First of all, in my opinion this is the ugliest front end I've ever seen
You can’t have seen a 730 then…
Not my picture.
Picture shows 730002 at Barnt Green in orange and purple WMR livery. Grey skies.
Are Leamington Nuneaton the only services that will be booked for a 2 carriage 196, I’m assuming all Shrewsbury and Herefords will be 4 or 6?
Also interesting to note the first 196s on Hereford line won’t actually go to Hereford, but Gt Malvern furthest West initially.
I wonder why taking the arguably much less pleasant 172s off of the short Leamington line and running 196s on it was chosen to bolster the Snow Hill rather than just putting a coupled pair of 196s in place of a 172 diagram on the Snow Hills and then using those 172s to strengthen othrt diagrams. I suppose one benefit is the 172s are exclusively on one route as a result and the Snow Hill is served by a single stock type, but a 196 would be far nicer for a long journey from Stratford to Kidderminster than a 172 if it was available.