Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1184641/london-underground-sell-out/?

Which [underground or other] station would you rename - to what, and why?  (e.g. Fishguard and Goodwick to be renamed "Harry Ramsden's and Goodwick")

Well while on a train the other day I swear the Train Manager announced Bath Spa as Mars Bar.....

Thin end of the wedge and not something I agree with.

We've already got two FGW HST power cars running around with Hewlett Packard advertising on them. White is not a good colour for a Class 43.

Some of the station signs in Cornwall have a local business name on them below the name of the station, I know St Austell and Redruth has them.

I have not seen the two FGW power cars up close yet only in magazines but I tend to agree the colour scheme does not look good.  The lighter colours used on the East Coast units does little for them in my opinion.

Bus companies have experimented with all over adverts for a number of years or, more recently, different coloured vehicles for different routes.  I still prefer a corporate livery.


Taunton and Bruton have not only sponsorship but the station name in a different style which I am not a fan of.

(Gosh I sound like a boring old so and so!)   ;D

Newbury of course has the "Home of Vodafone" addition to many of the platform signs.

IBM Halt?!

How about Microsoft Halt - all trains would have to stop, disembark all passengers, power down and then power up again before re-embarking passengers and departing...

Edit: Of course the National Rail fares system could be sponsored by openSUSE...

I certainly wouldn't want to be on a train stopping at Microsoft Halt, in case of unexpected crash!!

Appleby, more preferable.

Or Appleford. Double sponsorship opportunities there!

Not to mention Appledore.

And all stations on the Firefoxfield heritage line.

Advertising stickers on rolling stock is one thing (which can ruin the looks of a train, but generally doesn't hurt) but renaming stations for advertising purposes is quite another (which I do not like the sound of one little bit).

I have seen stations with extra platform signs which look like station nameboards, eg. Reading (home of ING Direct, if I remember rightly, it was some time ago, before they started the major refurbishment) and Stockport (advertising by Stockport College). I think there were some advertising signs at Swansea last time I passed too, but forget what they said. One of the stations between Stockport and Chester (via Hale) has a Forestry Commision 'the forest station' board beneath the station name. I suppose that idea doesn't really hurt either, if in moderation and in-keeping.

And Maidenhead has 3 plastered all over it.

I saw one of these last night as it was coming into Reading. I had to double take as I couldn't believe what I was seeing, the darn thing looks hideous! Never complaining about the electrification process ruining the look of Maidenhead Bridge and the countryside, when these things are running around!

On the Cotswold Line, one of our Worcester train conductors has been heard to announce on the evening stopper service home that the next stop will be Combe Parkway, followed by Finstock International to the amusement of regulars on the train.

It's off topic / onto those new announcements, but I was delighted to hear "will everyone leaving the train at Westbury please remember to take all their personal possessions and especially their children with them".   

Ahh..this explains something I saw coming west out of Paddington to Reading the other day. I was on a slow service and a couple of east bound services passed us at speed. It was noticeable because the leading power car seemed to be a different colour - almost the colour of an East Coast power car...I'm guessing this could be the explanation.

Who has seen the HP Advert on the side of one of the HST's then? ;D

It was at the London end of Platform 15 in Bristol Temple Meads when I left on the 08:51 Bristol Temple Meads - London Waterloo Service earlier today ;D

Couldn't take a pic from a Moving Class 159 quick enough unfortunately... :(

For those of us of a certain age ...was it advertising Daddies brown or tomato sauce ? ;D

Are these locos on Hire Purchase?

Depends on the horse power, probably!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-cOwAQhi14

From 51 seconds unless you want to sit and watch all the other carriages go by :)

Thanks for posting but I think I will pass on that design!

But then I didn't go much on the power car which had been decorated for the diamond jubilee so maybe it is just me!

Dave

Actually, I'm quite glad to see some reasonably dynamic advertising.... it's noticeable without being showy or tacky.

I think even Bill and Dave might have quite liked it  :)

Tipped off by the trout's post I followed the power car's planned diagram and caught up with it on its return trip from London to Cheltenham Spa.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/hpswin.jpg)
(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/hpswin2.jpg)
43148 pictured at Swindon

Having seen it close up I am still not convinced.  It is clean at the moment but I can see once the dirt starts to build up where the brushes in the wash don't reach it may not look so good.

It does seem HP are taking a hands on approach.  On the trip to Cheltenham the train manager did announce that representatives from the company would be coming through the train demonstrating HP tablets.  I did see some people in HP t-shirts but they didn't seem to be doing much demonstrating.

They had also disappeared for the return trip.  In a way it would have made more sense if they had worked the return journey as the power car was leading from Gloucester to London.  How many people only see the rear power car of the service they are on when it pulls out after they have got off?

I have taken the opportunity to merge the two topics we had running on the sponsorship of stations and the branding of locomotives as the two conversations were merging anyway.

1. Tin Muff

What's the prize?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etKCHLgW_o0

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/hptrain.jpg)

Caught up with it at Reading ...

I suspect it's white because of the very high cost of printer ink.

Always glad to see a grey squirrel in trouble... nowt but Tree Rats, IMHO.

Noticed today that at least one of the HP liveried power cars has been returned to standard livery.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/exhphst.jpg)