Best and worst TOC names

[deltabravo]

Hi, I was wondering what people think are the best and worst TOC names.

I think Virgin Trains sounds pretty cool(although Virgin's marketing helps)

For me, the worst is East Midlands Trains. Midland Mainline sounded far better.

 

[whhistle]

One.

Whoever thought of naming a company with a number. . . well, let's just saty I would suggest it wasn't the brightest idea.

 

[lyesbkz]

First TransPennine Express always feels like such a mouthful!

Compared to something like East Coast or CrossCountry which are both a lot simpler..

 

[SS4]

I like TOC names that get to the point of what they're selling.

London Midland (if you overlook Liverpool runs) for example is a good name as is East Midlands Trains (a clear geographical area)

 

[trentside]

I'm not a fan of silly marketing names, for example 'c2c' where even the company says it doesn't have a specific meaning. I think 'one' was also a bit daft, though I think even NatEx saw that after awhile. I think Virgin falls into the same camp to some extent, but at least it is a more established brand.

I actually prefer names such as East Midlands Trains or Northern. They're a simple statement about the main area the company serves, nothing flashy just a brand that helps identify the company and it's operating area.

 

[142094]

The fact is that companies spend thousands of pounds on creating new names, signage, stationery, liveries and everything under the sun, each time a franchise changes. Plus look at most of the TOCs names - they are all nearly geographic (Northern, Southern, Scotrail, Great Western, SouthEastern, TransPennine, East Midlands to name a few that come to mind straighaway).

Instead all franchises should have one name, and perhaps a sticker saying "Operated by x".

 

[SS4]

The fact is that companies spend thousands of pounds on creating new names, signage, stationery, liveries and everything under the sun, each time a franchise changes. Plus look at most of the TOCs names - they are all nearly geographic (Northern, Southern, Scotrail, Great Western, SouthEastern, TransPennine, East Midlands to name a few that come to mind straighaway).

Instead all franchises should have one name, and perhaps a sticker saying "Operated by x".

I could see that working on timetables but image and colour are important for marketing. Would Virgin want to give up their largely red logo for a neutral blue for example? Although this would apply more to station markers.

 

[DarloRich]

The fact is that companies spend thousands of pounds on creating new names, signage, stationery, liveries and everything under the sun, each time a franchise changes. Plus look at most of the TOCs names - they are all nearly geographic (Northern, Southern, Scotrail, Great Western, SouthEastern, TransPennine, East Midlands to name a few that come to mind straighaway).

Instead all franchises should have one name, and perhaps a sticker saying "Operated by x".

agree entirely. Geographic names, simple base colour for each franchise and an operators sticker. Better yet call them all BR..................

 

[142094]

I could see that working on timetables but image and colour are important for marketing. Would Virgin want to give up their largely red logo for a neutral blue for example? Although this would apply more to station markers.

Probably not, but there should be some sort of standard livery and colour scheme across franchises and this should stay the same when a franchise changes hands. Looking at East Coast for example, we have three different liveries going around on the ECML and it costs a great deal of money that could be used elsewhere to repaint everything into the new colours of a franchise. Darlington station was repainted into NXEC colours about 3 months or so before it was forced to give up the franchise. Utter madness.

 

[deltabravo]

Am I correct in saying that the current Scotrail livery will stay the same, even if the franchise holder changed?

 

[142094]

Am I correct in saying that the current Scotrail livery will stay the same, even if the franchise holder changed?

Yes, when they are all repainted that is. Should be the same on the other side of the border.

 

[WestCoast]

Instead all franchises should have one name, and perhaps a sticker saying "Operated by x".

I am all for some uniformity, but with so many TOC specific tickets I think this may cause confusion if operators become less easy to recognise.

I don't like it when a name doesn't fit the operations. For this reason I dislike First TransPennine Express as it's a mouthful and it doesn't fit on Manchester Airport - Blackpool North / Barrow / Windermere / Edinburgh / Glasgow runs. They clearly aren't crossing the Pennines!

Another one is East Midlands Trains which seems a bit odd when it's running stopping services outside of this area (e.g. between Liverpool and Manchester seems to cause some puzzlement).

I quite like the idea of dropping the "first" from FirstGroup franchises as has been done with Scotrail so becoming, Hull Trains, Capital Connect, Great Western and TransPennine Express.

Marketing brand wise, Virgin is clearly the strongest but that's due to it's long presence in privatisation and it's array of activities elsewhere (airline, fizzy drinks, cable TV e.t.c).

The worst for me is National Express East Anglia - sounds terrible!

 

[Via Bank]

"One" was a bad, ill-conceived name that was probably the result of some blasé marketing types trying to be edgy. It doesn't take much thinking (hint: "Platform One for the oh seven twenty One service to London Liverpool Street") to realise this error.

"C2C" was even worse, since... well. It means some other things as well (NSFW.)

A good TOC name will be one that's relatively snappy, and rolls off the tongue in announcements in particular. Consider the difference between "South West Trains," "First Great Western," "ScotRail" et al and names like "First Capital Connect," "Arriva Trains Wales" and "National Express." The latter are a mouthful simply for the number of syllables.

(Well, that, and Atos Anne always seems to announce trains as the "National Express! service to... London Liverpool Street.")

 

[sprinterguy]

"Northern Spirit" was a strong brand name, one of my favourites.

I dislike "One" and "First Capital Connect", "One" especially seems to have been a poor choice.

The geographical based TOC names, which covers the vast majority of the titles, give a sense of regional identity and help to define the services that that particular TOC operates, so I can't complain with them.

I agree with 142094s' sentiments that each franchise should have a standard identity that remains the same throughout the changes of operator, instead of this constant merry go round of liveries, which can only serve to to confuse the average passenger!

 

[northwichcat]

I think Virgin falls into the same camp to some extent, but at least it is a more established brand.

The name Virgin came from where Richard Branson was when he came with the idea of setting up his own company (the Virgin Islands.)

I actually prefer names such as East Midlands Trains or Northern. They're a simple statement about the main area the company serves, nothing flashy just a brand that helps identify the company and it's operating area.

Names like that always misfit some routes:
* ATW running Crewe-Chester and then Manchester-Cardiff and beyond does over 100 miles in England before it gets to Wales.
* Northern services to Stoke-on-Trent and Nottingham.
* So many of EMT services serve Sheffield which is not in the East Midlands.

 

[deltabravo]

I don't mind C2C too much, although it dosen't really give an indication of where it operates. It sounds much better though than National Express East Anglia, too much of a mouthful.

 

[rail-britain]

Instead all franchises should have one name, and perhaps a sticker saying "Operated by x".

As mentioned previously, this is the way all future franchises will be operated (as they are replaced or renewed)
Equally, First Group will have to drop the "First" from many of its franchise names

This will greatly devalue their franchises
It has already been suggested that if the West Coast franchise is renewed to Virgin Rail Group, the loss of "Virgin Trains" logos could be worth as much as £500,000 to the DfT, plus the outgoing TOC has to pay for these logos to be removed

 

[duffman82]

I gotta say i was a sucker for First North Western, was my favourite franchise back in the day Gotta love gold star livery!

However i'd like to agree on just colours to identify regions and just have by the cab like in scotland. Scotrail Operated by First.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

I gotta say i was a sucker for First North Western, was my favourite franchise back in the day Gotta love gold star livery!

However i'd like to agree on just colours to identify regions and just have by the cab like in scotland. Scotrail Operated by First.

I take it YOU didn't have to wear their delightful green check uniform then. I did...GHASTLY lol

 

[northwichcat]

I gotta say i was a sucker for First North Western, was my favourite franchise back in the day Gotta love gold star livery!

The gold star livery was actually the North Western Trains livery which remained on the 142s, 150s, 153s and 158s. The FNW livery was the blue with the pink and white stripes seen on the 156s, 175s and 323s.

 

[duffman82]

I take it YOU didn't have to wear their delightful green check uniform then. I did...GHASTLY lol

Lol I wasn't a fan of the uniforms xD, Staff were great though

 

[deltabravo]

As mentioned previously, this is the way all future franchises will be operated (as they are replaced or renewed)
Equally, First Group will have to drop the "First" from many of its franchise names

This will greatly devalue their franchises
It has already been suggested that if the West Coast franchise is renewed to Virgin Rail Group, the loss of "Virgin Trains" logos could be worth as much as £500,000 to the DfT, plus the outgoing TOC has to pay for these logos to be removed

So will it be 'West Coast' operated by Virgin Trains? (of course if Virgin get the franchise)

 

[WestCoast]

So will it be 'West Coast' operated by Virgin Trains? (of course if Virgin get the franchise)

Hopefully

North Western Trains gold star - now that brings back memories. For some reason, I liked it! It stayed with us for a long time..

 

[Dai.]

The name Virgin came from where Richard Branson was when he came with the idea of setting up his own company (the Virgin Islands.)

According to his book "Business Stripped Bare" the name Virgin was chosen for this reason:
"It reflected the fact that every business we began, we started from scratch. We've been virgins in almost every new business field we've entered. To my mind Virgin was the opposite of rude, it meant pure, in its original condition, unexploited and never used."

Business Stripped Bare p49.

But anyway I quite like the name of many companies in the railway, East Midlands Trains being one of my favourites as well as South Eastern.


The worst I've been, I'm not entirely sure I'm not the best fan of "First"

 

[313103]

Silverlink was a name that meant absolutley nothing. The marketing team was actually going to call it Silverwing but was not allowed due to copyright of the name. In fact Silverlink had many names that was not nice (S****YLINK) been one that i can remember.

London Overground has the confusing situation where the general populous try to distinguish the difference between underground and overground train services. They generally mean overground to be all national rail services, so when they ask you for the overground train to Ilford, you have to tell them that London Overground doesnt have services there.

As an aside there is a fairly lively debate on another forum that i go on where the topic is should London Overground brand their routes separately. Not sure if it would work and would ultimately confuse the general public even more.

 

[WestCoast]

In fact Silverlink had many names that was not nice (S****YLINK) been one that i can remembe

There's been quite a few of them such as Worst Late Western, Worst Crapital Connect e.t.c

 

[justinsteam]

I think Chiltern Railways is a good name.

 

[route:oxford]

Not really a TOC as such, but I always like EWS as a name.

 

[rail-britain]

So will it be 'West Coast' operated by Virgin Trains? (of course if Virgin get the franchise)

Yes, it looks like the next franchise (the first being ScotRail) to be so applied will be East Coast

 

[Masbroughlad]

Hopefully

North Western Trains gold star - now that brings back memories. For some reason, I liked it! It stayed with us for a long time..

My favourite livery of all time!