Un-user friendly railway: Wrongly branded trains

[Krokodil]

I can’t talk for these exact units but a quick Google search shows networkers with dynamic lines so make of that what you will.

I've a feeling that the Dynamic Lines livery was replaced with plain blue some time before "GWR" was a thing.

 

[Sussex Ben]

Even more confusingly, it used to be a Thameslink service before the May timetable change.

A Southern service that used to be a Thameslink service, run using Gatwick Express stock on a service that doesn't stop at Gatwick. Maybe one of the planners had a Bingo card they were trying to complete...

To be fair to GTR, this service has become significantly more reliable since it transferred over to Southern. It also appears to be getting busier as well as City commuters realise they have a reliable service which isn't packed to the rafters as Thameslink services around this time tend to be. Off topic, but hopefully this is the catalyst for some of the other peak London Bridge to the coastway services to return in the not too distant future...

 

[Bluejays]

It doesn't take much to confuse some passengers. You can have all the right liveries, make a dozen pre-departure announcements (of the sort whinged about on a thread not so long ago) and still have passengers go "what's 'Avanti'?" or "is this not Northern then?"

The solution is to simplify this godforsaken ticketing system and strip out all of the poxy TOC-specific tickets which only exist for operators to circumvent ORCATS.

I'm tempted to agree, it would definitely make things simpler. The opposite side I suppose, is if we want to maximise capacity then good value tickets tied to specific trains or operators is a valuable tool

 

[Eastern Farmer]

I've a feeling that the Dynamic Lines livery was replaced with plain blue some time before "GWR" was a thing.

Ah ok thanks mate, as you may have guessed from the name I’m not from down those parts so was only going off Google!

 

[infobleep]

Or someone decrees that the new brand shouldn’t be applied to tired, unrefurbished stock. Then the brakes get put on the refurbishment programme.

Tired, unrefurbished stock that isn't being retired anytime soon.

 

[The exile]

Tired, unrefurbished stock that isn't being retired anytime soon.

No - but it is being refreshed (and what a (optical) difference)

 

[infobleep]

No - but it is being refreshed (and what a (optical) difference)

Whilst being refreshed they can change the livery outside.

 

[Benjwri]

It’s probably worth mentioning that it isn’t up to GWR whether the units are repainted, and it’s at the D(a)fT what is repainted these days. Their money saving attitude has probably decided First Great Western is close enough to Great Western Railway. We’re lucky enough the refresh was allowed, a change of paint would probably be what was taken out to justify it.

 

[northwichcat]

This thread reminds me when I was in Somerset. I bought a First Bus week ticket and while waiting for a bus a green bus turned up saying Buses of Somerset. I was unaware until later that the First Bus ticket I had purchased would have been valid on that bus.

 

[The exile]

Whilst being refreshed they can change the livery outside.

I would guess they will - the paint jobs on the purple ones are very ropey now!

 

[FGW_DID]

As already mentioned on the turbo refresh thread, the 166s have just started their refresh program and those that aren’t green will be once they emerge from works.

 

[Falcon1200]

I find myself very much in two minds on this discussion!

Going back to the OP, assuming that the train was announced and shown of information screens as the GWR service to Cardiff, why would passengers going to Cardiff not board it because the wording on the train was (in this case slightly) different? But OTOH we should be aware that the railway can easily be confusing to non-staff or enthusiasts, as examples from the last two weeks show;

I have travelled twice on Avanti's 0736 Glasgow Central-Euston service, and on both occasions, when tickets were being checked at the platform entrance at Central, passengers in front of me were turned away because they were booked on Avanti's 0800 to Euston via Birmingham; In one case the passengers were travelling to Sandwell & Dudley, which the 0736 of course goes nowhere near. And on the second trip, now sat on the train at Central, a passenger boarded with a reservation for a seat in which somebody else, with a reservation for the same seat, was already sat! Luckily the Train Manager was passing and quickly found that the second passenger was travelling to Birmingham and was therefore, of course, booked on the 0800. Fortunately they were able to detrain (just) before the 0736 departed.

Therefore the railway, and we, should not assume that things which are obvious to us will necessarily be the same for others.