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Abellio wins West Midlands franchise

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Bletchleyite

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DarloRich said:
No issue - i just don't understand why you would want to do this or why a new franchisee causes such excitement.
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A lot of people don't understand why you or (to a fairly limited extent these days) I like going and standing/sitting in the freezing cold watching 22 men kick a pig's bladder around a field, to be fair... :)
 
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Bletchleyite

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Deafdoggie said:
Why do the 8 coach ones not call at those?
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Because the back end of the unit fouls the WCML at Stone. You can therefore only use 8-car sets if you go straight up the WCML rather than turning right unless you omit Stone itself (which would somewhat negate the point, as Stone is the only station on the "wobble" served by those trains and not by anything else). There may also be an issue at other stations along there along those lines. It's nowt to do with the doors, if it was just that UDS could be used, or the back unit could be locked OOU between Stafford and Crewe when it's much quieter.
 
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Bletchleyite said:
A lot of people don't understand why you or (to a fairly limited extent these days) I like going and standing/sitting in the freezing cold watching 22 men kick a pig's bladder around a field, to be fair... :)
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Isn't the cliche, rather than "22 men", supposed to be "22 overpaid prima donnas"? :D
 
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Bletchleyite

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I was going to say "eww, there's that orange and green again", but purely as an accent rather than a base colour it works reasonably OK.

I wonder what interior scheme will be used? Abellio grey with orange accenting on the seats and green grab poles, maybe? That might just work, while it does have slight echoes of a 1990s Manchester bus.
 
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Bletchleyite said:
Because the back end of the unit fouls the WCML at Stone. You can therefore only use 8-car sets if you go straight up the WCML rather than turning right unless you omit Stone itself (which would somewhat negate the point, as Stone is the only station on the "wobble" served by those trains and not by anything else). There may also be an issue at other stations along there along those lines. It's nowt to do with the doors, if it was just that UDS could be used, or the back unit could be locked OOU between Stafford and Crewe when it's much quieter.
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I seem to recall there was a post somewhere that answered this very question. And I think it also mentioned that in the up direction at stone, the signal is sited so far back along the platform that the rear cab of the front set almost overhangs the platform. Therefore a guard cannot situate themselves in the rear cab or front cab of the rear set to de-select the doors in the rear unit. Please correct if wrong.
 
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oversteer

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Not a fan of the LNR logo. Looks like something you’d see on a small town’s sixth form college
 
brick60000

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I quite like the look of the brand, though personally feel as though the London Midland branding that has been used in recent years is far cleaner. I'm sure I'll adjust to it and that it will grow on me though - not that I don't like it!
 
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oversteer said:
Not a fan of the LNR logo. Looks like something you’d see on a small town’s sixth form college
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Haha, it does a bit, doesn't it?

I don't think it's stronger or weaker than LM, really, it's really very similar - a classic style name with a modern livery and colour scheme. Not (yet) poisoned by service issues, though.
 
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Mordac said:
I wasn’t wearing my specs, so it’s entirely possible my eyes have deceived me, but I think I just saw a London North Western liveried 350 approaching Rugby from the Trent Valley, just as I was heading towards Coventry...
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Isn't it the case that the franchisee was going to launch the new franchise with one fully re-livered WMR and one LNR train?
 
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Bletchleyite

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If they short-form a train because of that, they deserve to be shot. LM don't have enough 350s to be taking them out of service to draw pretty pictures on them on weekdays.

I bet they could do it during the day on Saturday though.
 
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Quite like the LNR logo, also contains a diamond. :lol:

Not keen on the green and orange together though, and I’m still hoping for a rethink on their chosen liveries.
 
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KashmireHawker said:
In other small news, Wolves' First Class lounge to close as a result of WMT taking over the Station from VTWC
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An eventually inevitable move in any case, since Wolverhampton will be entirely deprecated for long distance travel once HS2 opens.
 
ForTheLoveOf

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Just seen a poster advertising that Penalty Fares apply with the LNWR/WMR logos on the bottom. So that's clearly staying.
 
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Bletchleyite said:
I was going to say "eww, there's that orange and green again", but purely as an accent rather than a base colour it works reasonably OK.

I wonder what interior scheme will be used? Abellio grey with orange accenting on the seats and green grab poles, maybe? That might just work, while it does have slight echoes of a 1990s Manchester bus.
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I doubt it, the only reason this poster uses orange and green is because it serves both brands. The actual trains will be branded completely to one of the 2 brands (like GTR has 4 brands).
 
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