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Virgin Trains (VTWC) new livery being introduced
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Strange there's no black band. Unless this wasn't agreed for Widnes and is being done at depots? Very strange though.
SansHache
Member
There is an opportunity to visit the Alstom Training Academy at Widnes on Tuesday 9th January 2018 thanks to an IMechE Railway Division North Western Centre event. Mike Hulme (Alstom) will be describing the project to bring the new facility to the North West and will also provide an outline of the Pendolino painting programme.
All are welcome but pre-registration is required via the IMechE site.
http://nearyou.imeche.org/near-you/UK/North-Western/north-western-rd-centre/event-detail?id=13861
All are welcome but pre-registration is required via the IMechE site.
http://nearyou.imeche.org/near-you/UK/North-Western/north-western-rd-centre/event-detail?id=13861
E_Reeves
Established Member
No, that award goes to LNWR (front end only
)
E_Reeves
Established Member
Surely the new liveried one would go faster because of the red swoosh?
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/01/be...-the-painstaking-process-of-painting-a-train/
Behind The Scenes With Pendolino: The Painstaking Process Of Painting A Train
By James O Malley on 26 Jan 2018 at 8:30PM
When Train Operators buy new trains, they like to get their money’s worth. That’s why the vast majority of Virgin’s Pendolino fleet, which operate on the West Coast Mainline between London, Manchester and beyond, have around 4.25 million miles on the clock each.
The trains - or rolling stock, as the nerds refer to them - were first launched in 2002 and are perhaps the only type of train readily identifiable to the commuting public, thanks to their unique tilting technology, which enables them to travel around bends at faster speeds.
In 2018, the Pendolino fleet are pretty much at the middle of their life - and this is why Alstom, the company which makes the train, is currently undertaking an important refurbishment project, to ensure the trains will be able to operate for another 15 years or so. And brilliantly, Alstom invited me to come and take a look at the work in progress.
The renewal programme is a complex one. Each of the 52 trains are being put through a heavy mechanical overhaul in Manchester, and just as crucially are being repainted in Alstom’s new depot in Widnes, near Liverpool. This isn’t just cosmetic surgery for the trains - though they will leave sporting Virgin’s newer livery - it’s actually a crucial part of protecting the vehicles from the elements.
Painting a train, it turns out, is actually really hard work.
The process itself takes around two weeks to complete - once a train has been uncoupled and parked up in Alstom’s new building, it’ll take the repainting team roughly 21 shifts, working day and night, to get it done. After, the train needs to be put back together and extensively tested. All in all, it is set to cost around £23.8m.
Why so much time and money? Let’s take a look inside.
The first thing that strikes you is the sheer size of the project: Pendolinos are long - so a building large enough to accommodate them is required. Though Alstom still has larger ambitions - the new building has been built in such a way that would enable it to easily expand if the company wins any more contracts.
The second thing that's striking is how rightfully carefully the company treats health and safety. You can’t just tell people to be careful and expect good results. This was actually unexpectedly brilliant - as there are several ingenious systems keeping things safe.
For example - how do you make sure nobody moves a train when people are working on it? Simple - with a keychain. Anyone working on the train simply tags their keychain on to the “DO NOT MOVE” sign, and everyone immediately knows what to do.
Even smarter still is a cabinet that contains certain controls for the trains or machinery. Everyone has their own padlock, and if they’re working in the area they add it on to the doors of the cabinet, meaning that it can’t be unlocked unless everyone has removed their padlock. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are clearly the best.
Each train requires four new layers of paint: two base layers, and two coats on top. And this isn’t strictly cosmetic - it isn’t about Richard Branson getting the new logo on his fleet - the paint helps maintain the structural integrity of the train and stops it breaking down somewhere between Stoke and Macclesfield.
Some parts of the train are removed for repainting - like the (now) black roof panels on the roof you can see above.
Here’s what they looked like before getting a coat of paint:
At least going for black should hide the dirt a little better.
And here’s a photo of the painting in action - which has to take place in a separate ventilated booth: These are what look like the little offices above.
And here they are fitted back on top of the train. Oh, did I mention? I got to stand on top of a train:
This is my “playing it cool” face.
While we were there, the front of one train was being painted. But even if you’ve successfully managed to get to this point - having moved and disassembled a train, and coordinated a team of people to work on it, don’t expect the actual painting process to be as simple as cracking open a tin of Dulux and spraying away.
The challenge for the painter is spraying exactly the right amount of paint in exactly the right places. And to illustrate this, Alstom had the perfect tool: a VR headset.
One new innovation that Alstom has introduced into its hiring process is a HTC Vive headset to assess just how good people applying for a job actually are at the job - without the need to set them loose on an actual train, and without the hassle of health and safety gear, training inductions and all of the associated paperwork...
So I pulled the VR headset over my eyes and I suddenly found myself standing in front of a virtual train on top of what is called a “wallman”, a mechanical platform which is similar to a cherrypicker, which is controlled with pedals on the floor. The Vive controller had been carefully modified to mount on to a paint gun - identical to the sort that real painters use.
It was a rather clever little system that Alstom has built - with movements matching 1:1 with what it would be like in real life. Even the virtual wallman could be controlled by physical pedals in front of me (apparently in real life it is controlled by a joystick - but presumably that’s much more of a pain in VR because your hands are controllers, not fingers).
The moment had come to spray the virtual train. The trick is to aim for consistency, and this is much harder than it looks: spray for too long, and you get too much paint on the train, for too little and it won’t be enough. Not to mention a myriad of other variables, like air pressure and the rate of the paint flow.
So the technique that I aimed for was to get into a sort-of swishy back-and-forth motion. The hardest part, of course, is the joins - making sure that you’re covering the gaps properly, as going back and giving the gun a quick squeeze will send the whole thing off-kilter and would likely require repainting an awful lot all over again.
What makes the VR brilliant, and the reason why it could soon be used for training as well as job interviews, is that it is capable of giving clearer feedback. At the touch of a button, what I thought was a beautifully consistent matte finish was transformed to show a heatmap of where I’d sprayed too little and too much.
In the real world, the complexity is multiplied even further: painters work in teams, all spraying different parts at the same time - and each team needs to be working in exactly the same way, otherwise they could end up painting differently, making for an inconsistent end product, which would need repainting all over again.
So I stood back and reviewed my work - and outside of the VR I could hear the withering looks of the professionals stood around me as the virtual train looked like it should be terminating at the Tate Modern rather than London Euston. My spraying was… very poor at best. The heatmap was a veritable rainbow of inconsistency.
So needless to say… I’m not sure I have a future career in painting trains.
And this is why painting a train is actually really hard work.
The programme is due to be completed in December 2019 (I told you it is time consuming). And mercifully, the work will be completed by trained professionals.
Class313:)
Member
Here it is...
defo prefer old livery. I have a model 00 scale of Alstom promoting liveried 390 so i wont forget it 
NotATrainspott
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It's a generic livery so that it can be easily adjusted by the winner of the WCP award. If Virgin win it, they would presumably start applying vinyls immediately.
sufian123
Member
They say it’ll be easier to rebrand if they loose the franchise. It’s virgin sticker, it’ll be easy to peel off.
DenmarkRail
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The intention is that it will 'unify' the brands on East Coast and West Coast with the Azuma livery. If VT win the franchise in 2019, then they will begin to apply vinyls to further unify the brand.
Unsure if they plan on unifying the websites / social media, which I would personally find much more beneficial.
Unsure if they plan on unifying the websites / social media, which I would personally find much more beneficial.
Class313:)
Member
we were discussing the possibility of the livery's purpose being to unify VTEC and VTWC brands. As i was saying, its probably not
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DenmarkRail
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Don't think so, as I think they could be getting the 'off' signal in the next franchise.
Agent_Squash
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As has been mentioned many times before, the only reasons the Pendolino's are being repainted is because Angel wanted them repainting. Voyagers aren't being touched as they aren't due a repaint yet - there's no 125mph diesel designs at the moment anyway which can tilt.
59CosG95
Established Member
Back on topic - WNXX's forum have reported that 390011 has emerged in the new colours.
Whatever is the next one shouldn't be that far off coming out.
mushroomchow
Member
Ehhh, not fond of the new livery, but it's alright with the black band. The all-over white one just looks unfinished. I think it speaks more for how excellent the original Pendolino Silver livery actually was and how well it has stood the test of time that 15 years later its passable replacement seems underwhelming. There's also relatively little point in homogenising the paint schemes for the East and West Coast given that by 2020 it's absolutely possible that Virgin will cease to hold either franchise! I'd rather have seen 91s and HSTs in the silver livery myself - I've a feeling they'd look gorgeous, as the Pretendolino rake hinted at.
It's telling, however, that even the plain white livery is ten times better than the hideous WM Trains / LNWR affronts to the human eyeball that they have to share the network with.
It's telling, however, that even the plain white livery is ten times better than the hideous WM Trains / LNWR affronts to the human eyeball that they have to share the network with.
XCTurbostar
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Does 13 have a black window band?
ValleyLines142
Established Member
390040 was working the 0723 Euston to Birmingham on Monday, so that must have been a quick turnaround!
No, it did it's full diagram yesterday, then went to Edge Hill, then onto Ditton in the early hours this morning.
mushroomchow
Member
#bringbacktheblackband
59CosG95
Established Member
Seeing as lists are "in vogue" at the moment, here's the list of all the Pendolini that have/haven't been done.
- 001 "Virgin Pioneer" - not done.
- 002 "Stephen Sutton - not done.
- 103 "Virgin Hero" (with Poppy decals) - not done.
- 104 "Alstom Pendolino" (with Longsight 175 decals) - not done.
- 005 "City of Wolverhampton" - done, with black window band. Nameplate retained as a decal. Unsure if door PIS display updated.
- 006 "Rethink Mental Illness" - done, with no black window band. Old "Tate Liverpool" cast plate removed; new plate is a decal. Unsure if door PIS display updated.
- 107 "Independence Day Resurgence" - not done.
- 008 "Virgin King" - not done.
- 009 "Treaty of Union" - done, with no black window band. Nameplate reinstated as a decal. Unsure if door PIS display updated.
- 010 "Cumbrian Spirit" - done, with no black window band. Nameplate retained as a decal. Unsure if door PIS display updated.
- 011 "City of Lichfield" - done, with no black window band. Nameplate reinstated as a decal. Unsure if door PIS display updated.
- 112 "Virgin Star" - not done.
- 013 (formerly "Virgin Spirit") - done, with no black window band. Unsure if Nameplate reinstated as a decal, or if door PIS display updated.
- 114 "City of Manchester" - not done.
- 115 "Virgin Crusader" - not done.
- 016 (formerly "Virgin Champion") - done, with no black window band. Unsure if Nameplate due to be reinstated or replaced as a decal, or if door PIS display updated.
- 117 "Virgin Prince" - not done.
- 118 "Virgin Princess" - not done.
- 119 "Virgin Warrior" - not done.
- 020 (formerly "Virgin Cavalier") - done, with no black window band. Unsure if Nameplate due to be reinstated or replaced as a decal. door PIS display not updated.
- 121 "Virgin Dream" - not done.
- 122 "Penny the Pendolino" - not done.
- 123 "Virgin Glory" - not done.
- 124 "Virgin Venturer" - not done.
- 125 "Virgin Stagecoach" - not done.
- 126 "Virgin Enterprise" - not done.
- 127 "Virgin Buccaneer" - not done.
- 128 "City of Preston" - not done.
- 129 "City of Stoke-on-Trent" - not done.
- 130 "City of Edinburgh" - not done.
- 131 "City of Liverpool" - not done.
- 132 "City of Birmingham" - not done
- 033 "City of Glasgow" - in various parts around the country. Will not be overhauled.
- 134 "City of Carlisle" - not done.
- 135 "City of Lancaster" - not done.
- 136 "City of Coventry" - not done.
- 137 "Virgin Difference" - not done.
- 138 "City of London" - not done.
- 039 "Virgin Quest" - not done.
- 040 (formerly "Virgin Radio Star") - currently undergoing overhaul at Widnes.
- 141 "City of Chester" - not done.
- 042 "City of Bangor/Dinas Bangor" - not done.
- 043 "Virgin Explorer" - not done.
- 044 "Virgin Lionheart" - not done.
- 045 "101 Squadron" - not done.
- 046 "Virgin Soldiers" - not done.
- 047 "CLIC Sargent" - not done.
- 148 "Flying Scouseman" - not done.
- 049 "Virgin Express" - not done.
- 050 "Virgin Invader" - not done. *chuckles*
- 151 "Virgin Ambassador" - not done.
- 152 "Virgin Knight" - not done.
- 153 "Mission Accomplished" - not done.
- 154 "Matthew Flinders" - not done.
- 155 "X-MEN Days of Future Past" - not done.
- 156 "Stockport 170" - not done.
- 157 "Chad Varah" - not done.
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Re only the one set having a black band, is it possible that Virgin had this added themselves as a late addition on that set but were then told by the DFT it's a no no?
Seems to make no sense why only that set received a black band.
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