Virgin Trains East Coast launch day

[Michael.Y]

They could've just applied the Virgin logo in red lettering on the existing grey background - would've looked far better.

According to the artists' impression of the class 801 on the homepage of VTEC, the logo will be white on red.

http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/

EDIT : Perhaps they had some left over from the old days:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...91231001515!Virgin_railways_82114_glasgow.jpg

 

[crewmeal]

The picture on the new website is of a Pendolino, does this mean they will be running on the East Coast operation or is it just a tease?

 

[marks87]

The picture on the new website is of a Pendolino,

No it's not.

 

[Hadders]

According to the artists' impression of the class 801 on the homepage of VTEC, the logo will be white on red.

http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/

EDIT : Perhaps they had some left over from the old days:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...91231001515!Virgin_railways_82114_glasgow.jpg

If they'd have used red lettering on the grey base it would've replicated the Pendolinos though.

 

[rdeez]

The picture on the new website is of a Pendolino, does this mean they will be running on the East Coast operation or is it just a tease?

It's not a Pendolino, it's an IEP Class 800 - being introduced at a future date.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercity_Express_Programme

 

[91103eastcoast]

The picture on the new website is of a Pendolino, does this mean they will be running on the East Coast operation or is it just a tease?

The picture on the East Coast homepage is an artists impression of what the new Hitachi class 800/801 trains will look like in Virgin Trains colours.

 

[asylumxl]

The picture on the East Coast homepage is an artists impression of what the new Hitachi class 800/801 trains will look like in Virgin Trains colours.

An awful one at that.

 

[91103eastcoast]

An awful one at that.

Completely true!

 

[crewmeal]

I stand corrected!

 

[Michael.Y]

It's not a Pendolino, it's an IEP Class 800 - being introduced at a future date.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercity_Express_Programme

It's an 801. 801001 to be precise

</pedant>

http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.co...812f1a33a96/iep_virginbrand_1500x900_flip.jpg (large image)

 

[ash39]

The temp livery looks a lot better on the HST - pic https://flic.kr/p/r8RAXo

On the 91 the logo doesn't sit centrally and it looks really poor. I expect the full relivery will look a lot more presentable!

 

[Liam_Hendry]

Caught up with the first VTEC Northbound Highland Chieftan just 30 minutes ago. First ever Virgin Trains Train to enter Perth (Sorry for lack of quality images) Departure boards showing Virgin Trains EC

Already got special cards for the Chieftan

No new logo on both 43s and Mk3s yet...

 

[dk1]

At the last glance there were 159 comments on East Coast's profile pic change from EC to VTEC on facebook... 158 of which were complaining about the change. Says a lot.

Sounds about right. We as Brits are good at bothering to complain but not so when it comes to praise.

 

[yorksrob]

Well, personally I'm keeping an open mind about the whole thing.

For me, the proof of the pudding will be whether it becomes easier or harder to book affordable travel with them.

 

[sadgit]

It's an 801. 801001 to be precise

</pedant>

http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.co...812f1a33a96/iep_virginbrand_1500x900_flip.jpg (large image)

Talking of a pedantic question, here's one that's always bugged me (aimed at everyone, not you in particular...)

On that picture, the ends of the carriages have the same curved cut out segment on the bottom edge that pretty much all trains seem to... the MK3 and MK4 carriages have them, South West Trains' EMUs have them...

I am curious, what actually is the purpose of these? Are they there for a reason or is it just an aesthetic feature?

 

[Nippy]

I would think to allow the longer coaches to be within the loading gauge on curves.

 

[dfurn]

Interesting oddity to a certain extent.

 

[table38]

Interesting oddity to a certain extent.

Whilst you probably can't read the warning until after you have removed it, I think you may owe Sir Richard £200

 

[sadgit]

Whilst you probably can't read the warning until after you have removed it, I think you may owe Sir Richard £200

Is that penalty legally enforceable d'ya think, given that you can't actually see that notice until you've removed the ticket?

 

[WestCountry]

On that picture, the ends of the carriages have the same curved cut out segment on the bottom edge that pretty much all trains seem to... the MK3 and MK4 carriages have them, South West Trains' EMUs have them...

I am curious, what actually is the purpose of these? Are they there for a reason or is it just an aesthetic feature?

Modern coaching stock has tapered ends so that the corners won't swing out so much when going around curves.
Most EMUs have 20m-long coaches that only need a small angle on the corner, while SWT's 444s and the Mk3/4s all have 23m long coaches and so have more of a noticeable wedge cut off.
The IEPs have 26m bodyshells - a first for the UK - with the same spacing between bogies as a 23m Mk3 and hence very long end overhangs. That gives them a very noticeably tapered end that can't be used easily for seating, hence the rather odd interior layout.

The curvedness is just the effect of chopping a vertical slice at an angle across the curved bodyside profile of the stock.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is that penalty legally enforceable d'ya think, given that you can't actually see that notice until you've removed the ticket?

Has anyone ever known it be actually enforced? Always saw it as a bit of a threat just to put people off casually removing them to sit in a seat.

Neil
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I don't know if you ever rode those Mk2s. I did once and found it a very unpleasant experience - not much leg room under the tables and their age belied their comfort - smelly, rattly and out of date. Leave them to the heritage railways.

Serviceable? The aircon was normally knackered, the lights often broke, and bits were falling off the seats. And they rode badly and made a racket when braking (tread brakes).

They would have been OK with a full rebuild, but new stock probably made more sense.

But then I don't overly mind Voyagers (prefer Meridians though). Nice big windows for one. That said the Belgian LHCS on which they are very loosely based is far nicer!

Neil
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Wow their whole blog appears to be designed to put people of using their services.

Spelling mistakes.
Random double spaces.
Random capitalisation.
Inability to use full stops or apostrophes.

Wow.

Sadly this seems to be the usual these days...proof reading is a dying art.

Neil
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

refurbished toilets, clearer on-board signage, new carpets and seat covers

New cushions, please, with a separate piece for the base and a slope towards the seat back rather than forwards. Then I'll stop avoiding East Coast. The present ones do my back in after 10 minutes.

Neil

 

[dfurn]

Whilst you probably can't read the warning until after you have removed it, I think you may owe Sir Richard £200

Oops. I was more thinking that it would be a record of that iconic first day Virgin East Coast Retford to Leeds service.

 

[JaJaWa]

Caught up with the first VTEC Northbound Highland Chieftan just 30 minutes ago. First ever Virgin Trains Train to enter Perth (Sorry for lack of quality images) Departure boards showing Virgin Trains EC. Already got special cards for the Chieftan. No new logo on both 43s and Mk3s yet...

I've attached the images from your post here as it seems they can't be embedded

 

[Minilad]

Whilst you probably can't read the warning until after you have removed it, I think you may owe Sir Richard £200

Actually you owe him £20 And £180 to Souter

 

[TUC]

At Selby today for the first Virgin Hull-London KX service to pass, only to find that its East Coast's East Midlands Trains set that was being used, which I've never seen been used on the Hull route before. I know they weren't planning full Virgin livery but to see EMT livery instead was unexpected!

 

[lincolnshire]

Whilst you probably can't read the warning until after you have removed it, I think you may owe Sir Richard £200

I think you will find its 20 quid for him and 180 quid for Mr. Souter.

That also depends on how much of Virgin part of that company he actually owns himself. Its interesting to see just how much he actually owns of some of the companies that trade under the Virgin banner and how many have gone tits up and bust too.

If its a 50 quid penalty to sit in the seat then it should also be a 50 quid fine not to be sat in the seat if its on your seat reservation. In others words thats your seat reservation so sit in it and don,t use another seat, then passengers without a seat reservation can then sit down in the empty seats.

 

[Butts]

Well, personally I'm keeping an open mind about the whole thing.

For me, the proof of the pudding will be whether it becomes easier or harder to book affordable travel with them.

For me a literal interpretation of your remark will be most important, along with other aspects of catering particularly "The Scotch Distribution Frequency"

 

[TUC]

At Selby today for the first Virgin Hull-London KX service to pass, only to find that its East Coast's East Midlands Trains set that was being used, which I've never seen been used on the Hull route before. I know they weren't planning full Virgin livery but to see EMT livery instead was unexpected!

Looks like it's going to be a regular occurrence on the Hull route. Just saw a notice at Selby headed 'Its Virgin Trains but not as you know it'. (Of course, as they've just taken over the franchise one could argue that users of the service don't know Virgin Trains yet anyway, but maybe that would be pedantic!). It refers to the planned refurbishment of their trains and advises 'we've borrowed one from our friends at East Midlands Trains in the meantime'.

 

[Suraggu]

At Selby today for the first Virgin Hull-London KX service to pass, only to find that its East Coast's East Midlands Trains set that was being used, which I've never seen been used on the Hull route before. I know they weren't planning full Virgin livery but to see EMT livery instead was unexpected!

That is NL65. On a sub lease until 2019, the reason being is to release a set for refurbishment work and once that is completed is enable VTEC to extend the Newcastle terminators to Edinburgh.

NL65 is booked to work both Hull services and a Leeds and back.

 

[Welshman]

New cushions, please, with a separate piece for the base and a slope towards the seat back rather than forwards. Then I'll stop avoiding East Coast. The present ones do my back in after 10 minutes.

Neil

How I agree.

One journey from Leeds to London on those moulded one-piece Mallard seats, and I know about it for days afterwards.

The embrocation specials!