ECML franchise to be broucht back under Public Ownership

[stovepipe]

Still a sizeable amount of money to lose no company would want that .

 

Of course not, but your comments about bankruptcy and redundancies are so way off the mark as to be mis-information.

[cravensdmufan]

Peterborough.

[009 micro modeller]

I hope this link is okay with Mods if not I apologise.

 

LNER Azuma on Twitter tonight:

https://mobile.twitter.com/RichieVeitch/status/1009541799709499395/photo/1

Were any actually finished in Virgin livery? I think there were one or two but can anyone confirm this?

[31A]

I have certainly seen one outside the Doncaster depot a few times, although whether there was more than one I don't know and I don't think I've ever seen one outside the depot, unlike the GW and plain white ones which I've seen at York station fairly frequently.

[Andy Y]

Were any actually finished in Virgin livery? I think there were one or two but can anyone confirm this?

 

Thanks to Dennis Lovett for the image taken on 18 March 2016 at the official launch at Kings Cross.

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

Wasn't that just the launch promotional livery. Not the final fleet livery?

[lmsforever]

With the economic situation of many companies a loss is a loss even if it is a guarantee you don't expect to lose and this can cause a ripple effect through associated companies,hardly disinformation I think.

[luckymucklebackit]

It was still in that livery last November

 

 

 

 

Doncaster - 10/11/2017

 

Jim

[009 micro modeller]

It was still in that livery last November

 

 

 

 

Doncaster - 10/11/2017

 

Jim

Surely in future this will become a way of very specifically setting the era of ECML layouts?

[cravensdmufan]

Well, I had one final Virgin Trains East Coast trip from Peterborough to York and return today.

91+mk4s out, HST return.

Wonderful cooked breakfast, staff all very upbeat and cheery. Both trains really spick and span, catering trolleys very well stocked and toilets clean.

Perhaps it was my imagination, but I haven't seen it - or indeed felt it - all this good in a long time.

Edited June 21, 2018 by cravensdmufan

[31A]

A couple of posters on York station this afternoon.

 

 

 

Not quite sure what to make of the first one; conflating as it does railway industry three letter location codes with the company's initials (and also seen in the Peterborough example posted earlier), but I think the second one is quite stylish and both a big improvement on the tacky Virgin 'style' we've had to suffer for the past few years!

[stewartingram]

From what little I've seen (in print only) so far, at least the horrors of the Virgin livery are not being perpetuated. Some simplification seems to be in order. Sensible cost savings in not having a full re-livery probably, in retaining the same colours, but a move away from that ghastly style.

 

Stewart

[caradoc]

LYRKR....Isn't that a type of bookshelf available from Ikea ?

[Zomboid]

No, I think it's some kind of dating app

[rodent279]

LYRKR....Isn't that a type of bookshelf available from Ikea ?

Sounds more like something you'd find on the top shelf in WHSmith!

(Other bookshops are available).

[APOLLO]

Bring back to the good old days !!

 

 

 

 

Brit15

Edited June 22, 2018 by APOLLO

[Ken.W]

LNER Azuma on Twitter tonight:

https://mobile.twitter.com/RichieVeitch/status/1009541799709499395/photo/1

 

Looks more like a low-loader it's on to me

 

a promotional livery with the 'more....' slogans on the blanked windows?

Edited June 22, 2018 by Ken.W

[russ p]

Shame they didn't drop the stupid Azzuma name

[APOLLO]

A'Zzuma along on electricity, A goes a bit slower on a diesel !!!

 

Brit15

[rockershovel]

Shame they didn't drop the stupid Azzuma name

Isn’t it Japanese for “East”?

[rockershovel]

So... I’ve followed this thread and I haven’t yet seen anyone explain quite what the Bearded One actually brought to the table, apart from a brand name, in return for the money paid?

 

Since all lines everywhere seem to be chronically over-loaded at peak times, which are self-reinforcing; and occasionally under-used at times when no one has any reason to travel, and anecdotal evidence appears to indicate that regular users remember good service and bad equally, while occasional users don’t remember the brands at all; it does rather suggest that branding is actually irrelevant and largely a waste of money.

 

Perhaps a moratorium on branding, plus a planned transition of all franchises to a management contract format as they successively expire, might be a better way forward?

[009 micro modeller]

So... I’ve followed this thread and I haven’t yet seen anyone explain quite what the Bearded One actually brought to the table, apart from a brand name, in return for the money paid?

 

Since all lines everywhere seem to be chronically over-loaded at peak times, which are self-reinforcing; and occasionally under-used at times when no one has any reason to travel, and anecdotal evidence appears to indicate that regular users remember good service and bad equally, while occasional users don’t remember the brands at all; it does rather suggest that branding is actually irrelevant and largely a waste of money.

 

Perhaps a moratorium on branding, plus a planned transition of all franchises to a management contract format as they successively expire, might be a better way forward?

I think you could be right on branding, even in the franchise system. After all, in retail and other sectors a 'franchise' retains the branding of the main company - the franchisee doesn't invent their own brand but effectively pays to use the one already created by a larger organisation. Otherwise you would see sandwich shops called things like 'Ken Smith* Subway' , i.e. with the franchisee's 'brand'

added to the franchise.

 

*just an example name off the top of my head.

[Coryton]

Isn’t it Japanese for “East”?

 

I think it is an archaic word for East, not the one that would usually be used.

[Oakydoke]

東

(Azuma) = East

[rockershovel]

I think you could be right on branding, even in the franchise system. After all, in retail and other sectors a 'franchise' retains the branding of the main company - the franchisee doesn't invent their own brand but effectively pays to use the one already created by a larger organisation. Otherwise you would see sandwich shops called things like 'Ken Smith* Subway' , i.e. with the franchisee's 'brand'

added to the franchise.

*just an example name off the top of my head.

Not only that, but there are key aspects of the franchise which must be adhered to. The livery, for one thing. I also don’t recall reading about any McDonalds or Subway franchises which substantially change the nature of the product offered, as happened with the recent timetable changes - which appear to have been defined unilaterally, with no substantive oversight by the relevant franchise authority (in context, the relevant government department) and at least in part, in order to materially effect the way in which the product was delivered (in context, manning levels).

 

They appear rather, to be Concessions by which the right to run whatever services they see fit, in whatever manner they think best are granted

Edited June 23, 2018 by rockershovel