SWR Repaints and Refurbishments

[JaJaWa]

I wonder if this is Japan having some input rather than First...

Japan???

 

[XCTurbostar]

Japan???

MTR Corporation is Chinese

 

[JaJaWa]

MTR Corporation is Chinese

Nearly: Hong Kong

 

[fairysdad]

Fair enough. It probably is much more involved than I maybe first thought - though I was thinking more patching over than replacing outright!

 

[Goldfish62]

'The early days' being twenty years ago, of course. The SWT brand was smart, consistent and instantly recognisable for well over a decade, just as a strong brand should be. The early SWT livery was actually quite clever, I thought. A subtle but noticeable evolution of the existing NSE scheme, which introduced the Stagecoach brand whilst keeping the whole fleet reasonably well matched through the transition. Having done that, the way was then paved for further evolution of the brand into the eventual livery. The biggest alteration was the changing of the logo, but of course legend has it that was down to advice to get shot of the Stagecoach tagline.

Yes, I agree with all that. Stagecoach had a very poor reputation at the time so it was a smart move.

Nevertheless the brand is coming up for 20 years old and even if franchising didn't exist I would expect some sort of update by now. The SWT brand is /was strong and consistent, but starting to look dated and too brash.

After all, BR blue starting being replaced in ernest after about 20 years.

 

[BestWestern]

Yes, I agree with all that. Stagecoach had a very poor reputation at the time so it was a smart move.

Nevertheless the brand is coming up for 20 years old and even if franchising didn't exist I would expect some sort of update by now. The SWT brand is /was strong and consistent, but starting to look dated and too brash.

After all, BR blue starting being replaced in ernest after about 20 years.

Branding is a matter of personal taste of course, and I'm sure had Stagecoach remained they may very well at some point have evolved the SWT brand further. I don't know about brash, I would certainly rather a livery with some life and artistic merit than the recent 'DfT grey' awfulness.

Again, whether the shiny grey vinyl of SWR is some sort of an improvement over SWT is of course highly subjective!

 

[Rick1984]

According to Wiki

Class 483:
483001 - LT Red scrap
483002 - LT Red stored has Raptor where number would be
483003 - LT Red scrap
483004 - LT Red running
483005 - LT Red scrap
483006 - LT Red running
483007 - LT Red running
483008 - LT Red running
Future of these units is uncertain, but will most likely remain in LT Red.

 

[XCTurbostar]

Have any plans for the 483 fleet or the island line brand been announced? Like a repaint or retraction or anything?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I thought SWT/SWR had six units operational? Did they withdraw two recently?

 

[Rick1984]

Nothing on plans yet

haven't seen 007 for a while so some might not be running. There's been one sat just outside shed that's not moved in a while. Has LU styled no smoking stickers rather than usual square ones. The derelict Raptor is behind.
008 I'm 90% sure is running

 

[Rick1984]

Dates of when they where scrapped on Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_483#Fleet_details

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Dates of when they where scrapped on Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_483#Fleet_details

Thank you, but that says there are still six units in service (albeit one is stored). The above post implies only four are in service with one stored with raptor (what ever that is)

EDIT: Hang on, I see the problem. The above list has missed out 009, which is apparently operational according to the above Wikipedia page.

 

[Rick1984]

Ah sorry my bad. Missed 009!

 

[Rick1984]

Raptor refers to derelict one sat behind which will be 002 l guess. The sign saying Raptor is where the number should be. Obviously some sort of hang over from the dinosaur liveries. Is in LT red though

 

[Rick1984]

This the one I meant. The signs actually where destination should be. Is indeed 002

Not my photo

 

[BestWestern]

How has that managed to escape being trashed by the local scumbags sat there all day and all night?

 

[superalbs]

According to Wiki

Thanks, these details have been added to the list.

 

[pompeyfan]

A friend of a friend of a friend has said this is what Stagecoach had proposed had they won the franchise.

 

[class387]

A friend of a friend of a friend has said this is what Stagecoach had proposed had they won the franchise.

Wow. That is a beautiful livery. I personally quite like the SWR one, but that blows it out of the water.

 

[BestWestern]

A friend of a friend of a friend has said this is what Stagecoach had proposed had they won the franchise.

Hmm. I was a big fan of the existing SWT scheme, but I'm not certain that would have represented a particularly notable evolution of it if I'm honest.Yellow doors don't do it for me, and a red border around some but not others would certainly have looked odd. The 'outer suburban blue' was my least favourite of the three colours, and seemed the most prone to fade and look a tad scruffy.

 

[class387]

Hmm. I was a big fan of the existing SWT scheme, but I'm not certain that would have represented a particularly notable evolution of it if I'm honest.Yellow doors don't do it for me, and a red border around some but not others would certainly have looked odd. The 'outer suburban blue' was my least favourite of the three colours, and seemed the most prone to fade and look a tad scruffy.

Could the red door symbolize first class or something? I didn't really like the blue livery either but it is a good evolution to me. Applied to the red one it would be brilliant.

 

[BestWestern]

Could the red door symbolize first class or something? I didn't really like the blue livery either but it is a good evolution to me. Applied to the red one it would be brilliant.

Well the notes there state 'red border around first door only', I read that as first door of the train rather than First Class - the illustration appears to show a 450 which have FC in the middle (although of course that could be altered). I gathered the red border was to provide sufficient colour contrast from the orange 'swoop'. Anyway, I don't like it!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

A friend of a friend of a friend has said this is what Stagecoach had proposed had they won the franchise.

Cor that’s nice! A really attractive livery!

 

[Goldfish62]

Branding is a matter of personal taste of course, and I'm sure had Stagecoach remained they may very well at some point have evolved the SWT brand further. I don't know about brash, I would certainly rather a livery with some life and artistic merit than the recent 'DfT grey' awfulness.

Again, whether the shiny grey vinyl of SWR is some sort of an improvement over SWT is of course highly subjective!

I certainly wasn't suggesting that DfT "battleship grey" had any merit whatsoever!

SWR livery looks overly complex to me. I don't like vinyl liveries and this one is so complex it has to be vinyl.

 

[XCTurbostar]

I certainly wasn't suggesting that DfT "battleship grey" had any merit whatsoever!

SWR livery looks overly complex to me. I don't like vinyl liveries and this one is so complex it has to be vinyl.

I agree. Often the simple liveries are the best. Like Network SouthEast.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I certainly wasn't suggesting that DfT "battleship grey" had any merit whatsoever!

SWR livery looks overly complex to me. I don't like vinyl liveries and this one is so complex it has to be vinyl.

I don't mind the livery (and do like the matt effect you get from vinyl) but the square logo looks straight out of Wingdings and it's overbranded as is typical for First - the brand and logo should really only be on each coach at most once, not twice.

 

[Domh245]

A friend of a friend of a friend has said this is what Stagecoach had proposed had they won the franchise.

Makes sense, as that has a fair amount of similarity to the livery that the 158s were appearing in before going grey.

 

[greaterwest]

I was just sent this by a friend;

https://southwesttrains-newsroom.pr...nts-siemens-for-train-refurbishment-programme

So does this mean 444s will get the 2+3 suburban layout, or is the image there just a placeholder? (I notice it's a crop of the image of the proposed 450 interior)

 

[3141]

It would be strange for them to make a great deal of bringing 442s back to provide 2+2 seating on the Portsmouth line, but turn 444s into 3+2 on the Southampton and Weymouth route. I'm more inclined for the moment to suppose that someone has mistakenly given the 444 caption to what's actually a 450 standard class picture.

 

[Matt Taylor]

It might be the only way to provide the required seating capacity in peak hours, alternatively I can't imagine Portsmouth getting 2+2 while Weymouth gets 3+2.