Farewell London Midland

[BestWestern]

Clearly I am missing something with this, its the same trains and same employees just in a different colour, what is there to miss?

People with an active interest in the railway can become quite attached to the local TOC, they're a massive part of the fabric after all. SWT for example were going for 20 years, many in the south grew up with them! Sentimentality, the same reason people miss steam locos or save old buses for preservation. There's nowt wrong in it!

 

[MG11]

Clearly I am missing something with this, its the same trains and same employees just in a different colour, what is there to miss?

It's a different parent company, with different company ethics etc, East Midlands Trains are completely different to Midland Mainline or Central, Virgin Trains and CrossCountry are different. A new franchise means new initiatives, new targets and a complete rebrand of the franchise.

 

[MG11]

Does anyone know what colour scheme L NW are adopting? Their Twitter is still blank...

 

[700007]

Does anyone know what colour scheme L NW are adopting? Their Twitter is still blank...

LNWR logo is basically an N and W merged together with different 'emphasis' on parts of the characters. Colours are going to be similar to those used at London Midland and Southern (so green, turquoise etc)

 

[MK Tom]

153366 and 153375 at Coventry last month. Taken from my October rail gallery. Orginal here: https://mkttransportphoto.smugmug.com/2017/October-2017/UK-Rail-October-2017

 

[700007]

I loved London Midland to bits having twice have them as my local TOC out of Harrow & Wealdstone. Will miss them to bits and will post a few photos here to mark their send off when I return on my laptop shortly.

All photos ironically seem to be of 350370, that unit follows me around, but I do love it a lot. 350370 was my last ever London Midland train, as represented in the first shot.

Second shot is earlier in the year at the same station (HRW).

 

[700007]

One more for the history books, also 350370! Believe it or not these really are all taken on different days by coincidence.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

319-013 - 1600 Watford - St Albans Abbey tonight was my last - almost pure NSE interior - loads of leisure passengers , no ticket checking ....

And to answer a previous message - no headboards on "last trains" ....when BR passed to "Silverlink" - I got the crews and unit numbers recorded and no more ..there was no management attendance.

 

[SWTrainspottin]

I think it's down to LM having only ran the franchise for like 10 years? That's nothing compared to some longer ones (SWT 1996-2017, rip)!



Like that's not been happening for the past 20 or so years!

Clearly I am missing something with this, its the same trains and same employees just in a different colour, what is there to miss?

At end of the day it's still a TOC so no reason not to say goodbye. Of course SWT was more longer running and everyone said bye to them too, but we can still say bye to LM. This isn't really the topic of conversation either.

 

[CyrusWuff]

By my reckoning, the last London Midland arrival will, in fact, be this: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P67429/2017/12/10/advanced - Shunt from P1 to P5 at Northampton of the stock from the 0015 ex-Euston

Meanwhile, the first London Northwestern branded services operated by West Midlands Trains will be five RRBs from Euston to Milton Keynes Central, all due to depart at 0200 but with different stopping patterns.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Delayed to the last

No pic of the train as I wanted a seat.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The RRBs were on the screens as LM.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Will the very last London Midland service have a special headboard?

It hasn’t, sadly. The guard did give it a mention though.

 

[SWTrainspottin]

By my reckoning, the last London Midland arrival will, in fact, be this: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P67429/2017/12/10/advanced - Shunt from P1 to P5 at Northampton of the stock from the 0015 ex-Euston

Well what I linked previously was the last in service theoretically.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Couple more... (the passengers seemed not to mind )

 

[Bletchleyite]

Did anyone get a pic of the message on the ATOS PIS? I *just* saw it disappear.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Meanwhile, the first London Northwestern branded services operated by West Midlands Trains will be five RRBs from Euston to Milton Keynes Central, all due to depart at 0200 but with different stopping patterns.

While that split into 5 makes it more usable, do they get the loadings for 5, or are some of them just 17 seater minibuses?

 

[birchesgreen]

People with an active interest in the railway can become quite attached to the local TOC, they're a massive part of the fabric after all. SWT for example were going for 20 years, many in the south grew up with them! Sentimentality, the same reason people miss steam locos or save old buses for preservation. There's nowt wrong in it!

I am quite sentimental for LM, for a long time i barely used the railways then i went through a period where i was using them daily for study and then work purposes a couple of years ago, these trains were London Midland services and that rebooted my railway enthusiasm which had lain dormant for a long time. And why i am now on this forum posting rubbish. So blame LM.

 

[MYBDRIVER]

Agreed with that. Change can be difficult. Always found them to be ok.

 

[acned]

Sorry folks, I won't be saying farewell to London Midland. Good riddance more like. Anyone who has been a regular commuter into Euston over the last 10 years will be popping the champagne corks. They went through a period of driver shortages and the late evening services were hourly from Euston on some weekdays. Sunday morning trains were inadequate in their formation, often loading to only four carriages, and this was when an event was on at Wembley.
During the frequent disruption which occurs at this end of the WCML the Tring stopper was the first to be caped and no extra special stops added to other trains. During fatalities they often just gave up at Euston and there was no information or help, the staff would vanish and the ticket gates left wide open.

 

[yorksrob]

The current colour scheme is one of the most attractive of the privatised era (even if I rarely get the chance to travel on that companies trains ).

 

[MYBDRIVER]

The current colour scheme is one of the most attractive of the privatised era (even if I rarely get the chance to travel on that companies trains ).

Let's get back to chocolate and cream though, yeah?!

 

[yorksrob]

Let's get back to chocolate and cream though, yeah?!

What, on the London Midland !

 

[MYBDRIVER]

What, on the London Midland !

Can you imagine?

 

[xc170]

Bit late to the party here, but here's my contribution.

350 129 Pulling into Tamworth on the last day of the LM franchise complete with a small snow shower.

London Midland 350129 by Adam P, on Flickr