stock white Class 700's have already had one change of logo, it got a redesign to the current rather uninspiring little pink stripe version a few months back.

[black and decker boy]

Virgin confirmed on twitter today that the base white was by DfT, they added as much Virgin Red as permitted.

[cal.n]

Seems a shame, the old livery matched the lines of the train itself perfectly and made what is really quite an ugly unit look reasonably good. It also made the windows seem a bit bigger from the outside. IMHO, it was the best suited livery to the train that was wearing it (with the small exception of a large logo 37).

 

You can also see with the new Northern livery that it is effectively a white body and branding at each end, this seems a big branding sacrifice just for ease of changing when the franchise changes. My main reason for modelling the contemporary railway is the colour and attractive liveries and it would be a big shame to see that go for a plain and almost modular livery.

 

Liveries also serve a very practical function, imagine your a passenger in the middle of a curved platform waiting for your Virgin Train to Euston (as it says on the ticket), you look up from your phone to see the middle two coaches of this. Without seeing the ends, how is the average commuter going to tell the difference between that and this with no branding whatsoever?

 

Edit: They better not have removed the cast nameplate? One of the very 'Branson' touches and added character to an otherwise boring EMU. They may be receiving a strongly worded letter

 

Edit 2: They have: https://mark5812.smugmug.com/Trains-2017/September-2017/i-zr2DhNR/A

Edited September 15, 2017 by cal.n

[Will J]

The greyish bits around the 'buffer' area back to the bogie are crying out for 'Sharks Teeth'.......

[Will J]

Speaking of overwhelming greys, is the totally grey Class 153 seen around the South West a kind of 'go anywhere' livery or just undercoat for GWR Green I wonder?

[melmerby]

Should be Crimson Lake all over with gold stripes coming down to the front

(or is that the back?)

 

Keith

Edited September 15, 2017 by melmerby

[Iron Horse]

In a country know for it inclement weather please can someone tel why white/grey/off-white/light grey is the base colour being applied, in the design industry myself I'm sorry but I fail to understand.....please enlighten me and cheer me up 

[Will J]

You'll have to pardon the smart-@rse comment, but maybe when they realise a fleet of light grey trains will get to look very grubby especially the lower portions, the DFT might demand a deep blue stripe up to just below the windows... instant 'retro' livery!

[Zomboid]

In a country know for it inclement weather please can someone tel why white/grey/off-white/light grey is the base colour being applied, in the design industry myself I'm sorry but I fail to understand.....please enlighten me and cheer me up

White is in fashion at the moment. Just look at cars.

It'll go out of fashion soon enough, and then we'll be left with a huge fleet of unfashionable, dirty trains.

[LMS2968]

Should be Crimson Lake all over with gold stripes coming down to the front

(or is that the back?)

 

Keith

Ah, Class 50 livery!

[Nearholmer]

The TFL family of liveries, especially the Bus and Underground ones, have stood the test of time very well, both in appearance and practicality. Notice that the underground one has a dark blue 'dirt hiding' stripe below the white - that I know to be very deliberately so, because I know the guy who designed it c25 years ago.for many years there was a c1:20 scale model of a D Stock car in the Boardroom, having been there since the livery was approved.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Nearholmer

[cal.n]

Should be Crimson Lake all over with gold stripes coming down to the front

(or is that the back?)

 

Keith

 

Your not the first to suggest such a thing and you won't be the last. Go on Virgin, just 1? 70th anniversary of the end of LMS next year?

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/26246-lms-pendolino/

[62613]

Your not the first to suggest such a thing and you won't be the last. Go on Virgin, just 1? 70th anniversary of the end of LMS next year?

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/26246-lms-pendolino/

That actually looks quite good

[jim.snowdon]

It does, but then, as a passenger, I have little or no choice in whose train I travel, and the external colour scheme is incidental to my journey. What matters more is the operators performance and what the train is like inside.

 

Jim

[Zomboid]

Pendolinos do have a similar shape to the streamlined locos which ran on the ECML and ECML (hence the Virgin A4 mock up looked good, too), so those liveries suiting the shape isn't a great shock.

 

As for the outside mattering - once you've got your ticket, it doesn't. But if you're trying to get people out of cars etc, the outside does matter. It's the first image which gets presented to the outside world, and if it's boring and apparently dirty then the train just won't appeal as much as a more interesting, clean look.

 

I'm not against the idea of a basic colour scheme that operators can only make limited changes to, but if that scheme is going to be plain white then that is such a missed opportunity have a smart, cohesive image presented by the whole rail industry.