West Midlands Rail livery unveiled

[sprinterguy]

Looks like a return to a local identity for trains in the West Midlands, regardless of selected franchise operator, and the wheel has turned full circle.

New look for local trains unveiled
http://www.westmidlandsrail.com/news/new-look-for-local-trains-unveiled/

This is how commuter trains in the West Midlands could look when management of the regional network is put into local hands later this year.

The new livery has been unveiled by West Midlands Rail (WMR), a consortium of 14 local authorities which together with the Department for Transport (DfT) will jointly manage the local network from October this year. Management is currently the sole responsibility of central government.

Two train companies, Abellio and Govia, are bidding for the eight-year franchise to run local services on behalf of WMR and DfT.

The finer details of the new livery will be agreed with the franchise winner but the design is expected to be closely modelled on the images released today.

(Click link for more)

 

[Domh245]

My first impression is that it is quite hideous.

 

[J-2739]

It looks dynamic, but kinda freaky. I think dirt will not show up so well of this train (which is a god thing, of course!)

The Scotrail model of using an indefinite livery has really taken a toll here/

(PS, that 172 looks rather like a 378 with that livery, to be honest)

 

[sprinterguy]

My first impression is that it is quite hideous.

It is a bit jarring, isn't it. Just because it's possible to do all sorts of fancy things with vinyls these days doesn't mean that they necessarily should.

Hopefully the final livery will be a local adaptation of the corporate scheme chosen by the winning franchisee to give more of a house style, and perhaps something that at least attempts to align with the features of the train it's applied to.

 

[BrunswickGreen]

No way, Jose!

 

[ash39]

Just because it's possible to do all sorts of fancy things with vinyls these days doesn't mean that they necessarily should.

Can't see any gradients or awkard shapes on that artists impression that couldn't have been done with paint 20-30 years ago. I agree generally with what you're saying though. Sometimes less is more.

At least it isn't predominally white like a lot of recent liveries. I reckon it'd be OK with some decent branding on it.

 

[MCR247]

Well that looks awful

 

[yorksrob]

Mustard and purple seems ok. Would prefer to see more of that than the grey.

 

[Tramfan]

Jarring is definitely an accurate description - it really doesn't suit the shape and style of the train, but I agree that at least it's not just plain white

 

[387star]

London midland have a great livery why tinker

Give the 700s a better livery!

 

[Darandio]

London midland have a great livery why tinker

But if Govia don't win the franchise, why would an opponent keep the livery?

 

[XCTurbostar]

I was expecting a more streamlined look. I can't imagine how this will appear on other units. I'm also not sure about how yellow and orange fronts will work in practice. If there is one thing I will credit GoVia for it's that the LM livery looks particularly good on pretty much all it's trains. Even the Dogboxes!
Thanks,
Ross

 

[387star]

But if Govia don't win the franchise, why would an opponent keep the livery?

I thought the gov didn't want liveries to change unecessarily it is a non corporate identity so why would it need changing

The stations are kitted out with very smart black and green signage too

 

[edwin_m]

Don't know what's so new about this news, the very same picture was in Modern Railways December issue.

 

[fgwrich]

I was expecting a more streamlined look. I can't imagine how this will appear on other units. I'm also not sure about how yellow and orange fronts will work in practice. If there is one thing I will credit GoVia for it's that the LM livery looks particularly good on pretty much all it's trains. Even the Dogboxes!
Thanks,
Ross

I agree. I'd actually go as far as staying that it's one of Mr Stenning's best works for a long time, and it will be a shame to see the LM Colours ditched for this rather awful attempt.

It's a shame that it cant remain as London Midland - What's wrong with the brand & livery? I feel suits the area better than West Midlands Railway - I reckon it'll sound silly arriving into Euston. London Midland at least offers that connection between the Euston bound commuter services and the West Midlands based ones, and has a tinge of heritage to it. And it's not as if it's as toxic as Govia's Southern and GTR brands.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

It looks like a three way cross between Prism Rail, National Express and BR Railfreight grey.




*collapses laughing*







OK, that's the kids' competition winner out of the way; let's see the sleek, smart, real livery they are planning...

 

[43074]

I agree. I'd actually go as far as staying that it's one of Mr Stenning's best works for a long time, and it will be a shame to see the LM Colours ditched for this rather awful attempt.

It's a shame that it cant remain as London Midland - What's wrong with the brand & livery? I feel suits the area better than West Midlands Railway - I reckon it'll sound silly arriving into Euston. London Midland at least offers that connection between the Euston bound commuter services and the West Midlands based ones, and has a tinge of heritage to it. And it's not as if it's as toxic as Govia's Southern and GTR brands.

I'd second that, IMO the London Midland brand image is excellent - the name works, it manages to look modern and professional without being tacky, and looks good applied to just about everything from station furniture to Desiros.

In theory the 'West Midlands Railway' brand shouldn't be seen at Euston, the livery was devised for those West Midlands suburban services which were planned to be devolved to the various local authorities, services on the West Coast will be part of a seperate business unit, presumably with its own identity - London Midland would still work for these services if Govia wanted to retain it.

 

[tbtc]

If there is one thing I will credit GoVia for it's that the LM livery looks particularly good on pretty much all it's trains. Even the Dogboxes!

Agreed - it one of the few liveries that looks like it's designed to work on modern trains (rather than something pretty in a design studio that flops badly when applied across blocky windows and contrasting doors).

For example, the "new" FirstGroup livery on buses is fine on paper - you've got a nice big italicised "f" on the side of the vehicles - but any clever aspirations fail to translate onto the side of a bus (adverts/ doors/ windows get in the way of any "clean" livery).

The LM livery is simple, it's got the "mainly dark but with a splash of colour" approach that seems to work well on train liveries (GNER, Grand Central, classic InterCity) - it's one of my favourite modern liveries and I don't think it looks bad on any unit (as you say) - unlike some liveries that work well on the "flagship" stock but look ugly when imposed on less glamorous trains.

Whilst I appreciate it'll be "lost" if/when GoVia's successor is announced (whether at this franchise change or at a subsequent one), it'll be a shame if this strange and confused purple/ orange/ white/ grey scheme replaces it. It looks far too messy - less is often more when it comes to colour schemes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't know about anyone else, but I sort-of see a reference to jewellery in it (the gold, I guess), and possibly also to India/Pakistan, given Birmingham's large Asian population? (The colours and the slightly Moorish-looking symbol).

 

[the sniper]

I think branding is a particular strong point of Govia, as all three of their TOCs have really strong liveries applied well across their respective businesses. London Midland is the best of the bunch though.

It'll be sad to see the LM colours disappear under this 'West Midlands Railway' mess... Was the brief to design something just as horrible as the Midland Metro livery? WMCA obviously value consistency!

 

[RPM]

Whilst I'm not exactly blown away with the overall livery scheme, it is nice to see a yellow end applied in an intelligent/artistic way. A far cry from the jarring afterthought look sported by units in GWR or ATW liveries, for example.

 

[fredk]

Does anybody know which design company worked to produce this?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Does anybody know which design company worked to produce this?

Or was it the winner in a competition for Year 6 pupils in the area of the franchise...

 

[fgwrich]

Does anybody know which design company worked to produce this?

You mean there's an element of design to this livery?

It looks like they couldn't make up their minds and just layered more and more on top of each other. The 47832 of liveries if you wish.

 

[fredk]

You mean there's an element of design to this livery?

It looks like they couldn't make up their minds and just layered more and more on top of each other. The 47832 of liveries if you wish.

Or was it the winner in a competition for Year 6 pupils in the area of the franchise...

I didn't want to be rude to the person or company that made it.

I am still interested in knowing who made it just out of interest.

 

[centraltrains]

eek.

I was expecting if this sort of thing happened, for the livery to be blue or green to suit the whole Network West Midlands colour schemes.

(Perhaps like some of the 150s had for a brief period of time: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3036/2416085445_bf1bddbd46_b.jpg)

The main problem I have with this livery is the really ugly shade of grey (A lighter or just full white section here would be preferable) and the shape of the lines/cruve at the front between the different colours should be straighter.

I hope they get lots of negative feedback about the livery so that they see how disgusting it is and change it back. I do like that shade of purple and yellow. But the colours in the middle are horrendous.

I would have expected them to look back and try to keep colours from the original centro livery tbh (https://photos.smugmug.com/Rail/EMU/323/i-Dvbp2kj/0/XL/323205 Erdington 010405g-XL.jpg). It's just blue and or green have always been in our colour schemes! CT had blue and green, LM have green. Green is a nice colour (unless it's that southern shade which brings fear to many!!)

 

[The Planner]

Or will 99.9% of the punters in the West Mids just go "ooh look, the train is in a different colour, I do/don't like that", get on, go to work and forget about it. Whilst it may be a designers wet dream but being on time and possibly getting a seat will mean more to passengers.

 

[DarloRich]

far be it from me to enter into paint wibble but that is an "interesting & striking" proposed paint scheme!

 

[edwin_m]

It's a shame that it cant remain as London Midland - What's wrong with the brand & livery? I feel suits the area better than West Midlands Railway - I reckon it'll sound silly arriving into Euston. London Midland at least offers that connection between the Euston bound commuter services and the West Midlands based ones, and has a tinge of heritage to it. And it's not as if it's as toxic as Govia's Southern and GTR brands.

Having London in big letters on the side of the West Midlands suburban fleet doesn't really fit with regionalism, and as noted the units proposed to carry this livery shouldn't appear in Euston anyway.

However the Euston-WM services do play a significant role within the WM itself and may also interwork with purely WM routes. I would have thought the best option would be to keep the existing livery but with a different name on the side for those units that spend their time mainly in the WM.

 

[pdeaves]

I would have thought the best option would be to keep the existing livery but with a different name on the side for those units that spend their time mainly in the WM.

Sort-of 'London Midland County' and London Midland Metro', as Silverlink did?