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

EE Andy b1 · 27 Nov 2019

That A.

As the triangle represents the 3 countries, England, Wales & Scotland should that not be made clearer, somehow.

RailUK Forums

Goldfish62 · 27 Nov 2019

I wonder if it's designed by Forpeople, who did the SWR brand.

XCTurbostar · 27 Nov 2019

I think just the logo instead of the ‘A’ would improve that immensely..

Side note - they’ve got yellow fronts! Yay

urpert · 27 Nov 2019

vlad said:
Is it me or are those the same colours that were used by Midland Mainline?

Yes! Two of the best post-privatisation liveries IMO. No wonder I like it.

Merle Haggard · 27 Nov 2019

devonexpress said:
Two.

Great Western Railway
South Western Railway being shorter, modern version for London South Western Railway

Pedantic point perhaps; but the pre 1923 company DID call itself 'South Western Railway' for a while, around 1900-ish I think. Appeared on the side of locos.

westralian · 27 Nov 2019

I instantly think of my hometown Perth (the Aussie one) when looking at that name and triangle together. At a stretch the triangle looks somewhat like the outline of of Western Australia.

ValentaFan1974 · 27 Nov 2019

MalaiseForever said:
9-6 Monday to Friday is pretty poor? Surely the support account should run whenever the trains are running?

It does say 9-5 Mon-Fri, 24/7 from 8th December.

modernrail · 27 Nov 2019

I don't think the triangle works at all. If the third side (the isle of man line) doesn't exist and so it doesn't make sense. They should have taken that side off so it more like a sort of V perhaps.

The external livery does not suit the internal seat colours. The red maybe just about okay but not the blue. Does this mean we are in for new seat covers or another mis-match affair?

Personally the current interiors still look fine to me. The first thing I would do is get power to the people as that is now the biggest thing that stands out as missing on these units.

coradiafan2000 · 27 Nov 2019

I like the name, rolls off the tongue far better than "X Railway". The livery could have been better but we also could have gotten worse. I'll settle for it.

LNW-GW Joint · 27 Nov 2019

Fincra5 said:
Avanti can order the same Uniform as GWR and be sound. Dark Green with a white shirt.

It's closer to some Arriva Trains Wales repaints (the 158s particularly), which are still running around for TfW.

coradiafan2000 · 27 Nov 2019

urpert said:
Yes! Two of the best post-privatisation liveries IMO. No wonder I like it.

Do you mean the original green MML livery (which was excellent), or the awful grey one?

pt_mad · 27 Nov 2019

Tom Maddox said:
When can we expect to see the first Pendo out in the new livery and which one will it be?

This earlier post from EE Andy b1 should answer your question..

EE Andy b1 said:
390156 is still as Alstom Widnes until Tuesday 03 December, i presume it will go elsewhere (Oxley depot) for re-branding for a VIP special on Monday 09 Dec, departing London Euston at 1033, also another 390 re-branded for a service train to either Manchester (1040) or Liverpool (1107).

EE Andy b1 said:
That A.

As the triangle represents the 3 countries, England, Wales & Scotland should that not be made clearer, somehow.

View attachment 70895

That A does look really strange and random. As others have said how many will think it's coach A? Can't see that lasting long myself. Doesn't really add anything to the logo.

modernrail said:
The external livery does not suit the internal seat colours. The red maybe just about okay but not the blue. Does this mean we are in for new seat covers or another mis-match affair?

Personally the current interiors still look fine to me. The first thing I would do is get power to the people as that is now the biggest thing that stands out as missing on these units.

They're (390s) having a full interior refurb including completely new seats in standard.

Brummigrant · 27 Nov 2019

One of the biggest thing at the launch tonight was that they were adjusting the seats so they all recline slightly, which will be fantastic if you're hungover - not convinced otherwise.

Thanks to AWC for the amazing canapés and open bar. I've scanned the brand book from the giveaways and, despite the poor quality, I'm on the edge of drunk and this was the best I can do at short notice, here it is.

It's nice that the brand acknowledges the Virgin heritage in saying that it builds on the great achievements, but it's no GWR.

pt_mad · 27 Nov 2019

Brummigrant said:
It's nice that the brand acknowledges the Virgin heritage in saying that it builds on the great achievements, but it's no GWR.

Well if they're having a buffet and a trolley service, maybe it will exceed GWR?

Brummigrant · 27 Nov 2019

pt_mad said:
Well if they're having a buffet and a trolley service, maybe it will exceed GWR?

True - I've only travelled on GWR once since it changed over. Usually a XC'er if I need to return to my hometown, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

coradiafan2000 · 27 Nov 2019

pt_mad said:
Well if they're having a buffet and a trolley service, maybe it will exceed GWR?

GWR is a very low bar in my opinion.

superalbs · 27 Nov 2019

Brummigrant said:
One of the biggest thing at the launch tonight was that they were adjusting the seats so they all recline slightly, which will be fantastic if you're hungover - not convinced otherwise.

About time we caught up with the likes of foreign express services, ICE, EIP, EST, and even TGV. I always recline, where the seat is able to!

RealTrains07 · 27 Nov 2019

Wow must have taken ages for someone to come up with that. I know lets have a orange triangle, that would make a great logo guys! :lol:

Was expecting more on the livery end of things to be honest, all avanti are doing are simply changing the cab and coach ends and keeping the boring white in the middle. Boring and not that nice for the eyes. I miss the triangle on the pendolino front already :frown:

avanti west coast have a very unimpressive and uninspiring branding/livery

station signage does look nice though ill give them that.

nobody is going to call it “A WC” for short either.

Flinn Reed · 27 Nov 2019

coradiafan2000 said:
GWR is a very low bar in my opinion.

From frequently travelling on GWR, I would say there is a lot to be improved in terms of the service, but GWR's branding is amongst the most effective UK operators.

pt_mad · 27 Nov 2019

Definitely sensing a more serious feel to things from the video. Nothing like arrive awesome anyway.

FrodshamJnct · 27 Nov 2019

pt_mad said:
This earlier post from EE Andy b1 should answer your question..

That A does look really strange and random. As others have said how many will think it's coach A? Can't see that lasting long myself. Doesn't really add anything to the logo.

They're (390s) having a full interior refurb including completely new seats in standard.

Thanks. Apparently the other 390 will be on the 1107 Liverpool service.

Flinn Reed · 27 Nov 2019

py_megapixel said:
It's supposed to sound fast and forward-thinking, but the way they've done the brand makes me think of a boring office-based company. Avanti would perfectly suit an insurance broker, or some kind of cloud technology company.

I do like the blue, however, although the lopsided orange triangle is a bit bizarre. It's just a pity that they almost certainly won't paint the whole train blue, and will instead leave the carriages primarily in ugly plain white.

But I'm no expert in such things. I hope that the next few years will be full of improvements for this franchise. That is, after all, what matters.

I think Avanti should have used a livery based on the main dark orange colour, rather than introducing the blue/green. Fits better with the heritage of the route, and more transferrable from Virgin's red branding in stations. Too many TOCs seem to be using green or blue based liveries recently.

coradiafan2000 · 27 Nov 2019

Flinn Reed said:
From frequently travelling on GWR, I would say there is a lot to be improved in terms of the service, but GWR's branding is amongst the most effective UK operators.

I personally dislike GWRs branding. I'm my opinion it's characterless and lacks it's own identity.

pdeaves · 27 Nov 2019

modernrail said:
If the third side (the isle of man line) doesn't exist and so it doesn't make sense

It's a logo based on a diagram, not a scale map.

coradiafan2000 · 27 Nov 2019

Flinn Reed said:
I think Avanti should have used a livery based on the main dark orange colour, rather than introducing the blue/green. Fits better with the heritage of the route, and more transferrable from Virgin's red branding in stations. Too many TOCs seem to be using green or blue based liveries recently.

I find too many are going with white and red honestly, what with LNER, greater anglia and TfW. And Virgin for a little while longer.

I'm glad they didn't go with an orange livery, although that's more down to my personal preferences.

BigCj34 · 27 Nov 2019

Given the theme has been to use pre BR names for franchises, to negate the need for complete rebrands after a franchise changeover, LMS could have made more sense. Avanti would have to be removed if First Trenitalia lost the franchise.

Ah well what's done is done!

Goldfish62 · 27 Nov 2019

BigCj34 said:
Avanti would have to be removed if First Trenitalia lost the franchise.

!

How do you know that?

Grumpy Git · 27 Nov 2019

LMS would have been perfect. Anyone would think the trains run to those places though, can't have that!

There is only ONE place on the whole route where the west coast can actually be seen as well.

PR1Berske · 27 Nov 2019

Grumpy Git said:
LMS would have been perfect. Anyone would think the trains run to those places though, can't have that!

There is only ONE place on the whole route where the west coast can actually be seen as well.

To be fair, it is called the West Coast Main Line!

coradiafan2000 · 27 Nov 2019

PR1Berske said:
To be fair, it is called the West Coast Main Line!

Yeah, that's true. I don't think it's an accurate name, but it's stuck for so long it'd be too much effort to change it.

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

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