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Current best and worst livery

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Prestige15

Prestige15

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Which current TOC's has the best and worse livery

Freight companies can be inluded.

For me best: Hull Trains
Worst: Thameslink/Great Northern
 
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sprinterguy

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For me, the best out of a poor crop would be either Scotrail Saltire or West Midlands Railway purple/orange.

The worst would be any of the unimaginative white/light grey schemes: Transport for Wales, Greater Anglia, Govia Thameslink, Northern, Virgin "flowing silk" and LNER (Though in the latter case, the brand is good, it's just the application that's disappointing). I can't wait until that particular trend passes.
 
DarloRich

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yeah - subjective paint wibble! I think it just washes over me. Not sure I have a view other than to say I am not sure white is a good idea. It will never be clean.

61653 HTAFC said:
Worst: LNW/WMT/whatever they're called
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Which one? Which version?

sprinterguy said:
LNER (Though in the latter case, the brand is good, it's just the application that's disappointing).
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Done on the cheap as a "short" term measure.
 
sprinterguy

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DarloRich said:
Done on the cheap as a "short" term measure.
Click to expand...
I just think it's a missed opportunity that they haven't introduced something more comprehensive on the new 'Azumas' when LNER is intended to be the long term brand of the East Coast franchise.
 
DarloRich

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sprinterguy said:
I just think it's a missed opportunity that they haven't introduced something more comprehensive on the new 'Azumas' when LNER is intended to be the long term brand of the East Coast franchise.
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i don't disagree - however I think the government want to spend as little as possible and leave it all to the new "partnership" to sort out.
 
Howardh

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Without wishing to add to the flak Northern get already - their trains look uninspiring and their logo plastered on like out-of-control pigeon droppings does it no favours.

South West trains look good although a more up-to-date font would be the icing!
 
superalbs

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Not sure what I consider to be the best. I'm rather fond of the newest GA ones (without the yellow though, completely ruined it with that), new Eurostar, and a lot of European liveries (such as WestfalenBahn, Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn, České Dráhy, PKP Express InterCity Premium, Le Frecce, Italo, etc.).

SWR livery is the worst livery ever - absolutely diabolical mess (in line with the company)!
At least in my view...!
 
bramling

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Prestige15 said:
Which current TOC's has the best and worse livery

Freight companies can be inluded.

For me best: Hull Trains
Worst: Thameslink/Great Northern
Click to expand...

For me the current best probably has to be GWR. Actually I don't mind Southern's either, although it is perhaps becoming a little long in the tooth now. Chiltern not too bad either.

As for worst, I'd agree with those who dislike excessive use of white - which is quite a few of the current liveries. I'm actually not all that fond of Scotrail's either. I like the dark blue, but I find the way the Saltire has been put on it using dots looks a little tacky. The latest Merseyrail "livery", if one could even call it that, I find vile too, although I liked their previous one.
 
53703

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Best - Arriva Trains Wales (Class 158), Scotrail Saltire, TPE (Class 350)

Worst - All these boring plain white with red lines/door variations that we see now
 
E_Reeves

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For me:

Best: DRS Class 88 (slightly different to the 68s with a few red lines on the livery).

Worst: The new Freightliner livery (ew)
 
8A Rail

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Any that use either silver or white as a base livery!

But top of the class for the worst is 'Trans Pennine' what is that all about! Northern with the 'dots' and whatever comes close too!
 
Prestige15

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61653 HTAFC said:
Either. It's the mess they've made of gangwayed front ends that gets the prize. I'm coming round to the idea of non-yellow ends, but the way they've done it on the 172s and 350s has made a right dog's breakfast of it.
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Their first attempt was aweful such as this.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13928...9G7uJs-29mCzyZ-29DfG6s-28VcLRP-2a6cBqH-Lk4vJe

This however looks alot better
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ksu46...y8Bi7-26UgzqG-27ZZ8HH-29hhaXw-26dSFdy-28MmKN2
 
GrimShady

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Worst: New Freightliner, Northern (looks like a bus livery)

Best: Caledonian Sleeper, GWR, Great Western Merlin, TPE.

ScotRails - Boring!
 
nat67

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Best; XC on a HST
Worst; WMT, with the purple (ill looking 172). And most off all the stupid white VT livery, especially the V for Voyager! God Awful.
 
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I think GWR are a bit too restrained and tasteful. It seems odd to spend loads of money on a fleet of brand new trains (which are very nice inside), and then paint them a dark shade of green that probably looked old fashioned in the 1950s. A bit of bling might encourage more people to get out of their cars.
 
trash80

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I think the best livery is that 313 in the dark blue & grey with yellow ends, which TOC is that? ;)
 
GrimShady

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E_Reeves said:
I agree there. I love that midnight teal livery!
Click to expand...

Much better than the previous ScotRail livery. I'd even go as far as saying it's better than the original IC!

It should have been carried over to the upholstery inside it think, the decor is too bright IMO.
 
D9009Spotter

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Best Current freight - DRS Class 68/88
Best Current Passenger - GWR / First groups dynamic lines.

Worst Current freight - FL G&W orange. (Powerhaul was better) or the FL grey.
Worst Current Passenger - WMT / TSGN.

Just gonna chuck this out there, the new LNER Azuma livery isnt very imaginative :|
 
tbtc

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Here we go again...

Best new one would have to include the new TPE livery - best use of non-yellow ends I've seen - looks really modern, dynamic - and seems to work on loco hauled/ 802s/ 185s

Whilst I'm not a big fan of Open Access or of "Adelantes", Grand Central livery does look good on a 180 (i.e. I'm not just picking my favourite trains and favourite TOC here!)

Worst would probably be the new wales AND BORDERS livery applied to the 175 - looks like a really bland "metro" - makes a 100mph train look like a tram - will probably be fine on the Valley Lines - the front of the 175 almost looks like a Class 92 - the old FNW livery really suited 175s because the willow leaf was the right angle to suit the front of the train - now it looks more like it's going to struggle to get to 60mph - not a style suited for long distance stock

Dishonourable mentions to ScotRail and GWR - both very dull

I'm a bit underwhelmed by the "new" Stagecoach EMT livery on the ex-GC HSTs (but then the Stagecoach livery has never been perfect on an HST - it's more suited to DMUs)

Northern livery looks okay on some units, poor on others, but I can appreciate that they have a huge fleet to try to paint and it's hard to find one look that suits everything (since some trains have flat ends, some have curved ends etc - hard to suit both a boxy 153 and a curvy 170

The Inter7City livery looks good if you can ignore the big dark grilles on the side (which I can't!) - one reason I liked the BR HST liveries was that they accommodated the contours of the trains and had the dark "Z" where the big ugly grilles were so that you didn't notice them - the ScotRail livery seems to want to turn it into a feature-piece!

All wholly subjective though - one man's "dull and uninspired" is another man's "crisp and clean" (though I'd echo @sprinterguy 's point about the blandness of a lot of modern liveries - seems if people can't afford to licence the Virgin brand they just paint their trains sufficiently similar to hope that some of the Branson magic rubs off on them!)
 
neontrix

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Some of the best to me are Transpennine Express, East Midlands Trains, GWR, new Greater Anglia, and Grand Central. I wish the original Virgin Trains Pendolino livery was in existence, same with GNER.

The worst - Thameslink/Great Northern (DfT specified?) as well as Virgin flowing silk. Not a huge fan of Virgin East coast/LNER, either.
 
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