First Great Western rebrands to Great Western Railway and related department changes

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Yes, looking down from the castle. Will post elsewhere about it so as not to take this thread off track any more.

[ellendune]

I saw a rake of green coaches from afar on Saturday.

Ah - I knew I'd seen the colour before .. I was brought up on the Southern.  Corfe Castle?

Not quite the same shade of green though!   More GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Loco than SR^▸ (Southern Railway / Southern Region / Scot Rail / Scottish Region (rather confusing - it depends on the context)) Coaching stock

[PhilWakely]

Very smart - shame the 'wraps' have come off the leading power car!   

I presume the 3D block GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) logo on the power cars will not be applied to the entire fleet?

I would like to see black/brass nameplates as well (as per attached)- not sure whether this would extend to numberplates though.

[The Tall Controller]

Regarding a question on the previous page, every HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) power car and Class 57 will receive metallic GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) logos. Not sure about the Adelantes.

[grahame]

24 hours "in" ... and I'm noting that the Coffee Shop was over 40% busier than on a normal Sunday (in terms of both post number and number of user sessions).   Other measures (like session length) hardly varied; there was a very slight drop in the percentage of sessions visiting just a single page ("bounce rate").    Usually, the forum doesn't vary much from daily and weekly cycle patterns - I can't recall it changing as much as it has today did yesterday since the seawall fell into the see at Dawlish!

[ChrisB]

The Adelantes aren't staying. While some of the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) are staying beyond electrification, the Adelantes are off up north (Hull Trains?) at the time Scotrail take some HSTs. So they may not get the money spent?

[bobm]

A bit of theatre at Paddington as three newly liveried trains were lined up for the cameras



The HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) has also been refurbished throughout.



The interior of the turbo has also been refreshed. Both uniforms and seat reservations have been updated




The much talked about metal logos were much in evidence and it seems someone is employed to clean them! 




Bit hard to judge the new livery in the artificial light of the platform but certainly attracted interest from commuters arriving this morning.

[bobm]

In dawn's first light 43188 stands alongside 57603 Tintagel Castle waiting to take the sleeper stock out.



Note the power car numbers have now been moved to the sliding doors rather under the side windows.

[Timmer]

Great pics Bob. I must say I'm suitably impressed with this launch of a new look. Really like the new look standard class. Great to finally see the back of that cold blue panelling.

[PhilWakely]

Great pics Bob. I must say I'm suitably impressed with this launch of a new look. Really like the new look standard class. Great to finally see the back of that cold blue panelling.

Whilst I am very impressed by the new look, the time to judge is not now as everything has been deliberately spruced up for a launch, but 12-18 months down the line when it is 'business as usual'

[TeaStew]

Station announcements "...Great Western Railway service to..." both spoken and automated seemed very odd this morning, no doubt I will get used to this in time! Was keeping an eye out for any green on trains or staff but so far nothing on my travels.

[bobm]

The fully liveried set formed the 07:15 to Cardiff Central so should therefore return on the 09:55 to London Paddington. With the help of RealTrainTimes/Opentraintimes you might be able to follow the rest of its day.

[grahame]

Whilst I am very impressed by the new look, the time to judge is not now as everything has been deliberately spruced up for a launch, but 12-18 months down the line when it is 'business as usual'

That's the $1,000,000 question.  One element suggests it's "just a PR^▸ (Public Relations) exercise" and the opposite element suggests it's a rebirth and direction change for the future - you'll have seen both elements expressed here.

I do recall that our much-criticised secondary school in Melksham - George Ward - was essentially moved to a new site with the same team for a fresh start, and "The Oak" or "Melksham Oak" has a new vitality and is bursting at the seams as parents vote with their feet and the proportion of Melksham's teenagers going to other towns has declined.  And some of that started even in the anticipation of the move before it was completed.  

[sprinterguard]

The 07:15 to Cardiff and 09:55 return has been cancelled due to the broken down Turbos at Ealing; ironically the new green ones.  I understand the 07:15 was trapped behind.

[bobm]

Oh dear. I left on the 07:30 and we did come to a stand near Ladbroke Grove and I wondered what the problem was.