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
A proposed design for the livery of the incoming West Midlands Rail has been posted today on their website
