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First Trenitalia (Avanti!) WCML branding, naming and livery

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Energy

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Could someone take a moment to explain to me why this subject is so exciting?
Virgin are a tough act to follow and the rolling stock side is interesting as they have tilting trains, if First continue with new tilting units for bimode then they would be unique but back onto branding, most new franchises have gone for an old style logo, if they did then it would be quite a contrast with Virgin.

people hoping they won't screw it up and want to know that First will do a decent job? VT are well liked after all
Agreed, First have a tendency to either mess it up and have horrible branding (like the original seat covers for adelante's and class 185s) or rather nice in my opinion (GWR and TPE). Some are just OK like SWR.


I love how in Timetable PDFs (WMR, LNWR etc) it still says VT=Virgin Trains
They won't want to reveal the branding too soon, they will just add the new name instead of Virgin Trains, although what is the new initials going to be? AWC? AVNTI? AV?
 

radamfi

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According to Northern (at least for timetable 19), VT stands for First Trenitalia West Coast.

They also show LNER as GR. The code for the the West Coast franchise may well stay as VT regardless of future branding.
 

aleandrail

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221101 is now in all white, after having its vinyls removed today. i believe there is going to be a fair bit of refurbishment done to the voyager fleet early in the new year. I will post if I can find any news about this.
 

Energy

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221101 is now in all white, after having its vinyls removed today. i believe there is going to be a fair bit of refurbishment done to the voyager fleet early in the new year. I will post if I can find any news about this.
Interesting, I wonder if Avanti will put a shield on it's trains, the 221s at XC always look a little strange now as you can see where the shield used to be.
 

I13

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221101 is now in all white, after having its vinyls removed today. i believe there is going to be a fair bit of refurbishment done to the voyager fleet early in the new year. I will post if I can find any news about this.
It'll be a shame to see it go, even though they only applied it to one voyager I thought it looked incredibly smart!
 

Energy

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It'll be a shame to see it go, even though they only applied it to one voyager I thought it looked incredibly smart!
I thought it looked a bit strange with flowing silk, still look strange with only white
 

387star

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Why is it that crosscountry have barely invested anything in their voyagers? They still have tatty Virgin interiors. Obviously a bargain basement franchise.

Hopefully better from Avanti
 
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Why is it that crosscountry have barely invested anything in their voyagers? They still have tatty Virgin interiors. Obviously a bargain basement franchise.

Hopefully better from Avanti

Let's hope so. I'm genuinely shocked arriva have retained the crosscountry franchise for so long.
 

ashkeba

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Agreed, First have a tendency to either mess it up and have horrible branding (like the original seat covers for adelante's and class 185s) or rather nice in my opinion (GWR and TPE).
How can you say horrible branding and not mention the Fag packet? Barbie? Nightclub?

The probable "warning triangle" branding is unlikely to be as bad as any of those.
 
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How can you say horrible branding and not mention the Fag packet? Barbie? Nightclub?

The probable "warning triangle" branding is unlikely to be as bad as any of those.

This may be an unpopular opinion but I loved the Barbie livery. And if by "Nightclub" you mean the dynamic lines livery then I loved that too, far better than GWR's achingly dull green livery.

I can only hope First/Trenitalia bring dynamic lines back, but unfortunately we'll probably end up with a boring monotone livery like GWR and EMR...
 
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I disagree. They have a sense of humour. Something the world needs more of these days.

Exactly. Virgin are wanting a bit of fun, to round off 22 outstanding years - which transformed the West Coast Mainline beyond recognition! And if there's one prediction I can make: First Trenitalia / Avanti / whatever the name will be, will never beat the job that VTWC has done; regardless of there very bold paper promises!
 

Aictos

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Typical cringeworthy crap from Virgin.

I agree, it wasn’t just Virgin Trains who delivered improvements and overhauled the WCML, they did it in partnership with others so the video is rather a case of blowing ones own trumpet!
 

Steddenm

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I think its brilliant what Virgin have done in their ad on social media. Apparently it will air on ITV the day before handover too as advertising space has been booked for it.

I think that Avanti will continue with the Virgin sense of humour as its mostly their staff which will transfer across anyway as part of the franchise agreement.

So what if brand loyalty is low. They revolutionised the WCML and in 1997 they took over ropey old stock and managed to run a decent enough service. 22 years om and Virgin run the only tilting service in the county and the trains still look futuristic.
 

Y Ddraig Coch

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I think its brilliant what Virgin have done in their ad on social media. Apparently it will air on ITV the day before handover too as advertising space has been booked for it.

I think that Avanti will continue with the Virgin sense of humour as its mostly their staff which will transfer across anyway as part of the franchise agreement.

So what if brand loyalty is low. They revolutionised the WCML and in 1997 they took over ropey old stock and managed to run a decent enough service. 22 years om and Virgin run the only tilting service in the county and the trains still look futuristic.

On the outside only I'm afraid. Looking tired and old inside.
 

Clip

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So what if brand loyalty is low. They revolutionised the WCML and in 1997 they took over ropey old stock and managed to run a decent enough service. 22 years om and Virgin run the only tilting service in the county and the trains still look futuristic.

What you mean to say is that billions of pounds of public money was invested in the WCML so that they can run their tilting trains on and pocket vast amounts of money into their pockets by doing so.
 
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