RMweb Gold stovepipe Posted June 20, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 20, 2018 Still a sizeable amount of money to lose no company would want that . Of course not, but your comments about bankruptcy and redundancies are so way off the mark as to be mis-information. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cravensdmufan Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Peterborough. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
009 micro modeller Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 I hope this link is okay with Mods if not I apologise. LNER Azuma on Twitter tonight: https://mobile.twitter.com/RichieVeitch/status/1009541799709499395/photo/1 Were any actually finished in Virgin livery? I think there were one or two but can anyone confirm this? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 31A Posted June 21, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 21, 2018 I have certainly seen one outside the Doncaster depot a few times, although whether there was more than one I don't know and I don't think I've ever seen one outside the depot, unlike the GW and plain white ones which I've seen at York station fairly frequently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Were any actually finished in Virgin livery? I think there were one or two but can anyone confirm this? Thanks to Dennis Lovett for the image taken on 18 March 2016 at the official launch at Kings Cross. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Wasn't that just the launch promotional livery. Not the final fleet livery? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 With the economic situation of many companies a loss is a loss even if it is a guarantee you don't expect to lose and this can cause a ripple effect through associated companies,hardly disinformation I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 It was still in that livery last November Doncaster - 10/11/2017 Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
009 micro modeller Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 It was still in that livery last November Doncaster - 10/11/2017 Jim Surely in future this will become a way of very specifically setting the era of ECML layouts? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cravensdmufan Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 (edited) Well, I had one final Virgin Trains East Coast trip from Peterborough to York and return today.91+mk4s out, HST return.Wonderful cooked breakfast, staff all very upbeat and cheery. Both trains really spick and span, catering trolleys very well stocked and toilets clean.Perhaps it was my imagination, but I haven't seen it - or indeed felt it - all this good in a long time. Edited June 21, 2018 by cravensdmufan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 31A Posted June 21, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 21, 2018 A couple of posters on York station this afternoon. Not quite sure what to make of the first one; conflating as it does railway industry three letter location codes with the company's initials (and also seen in the Peterborough example posted earlier), but I think the second one is quite stylish and both a big improvement on the tacky Virgin 'style' we've had to suffer for the past few years! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 From what little I've seen (in print only) so far, at least the horrors of the Virgin livery are not being perpetuated. Some simplification seems to be in order. Sensible cost savings in not having a full re-livery probably, in retaining the same colours, but a move away from that ghastly style. Stewart 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caradoc Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 LYRKR....Isn't that a type of bookshelf available from Ikea ? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 No, I think it's some kind of dating app Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold rodent279 Posted June 22, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 22, 2018 LYRKR....Isn't that a type of bookshelf available from Ikea ? Sounds more like something you'd find on the top shelf in WHSmith! (Other bookshops are available). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 (edited) Bring back to the good old days !! Brit15 Edited June 22, 2018 by APOLLO 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken.W Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 (edited) LNER Azuma on Twitter tonight: https://mobile.twitter.com/RichieVeitch/status/1009541799709499395/photo/1 Looks more like a low-loader it's on to me a promotional livery with the 'more....' slogans on the blanked windows? Edited June 22, 2018 by Ken.W Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted June 22, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 22, 2018 Shame they didn't drop the stupid Azzuma name Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 A'Zzuma along on electricity, A goes a bit slower on a diesel !!! Brit15 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Shame they didn't drop the stupid Azzuma name Isn’t it Japanese for “East”? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 So... I’ve followed this thread and I haven’t yet seen anyone explain quite what the Bearded One actually brought to the table, apart from a brand name, in return for the money paid? Since all lines everywhere seem to be chronically over-loaded at peak times, which are self-reinforcing; and occasionally under-used at times when no one has any reason to travel, and anecdotal evidence appears to indicate that regular users remember good service and bad equally, while occasional users don’t remember the brands at all; it does rather suggest that branding is actually irrelevant and largely a waste of money. Perhaps a moratorium on branding, plus a planned transition of all franchises to a management contract format as they successively expire, might be a better way forward? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
009 micro modeller Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 So... I’ve followed this thread and I haven’t yet seen anyone explain quite what the Bearded One actually brought to the table, apart from a brand name, in return for the money paid? Since all lines everywhere seem to be chronically over-loaded at peak times, which are self-reinforcing; and occasionally under-used at times when no one has any reason to travel, and anecdotal evidence appears to indicate that regular users remember good service and bad equally, while occasional users don’t remember the brands at all; it does rather suggest that branding is actually irrelevant and largely a waste of money. Perhaps a moratorium on branding, plus a planned transition of all franchises to a management contract format as they successively expire, might be a better way forward? I think you could be right on branding, even in the franchise system. After all, in retail and other sectors a 'franchise' retains the branding of the main company - the franchisee doesn't invent their own brand but effectively pays to use the one already created by a larger organisation. Otherwise you would see sandwich shops called things like 'Ken Smith* Subway' , i.e. with the franchisee's 'brand' added to the franchise. *just an example name off the top of my head. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Coryton Posted June 22, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 22, 2018 Isn’t it Japanese for “East”? I think it is an archaic word for East, not the one that would usually be used. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakydoke Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 東 (Azuma) = East Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 (edited) I think you could be right on branding, even in the franchise system. After all, in retail and other sectors a 'franchise' retains the branding of the main company - the franchisee doesn't invent their own brand but effectively pays to use the one already created by a larger organisation. Otherwise you would see sandwich shops called things like 'Ken Smith* Subway' , i.e. with the franchisee's 'brand' added to the franchise. *just an example name off the top of my head. Not only that, but there are key aspects of the franchise which must be adhered to. The livery, for one thing. I also don’t recall reading about any McDonalds or Subway franchises which substantially change the nature of the product offered, as happened with the recent timetable changes - which appear to have been defined unilaterally, with no substantive oversight by the relevant franchise authority (in context, the relevant government department) and at least in part, in order to materially effect the way in which the product was delivered (in context, manning levels). They appear rather, to be Concessions by which the right to run whatever services they see fit, in whatever manner they think best are granted Edited June 23, 2018 by rockershovel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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