thegeek wrote:Vivarail's D-Train is getting closer to mainline testing, though still doesn't appear to have any orders in the book.
Apart from the possible exception of Valley Lines, I'm not sure who is going to buy them. They are technically interesting in terms of repurposing ex-tube stock for something else but I don't know that they are commercially viable. The largest potential client was for Northern to buy them as a cheap replacement for their pacers, but the franchise spec won't allow that. If they could at least re-gear them to run at 75MPH so they could run sprinter diagrams that would be something, but as it stands these are going to be offered for sale as the slowest trains on the network in an era where the focus is on speeding things up.
Alexia wrote:Full uniform roll-out is as-of next Monday. No more HST sets will be fully converted to GWR, although I would hope that the FGW branding will slowly start to disappear once they work out how to devinyl properly. The 16X DMU programme is well underway, with several examples running around. At least one 150/2 has been done, and she looks very smart. The 158s are receiving an internal as well as external refit, and the first one is due in about 4-6 weeks. Also, some stations have received a lick of green paint, notably Didcot and parts of Bristol Parkway.
I do find this aspect of the rebrand rather odd. It's the 4th rebrand of the Great Western franchise which FirstGroup have presided over and the only one involving a change of name (not counting taking over Wessex and Thames Trains). In the past however, they've demonstrated an ability and a determination to get change rolled out. This time however, they don't seem to have budgeted the money or the time (nor do they quite seem to have the inclination) to get this done, despite the new brand being such a huge departure from the old. Frankly, looking at pulling FGW vinyls off and slapping GWR ones onto the existing livery is something I expected them to have done within weeks, not work towards doing after 8 months. It's not just about repainting trains either - after 8 months they seriously haven't progressed further than a few stations having a 'lick of green paint'? Progress is not only slow, there doesn't even seem to be an overall plan in place for FGW > GWR rebranding. Which is a shame as it's a beautiful branding scheme, much much better than either dynamic lines or barbie (although I think fag packet still takes some beating).
Spotted the redone class 150 unit last week and she is indeed looking pretty smart - a bit odd that it's 150232 which got done though since that unit was repainted barely a year ago from regional lines into plain blue FGW when it had it's disabled bog fitted whereas other units haven't been repainted in almost 10 years. For some reason my phone's colour balancing makes it look teal coloured, in the flesh it is GWR green and looks great.