There are long and very slow-moving queues at all the ticket windows at Victoria, particularly the three Oyster ones.
Couldn't they install more machines in and around the station? Perhaps 'express' machines with a limited range of tickets?
Presumably when Oyster comes to Gatwick Airport, there will be the facility to buy an Oyster and pre-load credit from there? Or maybe airlines could offer them for sale during flights coming in (apologies if any already do that).
I can't see anyone claiming passengers will be confused (though you keep saying they won't I'm not sure who you're arguing against).
All the stations you list have two TOCs. We're talking about one TOC with multiple brands.
In the future all the modern trains will have far clearer displays at the front, side and inside. With upgraded screens on platforms hopefully it won't matter so much what is printed on the side.
But the current trains can be terrible. Not sure how may 321 displays are now upgraded, or if they're always on, but the flip dot ones they had at first were near impossible to read. The 317s are more likely going to show corrupted graphics. Some 365s won't have the screens on at all, but presumably will once refurbished.
Ultimately, it shouldn't matter what is written on the train if passengers can get clear information before boarding and also when getting on the train. Being the same TOC, whether TL or GN, it shouldn't be a ticketing issue (as, say, getting on a First train instead of AGA, or FCC over Southern) and you can't - currently - get advance tickets so can't get caught out that way.
Before trains cross from one to the other, separate branding will be fine. Perhaps we'll see some tweaks between now and 2018 anyway. And by then, a lot more people will understand what's going on - presumably lots of information will be made available in the run up to what will be quite a radical change of timetables and available destinations.
