Metropol

cwathen wrote:

scottishtv wrote:I see First TransPennine Express, now known as TransPennine Express, has a new logo and livery to mark the start of the new First-only franchise.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that to be rolled out on a large scale if the GWR rebrand is anything to go by - after 8 months they still haven't gotten any further than marketing, (some) uniforms, 1 HST set and 3 or 4 DMUs.

The 185s will all be done soon - they were all introduced within 18 months of eachother and none have been repainted since entering service, so the paint warranty will be up around the same time.

The 350s might not be, but given it's just a revinyl I suspect they will be.

cwathen wrote:

scottishtv wrote:I see First TransPennine Express, now known as TransPennine Express, has a new logo and livery to mark the start of the new First-only franchise.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that to be rolled out on a large scale if the GWR rebrand is anything to go by - after 8 months they still haven't gotten any further than marketing, (some) uniforms, 1 HST set and 3 or 4 DMUs.

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.

Vivarail's D-Train is getting closer to mainline testing, though still doesn't appear to have any orders in the book.

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.

I think operators are moving away from that sort of thing as it gives a negative impression of the new brand, that its just about slapping a new logo on the same old trains. A new logo that looks awkward on an old livery. Therefore having two brands on the go for a long time seems to be the way to go.

Unless you are Virgin Trains who's popular brand is rolled out as quick as possible.

Arriva haven't introduced their new logo on any infrastructure at all so far, everything is still de-branded Northern, and it doesn't look like this is likely to change any time soon.

Probably money. The GWR rebrand was almost forced upon the company as a fait accompli of having the contract/franchise/extension or whatever it is they've got at the moment. The vast majority if not all of the HSTs will be off to Scotland in a few years (Scotrail's base colour is happily also a similar shade of dark blue) so it would be nigh-on pointless to change all 40-odd sets to green for a period of time not exceeding 2 years. So there's probably not much inclination, funding or resources for the company to roll out the rebrand any faster than is necessary, or on any units or trains which aren't staying with the company. For example, the Pacers and the 150/1s won't be getting the rebrand, but the prototype 150/0s will (in fact I think 150001 is in for her spruce up right now.)

It's not a new situation on the railway - see East Anglia for a total clusterfuck of liveries. It's only in the past three years that Arriva TW (franchise began 2003) has had a uniform fleet, and even that's got variation.

Alexia wrote:It's not a new situation on the railway - see East Anglia for a total clusterfuck of liveries.

add to that several varieties of East Anglia trains with Overground roundels on them - though to be fair, TfL are slowly working their way through them.

Speaking of the Overground, I was in a comfy (declassified) first class seat t'other day on what was presumably a former Stansted Express train:

The very dramatic advert for the new Transpennine Express that has been airing a couple of weeks
http://youtu.be/VvTV61OKiHI

A big change from the animated characters and Jane Horrocks style voiceover that FTPE used.

http://youtu.be/-rKgcdntha0

Andrew wrote:The very dramatic advert for the new Transpennine Express that has been airing a couple of weeks
http://youtu.be/VvTV61OKiHI

Gosh, that's kind of hypnotising!

I approve.