I thought of this as particularly relevant considering we have a fair few midlanders on this forum. A proposed design for the livery of the incoming West Midlands Rail has been posted today on their website
Needless to say, it has certainly provoked a discussion on the RailUK forums. I see the proposed design as rather cluttered and not stylish (personally I'd like to see the LM livery kept) but accepting a new livery may be desired, I decided to see if I could improve it at all - turns out the livery is a bit of a devil to reskin so you'll have to excuse its poor quality as it's only a quick knock-up. Much better I think!
West Midlands Rail
- Nexusdj
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Re: West Midlands Rail
Yours looks a lot better but purple as the predominant train colour .... nope ! Greens been the predominant colour round here since regi rail days and I know change can sometimes be refreshing but that proposed livery in the top image ... Yuck ! It's way over done , far too many angles but the main thing is lose that purple colour . I dread to think what colour the staff uniforms will be , AFKAP or Prince would of been proud if he was still alive ....
It's the Midline bubble car or Canary class 312 fiasco again !
http://martynhilbert.railpic.net/galler ... x53829.jpg
http://www.miac.org.uk/images/55033bromsgrove.jpg
As for "West Midlands Railways" .... Far too long , it's a mouthful , it wants a catchy name like WMPTE (wumpty) , Midline , Centro , Central trains or london Midland , one that rolls off the tongue quickly and is easily remembered . Even Network West Midlands works better and still sounds modern , West Midlands Railways sounds like a throwback to pre grouping steam days !
How about Brum Rail , easily abbreviated to BR
It's the Midline bubble car or Canary class 312 fiasco again !
http://martynhilbert.railpic.net/galler ... x53829.jpg
http://www.miac.org.uk/images/55033bromsgrove.jpg
As for "West Midlands Railways" .... Far too long , it's a mouthful , it wants a catchy name like WMPTE (wumpty) , Midline , Centro , Central trains or london Midland , one that rolls off the tongue quickly and is easily remembered . Even Network West Midlands works better and still sounds modern , West Midlands Railways sounds like a throwback to pre grouping steam days !
How about Brum Rail , easily abbreviated to BR
High visibility pixels must be worn when on or about the line !!
- cyberdonblue
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Re: West Midlands Rail
Showing my age, I'm sure, but I don't understand the desire for all these obscure colours. That top picture looks like someone vomitted all over it. There have been some great colour schemes in days of old - the old BR blue and grey, the LM's maroon, CIE's orange and black - so why do we have to have trains that look like they were standing just outside when there was an explosion in the paint factory? Very sad.
Dave
Dave
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Re: West Midlands Rail
Rail livery is always guaranteed to cause much frothing and gnashing of teeth. Probably one of the most divisive subjects among enthusiasts (especially heritage ones!).
From a purely design point of view, it's a complete mess. It doesn't deliver any clear message and conveys no suggestion of dynamics. On something as long as a railway carriage, I'd look for something that flows on the horizontal rather than lots of vertical or near vertical lines.
There are a great number of modern liveries which capture this very well. A particular favourite of mine currently is the new Enterprise cross-border service over here. 4 colours used sparingly and give a nice feel of speed, even if our line speeds are fairly pathetic.
From a purely design point of view, it's a complete mess. It doesn't deliver any clear message and conveys no suggestion of dynamics. On something as long as a railway carriage, I'd look for something that flows on the horizontal rather than lots of vertical or near vertical lines.
There are a great number of modern liveries which capture this very well. A particular favourite of mine currently is the new Enterprise cross-border service over here. 4 colours used sparingly and give a nice feel of speed, even if our line speeds are fairly pathetic.
- cyberdonblue
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Re: West Midlands Rail
The problem these days with all these "wonderful" image designers is that there isn't a railwayman amongst them. In "thold" days safety wasn't just written in a rule book, it came from everywhere - including colour schemes. Everything was kept simple for safe operating reasons. Red was for danger, not Virgin. Yellow was for caution and to enhance the visibility of oncoming trains for ontrack workers. Green meant all clear, safe (and purple [Deep Purple] was a heavy rock band... sorry. )
The human eye sends images to the brain and the brain has an instant recognition of certain shapes and colours because, over time, people develop an instinct for their surroundings - in the interests of self preservation, of course. Ask anyone who's ever been in the armed forces what the first thing is that you learn about camouflage. I'll tell you. Break up the shapes that the human eye expects to see. So, if you're looking for a man and all you see is a bush then you'll very likely end up dead! No, I'm not going mad. What I'm trying to say is that all these wierd colours and design shapes don't do anyone any favours (and they cost a bloody fortune in paint.) They break up recognisable shapes in the name of corporate design, they ignore donkey's years of experience of not using important colours (like red, yellow and green) as part of the fancy paint job when refurbishing old stock. They pander to the arty farty design types in their glass houses in London, Birmingham, Manchester and God knows where else but they don't take a blind bit of notice of what's practical. What's more, if you saw that pile of vomit going past you at 30 or 40 mph you'd probably get a horrible dizzy turn and end up throwing up all over the platform you were waiting on
Dave
The human eye sends images to the brain and the brain has an instant recognition of certain shapes and colours because, over time, people develop an instinct for their surroundings - in the interests of self preservation, of course. Ask anyone who's ever been in the armed forces what the first thing is that you learn about camouflage. I'll tell you. Break up the shapes that the human eye expects to see. So, if you're looking for a man and all you see is a bush then you'll very likely end up dead! No, I'm not going mad. What I'm trying to say is that all these wierd colours and design shapes don't do anyone any favours (and they cost a bloody fortune in paint.) They break up recognisable shapes in the name of corporate design, they ignore donkey's years of experience of not using important colours (like red, yellow and green) as part of the fancy paint job when refurbishing old stock. They pander to the arty farty design types in their glass houses in London, Birmingham, Manchester and God knows where else but they don't take a blind bit of notice of what's practical. What's more, if you saw that pile of vomit going past you at 30 or 40 mph you'd probably get a horrible dizzy turn and end up throwing up all over the platform you were waiting on
Dave
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Re: West Midlands Rail
Maybe it's the replacement for the good old 'British Rail sandwich', it had the same effect sometimes.cyberdonblue wrote:you'd probably get a horrible dizzy turn and end up throwing up all over the platform you were waiting on
Dave
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Re: West Midlands Rail
Is it just me or does the logo look very similar to this?
Flash Gordon (1980). Klytus of the Mongo Imperial State Police.
Flash Gordon (1980). Klytus of the Mongo Imperial State Police.
Cheers, Kenneth
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kenneth37043 aka Calder Depot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/calderdepot/ Also featuring screenshots from Trainz
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kenneth37043 aka Calder Depot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/calderdepot/ Also featuring screenshots from Trainz
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Re: West Midlands Rail
Keep the current London Midlands livery - it looks smart.
Just replace the TOC instead to one that can run a decent train service......
Just replace the TOC instead to one that can run a decent train service......
- Nexusdj
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Re: West Midlands Rail
Here's the shortlist of the 2 preferred bidders for the new franchise :
London and West Midlands Railway Ltd, a subsidiary of Govia Ltd (a joint venture between Keolis and Go-Ahead Group)
West Midlands Trains Ltd, currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Abellio Transport Group Ltd with East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui & Co Ltd as minority partners
The Gov website page from April 2016 lists 3 with MTR listed as well but the latest Rail Express states there's only the 2 listed above left in the running .
MTR Corporation (West Midlands) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of MTR Corporation (UK) Ltd
London and West Midlands Railway Ltd, a subsidiary of Govia Ltd (a joint venture between Keolis and Go-Ahead Group)
West Midlands Trains Ltd, currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Abellio Transport Group Ltd with East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui & Co Ltd as minority partners
The Gov website page from April 2016 lists 3 with MTR listed as well but the latest Rail Express states there's only the 2 listed above left in the running .
MTR Corporation (West Midlands) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of MTR Corporation (UK) Ltd
High visibility pixels must be worn when on or about the line !!
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Re: West Midlands Rail
I think they pulled out quite a while ago, probably not that long after that page was originally posted.
I suspect that were the incumbent Govia to win the LM livery may stay in some form on the non-WMR services (ie those that run to Euston and Liverpool). There's not so much a reason to re-brand them, given LM is nowhere near as toxic as GTR has become.
I suspect that were the incumbent Govia to win the LM livery may stay in some form on the non-WMR services (ie those that run to Euston and Liverpool). There's not so much a reason to re-brand them, given LM is nowhere near as toxic as GTR has become.