Virgin Trains East Coast launch day

[Aictos]

I should be gettng a few photos on Monday fingers cross

 

[alexl92]

Surely if the purple strip wqas removed it would be fairly trivial with vinyls to reproduce the Virgin WC livery on the grey base? That 91 looks... haphazard

Looks awful. Dreading seeing Virgin colours all over these amazing machines.

 

[387star]

Agree looks terrible but presumably they are keen to rebrand all properly... Four months I believe

Anyone know what the ex EMT set that has been painted grey will look once refurbished?

 

[richardio123]

Yep the website is down ready for the changeover

http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com

sends to to the east coast website which is currently down

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Some of the Facebook comments about the change are glorious:

https://www.facebook.com/eastcoastu...5564588228316/952666008184834/?type=1&theater
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Yep the website is down ready for the changeover

http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com

sends to to the east coast website which is currently down

That links sends me to the Q&A page which has been up for the past few weeks, as does the old East Coast url.

 

[richardio123]

Some of the Facebook comments about the change are glorious:

https://www.facebook.com/eastcoastu...5564588228316/952666008184834/?type=1&theater
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


That links sends me to the Q&A page which has been up for the past few weeks, as does the old East Coast url.

It sends me to this page

http://www3.eastcoast.co.uk/changeover/

 

[RichH95]

Two new branded sets at Kings Cross this evening...

91104 at Kings Cross by richardholmesphotography, on Flickr

More here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/richardholmesphotography/sets/72157650635640657/

 

[Saint66]

The sooner the purple stripe's replaced, the better!

 

[RichH95]

Yep, not sure how difficult it would have been to apply a single red vinyl stripe over it...

 

[JaJaWa]

New website is up
http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com
and Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/virgintrainseastcoast

They're having issues moving the Twitter but this should redirect soon http://twitter.com/eastcoastuk/

 

[Skimble19]

I'm certain the DVT I saw hiding inside of Bounds Green was far more red than the one in the photos linked above... Perhaps the one I saw is the one being revealed on Monday in the full livery..?

 

[JaJaWa]

I'm certain the DVT I saw hiding inside of Bounds Green was far more red than the one in the photos linked above... Perhaps the one I saw is the one being revealed on Monday in the full livery..?

That's correct, the rake in full livery is in Bounds Green.

 

[jon0844]

Interesting to see mostly negative comments on the FB page. The spell of Virgin hasn't yet converted those on the east coast, given how loyal the west coast users were.

 

[Aictos]

That's correct, the rake in full livery is in Bounds Green.

That's rake of 1 though, there's another being worked on as we speak

 

[mildertduck]

[QUOTE="Realtime Trains]0755 Newcastle to London Kings Cross
Virgin Trains East Coast service: [...] 1m early[/QUOTE]

Well, that's 100% of departures currently early. Not *too* bad, though I expect that will change imminently....

 

[dk1]

The sooner the purple stripe's replaced, the better!

Here Here !!

 

[Segedunum]

Currently on board the 0755. Had quite a few staff getting shots at Newcastle

 

[dk1]

Interesting to see mostly negative comments on the FB page. The spell of Virgin hasn't yet converted those on the east coast, given how loyal the west coast users were.

The haters will have been festering for weeks to get heard. Theyll get used to Nectar & be Sainsbury's converts within weeks

 

[backontrack]

Virgin now have a PDF route map on their website.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Surprised they haven't changed the branding of the existing operation to Virgin Trains West Coast - this could cause some confusion.

Neil

 

[life210]

Can someone please explain why it is referred to Virgin Trains East Coast, and not simply Virgin Trains?

 

[leshuttle]

Surprised they haven't changed the branding of the existing operation to Virgin Trains West Coast - this could cause some confusion.

Neil

For sure! @VirginTrains will now not only have to contend with hundreds of tweets from confused CrossCountry passengers but VT East Coast also.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Can someone please explain why it is referred to Virgin Trains East Coast, and not simply Virgin Trains?

Because it's actually a 90% Stagecoach operation with licenced Virgin branding, quite different (and under different overall ownership) to West Coast.

Neil

 

[Holmbridge]

Because it's actually a 90% Stagecoach operation with licenced Virgin branding, quite different (and under different overall ownership) to West Coast.

Neil

Aka ....a right big mess. Why "fix"something that isn't broken(or even hinting of a breakdown)

 

[Hadders]

Aka ....a right big mess. Why "fix"something that isn't broken(or even hinting of a breakdown)

East Coast took over the franchise when National Express defaulted. East Coast was owned by the Government as an operator of last resort and could only ever run the franchise in the short term until a new operator was appointed.

This took longer then planned because of the West Coast franchising debacle, with the award all new franchises being put on hold because of DfT incompetence.

We now have the East Coast franchise returned to private ownership, operated by a consortium of Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin (10%).

 

[David Goddard]

I was appalled at all of the negative comments which were fired at Virgin on the Facebook post. Having used VWC on a number of occasions in the last few years I think they provide an excellent service and so cant not see where the criticism comes from, these people must be just haters of Sir Richard or of the Virgin brand.
I wish Stagecoach/Virgin every success with the East Coast route and hope they can restore some of the pride which has not been seen since GNER days

 

[dfurn]

1005h Leeds to Retford(?) today at Leeds.

 

[Iskra]

I was appalled at all of the negative comments which were fired at Virgin on the Facebook post. Having used VWC on a number of occasions in the last few years I think they provide an excellent service and so cant not see where the criticism comes from, these people must be just haters of Sir Richard or of the Virgin brand.
I wish Stagecoach/Virgin every success with the East Coast route and hope they can restore some of the pride which has not been seen since GNER days

I think it's more left-wingers/union folk as the story has been spun in the news as if EC were a massive success compared to privatised operators, even though that's not necessarily true.

In my experience Virgin (West Coast) have always been fantastic, however their cross-country operations were dire. I've only used a stagecoach TOC once and I was fairly impressed. I have faith that VTEC will be successful- the ECML seems to be one of the easier franchises and they will appear successful due to shiny new IEP's and new routes/services.

 

[47802]

1005h Leeds to Retford(?) today at Leeds.

God that's dire.

Are they still running via Lincoln next weekend or have they opted for replacement buses already

 

[Andrewlong]

I think it's more left-wingers/union folk as the story has been spun in the news as if EC were a massive success compared to privatised operators, even though that's not necessarily true.

In my experience Virgin (West Coast) have always been fantastic, however their cross-country operations were dire. I've only used a stagecoach TOC once and I was fairly impressed. I have faith that VTEC will be successful- the ECML seems to be one of the easier franchises and they will appear successful due to shiny new IEP's and new routes/services.

At a stroke Virgin XC went from perfectly serviceable mark 2 stock with plenty of seats to those awful cramped and noisy voyagers. Perhaps XC should have gone down the Chiltern Mainline route with new class 67/8 locos and an unpowered vehicle on the other end.