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IF Virgin Win the franchise? (Livery?)

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DazDude

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Hey all

IF Virgin retain the franchise are we likely to see a change of livery for their Pendo's/Voyagers as they have had their current ones for the best part of 10 years now? (And I Still remember the change from their bright red HST's to the Pendo's etc) and some of their current stock look like they could do with repainting anyway...(as some are beginning to look a little battered to say the least)

It would be interesting to see them in a different livery regardless of who gets the contract though.
 
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VTPreston_Tez

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I wouldn't half mind seeing a red livery again, there are none on the railways and there's already grey trains with TOCs. There are no red liveries bar Royal Mail, if thats a problem their trains should be maroon. Also if this happens VT trains will pass a school where the uniform is the same colour as their trains!
 

WatcherZero

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Wouldnt repainting all rolling stock be a mandatory part of the franchise even if the same owner keeps it to not unfairly favour the incumbent.
 

David10

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Would think it unlikely Virgin would change the livery. Relivering the fleet isn't a mandatory part of the franchise and should it change hands, the winner may chose to modify the current livery rather than fully repaint as CrossCountry did. GNER, Southern and SWT all retained their existing liveries after they were retained by the incumbent owners.
 

TEW

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The trains will become due for a repaint at some point anyway, which would probably be when Virgin would repaint them should they retain the franchise.
 

Yew

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Do you think they might repaint the pretendolino? Or is it more likely to be got rid of, possibly to another toc
 

150001

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As long as virgin keep the badges on, I don't mind. The XC voyagers don't look right without the badge, unlike the Virgin units.
 

sprinterguy

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Do you think they might repaint the pretendolino? Or is it more likely to be got rid of, possibly to another toc
Repaint the Pretendolino into what, exactly? It presently carries the current Virgin livery, in line with the Voyagers and Pendolinos, and if Virgin retain the West Coast franchise then I would be very surprised if they changed the livery. If the franchise was being dramatically re-scoped then I could understand the consideration of a change in livery, say if the London Midland services were being incorporated into it, but as it is staying very much as it already is then I would expect that the West Coast fleet will be externally refreshed, in the present scheme, as it is required when they pass through overhauls.

We will have to wait and see what the winning bidders’ policy for rolling stock is going to be to be able to assess the future of the Pretendolino beyond the short term. If it was to be disposed of then the extra carriage rake might be welcome in Anglia, if the future, long term, operator of the Greater Anglia franchise decided to undertake a refurbishment on their mark 3 fleet. East Coast wouldn’t want it, as using the traction available (Class 90s) it would not be 125mph capable, unless it was hooked up to a class 91, or if the 89 was dragged out of preservation again! :lol:
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As long as virgin keep the badges on, I don't mind. The XC voyagers don't look right without the badge, unlike the Virgin units.
It would look even more incongruous if the badges were removed from the Pendolinos, as they actually have an indentation in the nose to accommodate it (This is apparent on the four new 390s, which don’t have badges), rather than the badge just being stuck onto the top surface as it is on the Voyagers. Even so, there would still seem to be some Crosscountry Voyagers which have a darker, badge shaped patch of warning yellow that immediately idenfities where the badge was attached!
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As for the Pretendolino, Virgin have announced that they will keep the rake if they retain the franchise.
Ah, well there’s at least part of the mystery of the future fate of the Pretendolino cleared up, thanks :)
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I think people would miss the 390s and 221s if they were anything other than red/silver...
I hate First Great Western “dynamic lines” livery with a passion to begin with, and I think that such a dark base colour would look absolutely god awful on a Pendolino and totally fail to illustrate the sleek lines of the train. Not to mention the child-like scrawl of the dynamic lines themselves...
 

David10

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I hate First Great Western “dynamic lines” livery with a passion to begin with, and I think that such a dark base colour would look absolutely god awful on a Pendolino and totally fail to illustrate the sleek lines of the train. Not to mention the child-like scrawl of the dynamic lines themselves...
Maybe First will adopt their new bus livery http://www.flickr.com/photos/ridgway/7676535834/
 

aylesbury

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Thought that the DFT were stipulating that a generic livery with operators just putting thier logo on the stock.This is to ease costs as they are doing in Scotland with the Saltaire livery ,East Coast has already done this with HST,s and to a certain degree with the 225,s also the GR franchise is doing the same boring but predictable from civil servants.
 

David10

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No mention of this in the tender document. Recall the question was asked of the minister and the response was that TOCs would be free to livery as they saw fit. Think it was a franchise requirement for GA that they adopt a neutral livery on the basis that it is only a short franchise. While I quite like the idea of returning to a national livery, EC's isn't it being the most unattractive livery on the network IMO.
 

WatcherZero

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Thought that the DFT were stipulating that a generic livery with operators just putting thier logo on the stock.This is to ease costs as they are doing in Scotland with the Saltaire livery ,East Coast has already done this with HST,s and to a certain degree with the 225,s also the GR franchise is doing the same boring but predictable from civil servants.

Wasnt that just for East Coast as it would only be two years with that logo.
 

broadbander

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12 Aug 2010
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Hey all

IF Virgin retain the franchise are we likely to see a change of livery for their Pendo's/Voyagers as they have had their current ones for the best part of 10 years now?

All of the newly delivered additional Pendolino carriages have a slightly different livery - the grey ">><< ... >><< ... " pattern is missing along the lower part of the bodysides. The newly delivered Pendolino driving cars also have the new Virgin typeface applied to them - the font is slightly squarer than before to make it easier to read from further away - the various Virgin airlines adopted the revised Virgin typeface a while ago for this reason.

New typeface (on 390 157):
Pendo.jpg


Old typeface:
43_02_9---Virgin-Class-390-Pendolino_web.jpg
 
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