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Northern Unit Refurbishments

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Bantamzen

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Oh dear, a drab facsimile of the old Wales & Borders colour scheme, which looked shockingly unappealing after a few years of limited attention.

Although of course the greater concern is what has been done to improve the interior.

I was thinking the same. Having seen a rather shabby looking VTEC HST set at Leeds on Saturday that was in serious need of a wash, its to be hoped that Arriva have plans to keep the newly refurbished fleet well serviced and cleaned, as all that white will soon turn mucky grey in a short while. Branding vinyls will help a bit, but still its a lot of white! Could be a challenge until the CAF units start to land and offer a bit of fleet slack.

It will be interesting to see the new interiors though, can't wait to see some pics when the work is done.
 

mrbluelips

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The livery of a train can really help give the impression of great service, indeed this was something a nationalised British Rail was keen on.

It's something that Northern haven't been very good at for well over a decade. I know that the livery of a train (or fleet of trains) isn't actually indicative of service, punctuality or quality, but it does go a long way to give a good impression.

Notwithstanding personal taste, however.

Look at the livery (side view) of the London Midland class 319 compared to the Northern equivalent. London Midland's somehow makes the trains look cleaner and fresher.

IMO the best Northern ever had was that 5-car train they had leased and put in First's Barbie scheme (I forget the class, sorry).

Without offering opinion on other improvements Northern are making, I hope they do better than the above images suggest and, as alluded to by others above, utilise some funky vinyls.
 

J-2739

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The livery of a train can really help give the impression of great service, indeed this was something a nationalised British Rail was keen on.

It's something that Northern haven't been very good at for well over a decade. I know that the livery of a train (or fleet of trains) isn't actually indicative of service, punctuality or quality, but it does go a long way to give a good impression.

Notwithstanding personal taste, however.

Look at the livery (side view) of the London Midland class 319 compared to the Northern equivalent. London Midland's somehow makes the trains look cleaner and fresher.

IMO the best Northern ever had was that 5-car train they had leased and put in First's Barbie scheme (I forget the class, sorry).

Without offering opinion on other improvements Northern are making, I hope they do better than the above images suggest and, as alluded to by others above, utilise some funky vinyls.

That 5 car unit was one of 3 class 180's Adelante units sub-leased by East Coast (since left).
And I agree with you, that London Midland livery looks way better than anything that's ever touched 'Northern territory'
BR pre-secortarism- Hideous
Regional Railways- Ditto
Northern Spirit/ATN- Plain disgusting
First North Western- Bof
Northern Rail 1- Horrid and boring
Northern Rail 2Better, but not quite FNW
 
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61653 HTAFC

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I'm in a minority as I quite liked Serco/Abellio era Northern livery. Would've preferred a Dutch-inspired livery myself, but we can't have everything!
 

J-2739

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I'm in a minority as I quite liked Serco/Abellio era Northern livery. Would've preferred a Dutch-inspired livery myself, but we can't have everything!

Oh, didn't you remember Northern Rail (Secro/Abellio) having two?:) I think the 1st one existed into 2008.
 

61653 HTAFC

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Oh, didn't you remember Northern Rail (Secro/Abellio) having two?:) I think the 1st one existed into 2008.

There were a couple of experimental ones (white background and light blue background) that I think were only applied to a couple of 156s each. Then there were the West Yorkshire electric variants applied to 321s and 333s (red base). Most units got what I'd call the standard Northern livery with the navy-blue base.
 

J-2739

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There were a couple of experimental ones (white background and light blue background) that I think were only applied to a couple of 156s each. Then there were the West Yorkshire electric variants applied to 321s and 333s (red base). Most units got what I'd call the standard Northern livery with the navy-blue base.

Yeah, well that experimental one looked boring, but the standard on isn't terrible on it's own, just not to the likes of LM. That new one applied to that CAF unit on the artist impression is way better and interesting
 
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sprinterguy

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Oh, didn't you remember Northern Rail (Secro/Abellio) having two?:) I think the 1st one existed into 2008.
The Northern livery went through a few iterations before the final scheme was settled upon. Heaton based 156451 received a lilac, white and grey livery for the franchise launch in 2004, while three Newton Heath based units (156425, 460 & 464) received a reversed version of the scheme where white predominated during 2005, which has made me wonder whether Northern originally intended on retaining separate liveries for the East and West sides of the Pennines. I liked the predominantly lilac scheme carried by 156451, but the white scheme carried by the Newton Heath units was very bland and difficult to keep clean.

It was only a full year after the franchise start that 156469 became the first unit to receive what became the standard blue and purple corporate colours, but retaining the sharp angles of the experimental livery rather than the sweeping curves of the standard scheme which were adopted when the repainting programme was started in earnest in late 2007 (I believe the 155 fleet still carries the earlier angled variant of the livery).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Yeah, well that experimental one looked boring, but the standard on isn't terrihe on it's own, just not to the likes of LM. That new one applied to that CAF unit on the artist impression is way better and interesting
I'm not a fan of light grey based liveries: London Midlands' isn't bad as it incorporates some fairly broad bands of colour, but in my opinion the mock ups of the new Northern livery look awful.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
IMO the best Northern ever had was that 5-car train they had leased and put in First's Barbie scheme (I forget the class, sorry).
Well, what Northern did was to replace the pink First Great Western stripes with Northern purple vinyl, which did look a lot less brash than the original "Barbie" scheme.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
That 5 car unit was one of 3 class 180's Adelante units sub-leased by East Coast (since left).
And I agree with you, that London Midland livery looks way better than anything that's ever touched 'Northern territory'
BR pre-secortarism- Hideous
Regional Railways- Ditto
Northern Spirit/ATN- Plain disgusting
First North Western- Bof
Northern Rail 1- Horrid and boring
Northern Rail 2Better, but not quite FNW
Train liveries are always a fractious issue amongst railway enthusiasts, but I think that Regional Railways livery looked very professional, and both the Provincial and Regional Railways standard schemes allowed for a much more colourful local rail scene thanks to the various PTE schemes that were adapted from them. The sectorisation era liveries were a breath of fresh air compared to local stock painted drab all over blue.

Northern Spirit is one of my favourite post-privatisation liveries, being bold and individual, and I favour liveries that make use of broad blocks or bands of colour. North West Trains "gold star" livery was classy (less so when applied to a Pacer!) but I personally thought that corporate "barbie bus" livery was hideous.

I also like the standard Northern scheme; it puts me in mind of what an updated version of the Provincial "Railbus" livery could look like and, as with Northern Spirit, I like the way that it can be easily adapted to denote specific services, in the form of the West Yorkshire derivative of the scheme and the "Northern Electrics" variant.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I was thinking the same. Having seen a rather shabby looking VTEC HST set at Leeds on Saturday that was in serious need of a wash, its to be hoped that Arriva have plans to keep the newly refurbished fleet well serviced and cleaned, as all that white will soon turn mucky grey in a short while.
Given that much of the stock will be maintained at the same depots with presumably the same wash plant facilities and cleaning regimes as at present, it will be interesting to see whether Arriva can maintain sufficient standards to ensure that new and repainted trains are kept clean in a predominantly light grey livery.
 

J-2739

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I'm not a fan of light grey based liveries: London Midlands' isn't bad as it incorporates some fairly broad bands of colour, but in my opinion the mock ups of the new Northern livery look awful.

Actually, now you said it, and now I've taken another look at the mock-up, it looks a bit boring and stressed. I do like the multi-coloured 'n's though!
 

yorksrob

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All that grey paint will look dirty and tired very quickly. Are all of the TOC's aspiring to be Connex for some reason ?

The old purple livery was far preferable.
 

J-2739

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Looking fresh and smart. A bit of a bored livery but otherwise clean and no-nonsense. The outside PIS looks clearer and brighter. Liking the clean interior panels, very smart. Can't wait to see this finished and in service!
 

61653 HTAFC

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Looking fresh and smart. A bit of a bored livery but otherwise clean and no-nonsense. The outside PIS looks clearer and brighter. Liking the clean interior panels, very smart. Can't wait to see this finished and in service!

Hopefully the livery will have a bit more going on once they've been fully branded and vinyled...
 

BigCj34

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It'll be good to see what the 156's look like. They'd been relatively recently refurbish, yet looked badly in need of another one.
 

507021

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Very smart, the interior looks much brighter. Looking forward to seeing what the finished livery and interior looks like.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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All that grey paint will look dirty and tired very quickly. Are all of the TOC's aspiring to be Connex for some reason ?

The old purple livery was far sombre.

Fixed that for you...:D
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm in a minority as I quite liked Serco/Abellio era Northern livery. Would've preferred a Dutch-inspired livery myself, but we can't have everything!

Orange......."The future's bright : The future's orange".

About time the Battle of the Boyne was forgotten...<(
 

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