DRS Class 68 livery

[gazthomas]

Just seen mockups of the class 68's livery on the Railway Herald site.

http://railwayherald.com/uknews/class-68-livery-revealed

Livery fine, front end makes a Fugly look really nice!

 

[The Ham]

There are some details about the loco here:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/...ct-rail-services-reveals-class-68-design.html

Freight and charter train operator Direct Rail Services has unveiled the design of its future UKLight mixed traffic diesel-electric locomotives.

Vossloh España is building 15 locomotives in Valencia under a contract announced in January 2012, with deliveries scheduled to begin towards the end of this year.

To be designated Class 68, the UKLight is based on the EuroLight freight and passenger locomotive family which Vossloh unveiled at InnoTrans 2010. Intended for both freight and passenger operation, the 21·5 tonne axleload Bo-Bo will have a 2 800 kW Caterpillar C175 engine and AC traction equipment supplied by ABB.

Difference from the EuroLight design include a smaller-profile to suit Britain's more restricted loading gauge, a higher top speed of 160 km/h rather than the 140 km/h and an increase in fuel tank capacity from 4 000 litres to 5 000 litres.

 

[Alan1310]

Some bits look nice like the top of the cab but the cab face looks goofy. I would love to see them keep the carbon fibre weave bare like that though

 

[Manchester77]

The way the front end buts out makes it a very unattractive locomotive

 

[GearJammer]

Im still trying to work out why DRS need yet another new livery!

 

[Harbon 1]

Oooosh, that's, erm, different?

The front btw

 

[wbbminerals]

DRS seem to have a lot of money to spend on locos don't they (ie all the overhauling of 37s and chucking away of decent ones).

Having said that it will be nice to see a new loco and livery in the UK.

 

[jopsuk]

Some bits look nice like the top of the cab but the cab face looks goofy. I would love to see them keep the carbon fibre weave bare like that though

The detail would of course be much smaller on the real thing- unless it was made of a seriously wide spread tow fabric!
Visible plain weave CF just looks tacky in my opinion

 

[fgwrich]

Erm ok... I think Vossloh have been taking cues from Car designers lately then by looking at that - longer extended squashed front ends seem to be more of a design trend lately, like the new Kia Pro_Cee'd for example...

 

[WatcherZero]

Looking at the base model theyve tried to make the cab a bit more aerodynamic though ive no idea why they seem to have made a recess below the lamps.

 

[GearJammer]

Erm ok... I think Vossloh have been taking cues from Car designers lately then by looking at that - longer extended squashed front ends seem to be more of a design trend lately, like the new Kia Pro_Cee'd for example...

Great, so there designing trains using a Kia Pro_Ceed as inspiration :roll:

 

[daikilo]

Erm ok... I think Vossloh have been taking cues from Car designers lately then by looking at that - longer extended squashed front ends seem to be more of a design trend lately, like the new Kia Pro_Cee'd for example...

This looks more like the result of a longer front end having been cut off the clay model, or the thing having been dropped on its nose.

Having the lip below the windscreen will lead to some interesting structural deformation (possibly including the drivers desk) in head-on collisions. Conventional wisdom would be to extend the cab-sides slightly with a crumple zone to protect the driver and take loads into the cab side-structure safety cage, unless the lip is a clever crumple zone itself, in which case it likely won't be in carbon-fibre!.

Note that whilst the buffing gear and underframe will be the primary load path, in a frontal collision you need to take into account how the other vehichle will deform. Maybe the lip is there to slice into the other cab and avoid an override ... unless 2 of these hit each other in which case the opposite will happen.

 

[fgwrich]

Great, so there designing trains using a Kia Pro_Ceed as inspiration :roll:

What i mean, is that there seems to be this design trend to come up with a good looking first generation design - Kia Cee'd for example, then redesign any future / further designs as if something's been dropped onto the front end / something's been cut off the front of the car / train / bus or as if it's already been in an accident. Obviously i get the need for aerodynamic streamlining, but why does this trend have to appear in such a way?!

As in the case of the Kia's
1st gen,
http://www.airportcarhireliverpool.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/kia-ceed/Kia-Ceed-savings.jpg
2nd gen,
http://www.carsuk.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Kia-Ceed-Facelift.jpg
3rd Gen / Pro_Cee'd.
http://www.whatcar.com/Car/Kia/129121221438.jpg

Now i know i've talked about cars for a moment, but the front of the 68 does seem to be feeling the same effect.

First Version
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/CR335_Photo33_30A.jpg
Newer European version
http://www.rail.co.uk/images/3812/o...-from-which-the-Class-68-has-been-derived.jpg
The British Version.
http://railwayherald.com/uknews/class-68-livery-revealed


Any by the way, You've missed the apostrophe from Cee'd by the way.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

This looks more like the result of a longer front end having been cut off the clay model, or the thing having been dropped on its nose.

Having the lip below the windscreen will lead to some interesting structural deformation (possibly including the drivers desk) in head-on collisions. Conventional wisdom would be to extend the cab-sides slightly with a crumple zone to protect the driver and take loads into the cab side-structure safety cage, unless the lip is a clever crumple zone itself, in which case it likely won't be in carbon-fibre!.

Note that whilst the buffing gear and underframe will be the primary load path, in a frontal collision you need to take into account how the other vehichle will deform. Maybe the lip is there to slice into the other cab and avoid an override ... unless 2 of these hit each other in which case the opposite will happen.

True, and i have thaught of that - Hence of course why the 70 as the rather obvious overiders on it's front end. But in answer to Gearjammers response - and my rather tounge in cheek comment in the first place, there does seem to be this design trend for having strange and squashed looking designs these days.

Looks like coupling those locos up in the rain will be a nice job for someone aswell with a lip like that.

 

[90019]

What i mean, is that there seems to be this design trend to come up with a good looking first generation design - Kia Cee'd for example, then redesign any future / further designs as if something's been dropped onto the front end / something's been cut off the front of the car / train / bus or as if it's already been in an accident. Obviously i get the need for aerodynamic streamlining, but why does this trend have to appear in such a way?!

As in the case of the Kia's
1st gen,
http://www.airportcarhireliverpool.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/kia-ceed/Kia-Ceed-savings.jpg
2nd gen,
http://www.carsuk.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Kia-Ceed-Facelift.jpg
3rd Gen / Pro_Cee'd.
http://www.whatcar.com/Car/Kia/129121221438.jpg

I believe it's to do with pedestrian safety in the event of an accident. It'll be the same reason all new BMWs have that horrible drooping front end.

 

[MCW]

Man that thing looks Ugly.

I like the looks of the original version in the series which would have been a lot more in keeping with the class 67. And what is a class 68? A more powerful engine than the class 67.

This thing makes the 70 look like a thing of beauty, even though I like the 70s for their quirkiness.

 

[richieb1971]

I like the livery alot. I don't like the drab liver they have now. Well, the livery is ok I just think the current logo could be done a lot better.

The positives are... It won't look that dirty when its dirty. Since it has a rather dark gruesome look to it.

I like the idea its distinctive.

I like the idea its versatile.

To some of you wondering why we need a class 68. Its probably due to the fact of emissions laws and such. I do not believe a class 66 or 67 is now legal to be made new. Not sure about the 70's. Thats why its better to restore older units sitting around in depots I assume. I bet these suckers cost £3m each :roll:

 

[Manchester77]

I prefer the first version 68 it looks a bit like a 67

 

[aylesbury]

A good well thought out livery ,it will be a smart addition to the UK network.Just a thought ,it will look good on the sleepers top Scotland if DRS go for the franchise.

 

[RobShipway]

The new paint design on the class 68 looks good, however I don't think that design of it was based on a Kia Ceed, more like a old Rover Metro!

 

[james60059]

Something different for the UK rail network I guess , be interesting to see if any other operators will be watching the performance of them

 

[w0033944]

From those shots I've got to say the design is seriously ugly.

 

[richieb1971]

Something different for the UK rail network I guess , be interesting to see if any other operators will be watching the performance of them

As long as nobody orders 400 of them. Don't want another monopolized railway for freight like the 66's.

 

[YorkshireBear]

As long as nobody orders 400 of them. Don't want another monopolized railway for freight like the 66's.

Wouldnt want an efficient railfreight network now would we. That would be stupid.

 

[Photohunter71]

Needs more of a yellow warning panel,but at least we're getting to see what it will look like!

 

[Monty]

I can understand the new livery, DRS is the launch customer for the class 68 and both they and Vossloh will want to exploit that. It's a marketing ploy to make the most out introducing a new locomotive on to the network. It will be interesting to see what these new locomotives look like when they reach our shores later this year.

 

[jopsuk]

It'll certainly be interesting to see what their first few months are like- I reckon the fire problems with the 70s (with which Freightliner launched their new livery) have severly dented their attractiveness to other operators.

 

[RobShipway]

Problem for me is that the Class 67's which were made in the same factory, did not work straight out of the box in the same way that the class 66's did so I would suggest that we do not expect too much from the class 68's to begin with at first!

 

[bronzeonion]

The livery applied to 57307 but without the cable theft stuff on it would be the best livery for DRS, no nonsence and the logo looks clean and smart.

As for the 68, why so ugly?!

 

[IanXC]

Does anyone know anything about the model we've seen pictured?

(Wonders if its 00 )

 

[sprinterguy]

The livery applied to 57307 but without the cable theft stuff on it would be the best livery for DRS, no nonsence and the logo looks clean and smart.

Of course matters of liveries are always completely subjective, but the best livery for DRS was the original one! It looked far smarter and "business-like" than the more recent vinyl based nonsense.