Eliottjames
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Abellio wins West Midlands franchise
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KashmireHawker
Member
Good to see Snow Hill become centre of attention for WMR's launch. The WMCA are lapping it up with the Media and Guests in the Conference bit of the station already, before what will be a swanky presentation and speeches, with finally that 172 pulling up.
sprinterguy
Established Member
It's a bit unfortunate that the recent bout of wintery weather doesn't exactly present a clean bill of health for LNR's first weekday train services on the front page of their new website!
KashmireHawker
Member
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Silverlink was fine as a commuter - I used to refer to them as "quietly competent", but they certainly weren't as innovative as LM.
Eliottjames
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Good spot!1st sight of WMR's livery found taken by the BBC! https://twitter.com/BBCCovWarks/status/940152086955810816
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
WMT's day job is to run its franchise and deliver the premium/subsidy to the DfT.
For whatever reason, the DfT has decided they will not operate beyond Weaver Jn (not even, so far, on diversions via Earlestown when the Runcorn route is shut).
"Only 2 paths between Crewe and Weaver Jn" is nonsense as the line is at nothing like capacity (currently 5tph plus freight).
There are also competing applications from Virgin and Alliance for paths to Blackpool on the same route.
More problematic is paths between Birmingham and Wolverhampton for extra north-west services.
sprinterguy
Established Member
And cue, in the very first comment, "What happened to the London Midland carriages...do @WestMidRailway have new rolling stock?"1st sight of WMR's livery found taken by the BBC! https://twitter.com/BBCCovWarks/status/940152086955810816
Because, of course, every new operator instantly has fleets of new trains ready to roll out on the first day of operation.
JordyWM
Member
Judging by that picture, it *looks* like they’ve gone for a more classy shade of Purple and orange compared to the mock up pictures.
Not long now then.
Not long now then.
700007
Established Member
Still no news on the LNWR one?
E_Reeves
Established Member
Anybody going to be there to take pics? What about the 350 release?
700007
Established Member
I would like to be at the 350 launch but it has gone quiet....
E_Reeves
Established Member
Just been looking for it on RTT but no luck, but are they keeping the LM code?
700007
Established Member
Same here - there are no STPs on show for any WMT services at London Euston today. Yep no change to the code for now.
E_Reeves
Established Member
Is it definitely Euston? Could it be new street (as they could reveal both units in the same city)?
700007
Established Member
I keep hearing from people that it will be Euston, nothing about Birmingham for LNWR. Possibly Euston for the fact that the LNWR half of the network doesn't centre much on Birmingham as it does the WCML....
E_Reeves
Established Member
Just under 30 minutes to go!
700007
Established Member
For the WMR one?
E_Reeves
Established Member
Indeed
Eliottjames
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Looks as though it'll just be one train in the new livery for a while...
https://twitter.com/WestMidRailway/status/940166572299247616
https://twitter.com/WestMidRailway/status/940166572299247616
Eliottjames
Member
- Joined
- 10 Feb 2015
- Messages
- 34
Eliottjames
Member
- Joined
- 10 Feb 2015
- Messages
- 34
700007
Established Member
The 172 has got the purple front, TfWM is doing a live munch stream on Twitter.
centraltrains
Member
Noooooooo Advertising on the centre coach.......
E_Reeves
Established Member
NOOOOOOOOOO PURPLE FRONT!!!!!!!
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Ooh, I do like that. It's a bit less "busy" than the original proposals (there were two different ones if you do a Google Image search). I'm also a big fan of "partnership" variants as found on the middle coach (though that one is *very* "busy"). Orange doors make it look a bit LO, but then that's no bad association to have given the success of that operation.
Only thing I'd change is remove the "diamond" logo from the cab sides, it looks a bit odd there and is slightly overbranded. (A logo or brand should really only appear once on a coach side or it feels overbranded to me - this is the main issue I have with the SWR scheme).
Interesting that "wmtrains" has disappeared already, the overall company seems to be being known as "West Midlands Trains" written out in full, both on the train itself and on all the TVMs. And on the "Group" website too (maybe they noticed it looked like a 5 year old had done it with a set of crayons).
As someone else has, can I echo the view that it should be nicknamed "Cadbury's" livery?
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DarloRich
Veteran Member
For all of the neophytes here the new LM franchise got off to a great start on the Vale: Cancellations. But yeah - paint.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
To be fair, it got off to a bad start yesterday due to the weather. They were doing better than Arriva MK who operated absolutely nothing whatsoever, though with most journeys on a Sunday not essential it was probably a sensible choice to do this rather than to get people away from home then be unable to get them back later.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
It was poor yesterday and an overreaction to about 2 inches of snow.
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