Metropol

Rather amusingly to those of us rail bods, that class 90 all shiny in its new white coat and faux window frame with new logo is pulling a tatty mk3 which, from the door colour, appears to still be in "one" livery, two franchise brands ago...

Alexia wrote:Rather amusingly to those of us rail bods, that class 90 all shiny in its new white coat and faux window frame with new logo is pulling a tatty mk3 which, from the door colour, appears to still be in "one" livery, two franchise brands ago...

It's not that amusing - it happens all the time in fact - East Coast have (or had) loads of mixed sets with their own silver, NX's silver and white and GNER's blue.

WillPS wrote:

Alexia wrote:Rather amusingly to those of us rail bods, that class 90 all shiny in its new white coat and faux window frame with new logo is pulling a tatty mk3 which, from the door colour, appears to still be in "one" livery, two franchise brands ago...

It's not that amusing - it happens all the time in fact - East Coast have (or had) loads of mixed sets with their own silver, NX's silver and white and GNER's blue.

I find it amusing in this brand-conscious world that no-one in the past seven years have thought to revinyl that coach. How's that for you, Mr Pedantic?

Alexia wrote:

WillPS wrote:

Alexia wrote:Rather amusingly to those of us rail bods, that class 90 all shiny in its new white coat and faux window frame with new logo is pulling a tatty mk3 which, from the door colour, appears to still be in "one" livery, two franchise brands ago...

It's not that amusing - it happens all the time in fact - East Coast have (or had) loads of mixed sets with their own silver, NX's silver and white and GNER's blue.

I find it amusing in this brand-conscious world that no-one in the past seven years have thought to revinyl that coach. How's that for you, Mr Pedantic?

Well you'd have been laughing your head off at Sheffield station c.2008. Not only did you regularly see the liveries which you'd see today, but also the liveries of various franchises and PTEs past and present. Plenty of stuff was still in Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western liveries, then at least 4 years out-of-date (and some stuff in the even older North Western Trains 'two star' livery). There was also a handful of trains running around with a mixture of the ATN "transpennineexpress" livery, with bits taken off where First TPE had added their own markings, plus Central Trains house-style enclosed (( )) at the end of the train and East Midlands Trains branding. There was even BR era stuff to be found inside. T'was a right mess.

JAS84 wrote:Especially considering that the old logo didn't even last two years. Abellio only took over from National Express in 2012.

It was originally due to be a 2 and a half year franchise, but now extended to October 2016 (with the exception of the West Anglia metro lines, which are being transferred to London Overground by the end of 2015). Seems a bit odd to rebrand halfway through - perhaps they always intended to if they won an extension.

Alexia wrote:Rather amusingly to those of us rail bods, that class 90 all shiny in its new white coat and faux window frame with new logo is pulling a tatty mk3 which, from the door colour, appears to still be in "one" livery, two franchise brands ago...

I reckon it's Anglia Railways livery - ISTR they just slapped a 'one' logo over it in 2004 when the name changed then. And, branding-wise, the East Anglia franchise has been a mess ever since. Whenever the house has just about been made in order (such as 'one' branding finally being pretty much rolled out properly by 2007) another change has taken place.

For those that may be unaware, in Scotland, the rail frachise holder has to use the 'Saltire' livery set by the Scottish Government. The current holder (First) has been gradually rolling it out since 2008, but there are still a few older pink and blue First-liveried trains around.

All the branding the current franchise holder is allowed is a logo on the train doors under the words "ScotRail is operated by <Franchisee>".

Logo and guidelines (PDF)
Other branded items (PDF)
Pics of Class 156 trains. The 170 is most common on express routes though.

Does anyone else think all this changing livery and whatever's a bit wasteful? God knows how much it costs to repaint all the trains, and change the signage at stations every few years, whenever a franchise changes or rebrands. East Midlands Trains went round replacing the old BR-style signs at the stations round here a couple of years back, even though there was nothing really wrong with them (a style that had worked well for 40-odd years until the TOCs started with their own styles over the past decade or so, and didn't really look dated in my opinion), but I can see them being replaced again in a few years if the franchise changes, as I imagine the new franchisee won't want signs in another franchisee's corporate style, surely that's money that could be better spent elsewhere.

james2001 wrote:Does anyone else think all this changing livery and whatever's a bit wasteful? God knows how much it costs to repaint all the trains, and change the signage at stations every few years, whenever a franchise changes or rebrands. East Midlands Trains went round replacing the old BR-style signs at the stations round here a couple of years back, even though there was nothing really wrong with them (a style that had worked well for 40-odd years until the TOCs started with their own styles over the past decade or so, and didn't really look dated in my opinion), but I can see them being replaced again in a few years if the franchise changes, as I imagine the new franchisee won't want signs in another franchisee's corporate style, surely that's money that could be better spent elsewhere.

It's hugely wasteful; but not a jot on how expensive privatisation has caused the railways to become.

scottishtv wrote:For those that may be unaware, in Scotland, the rail frachise holder has to use the 'Saltire' livery set by the Scottish Government. The current holder (First) has been gradually rolling it out since 2008, but there are still a few older pink and blue First-liveried trains around.

All the branding the current franchise holder is allowed is a logo on the train doors under the words "ScotRail is operated by <Franchisee>".

That just seems far too sensible. It'll never work.

Should follow the TfL model I think. Generic brands with operator logos in monochrome underneath a la London Buses. If First, Virgin and Arriva removed their brands from their trains, we'd have something close to it, given that nearly every other TOC has a geographical name. Of course, asking Branson, Souter or any of the others to debrand would be like turkeys asking for Christmas.