Weaver Network colours appearing on Trans Pennine route

[Bill50023]

mods note - split from this thread

Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

Well it was suggested in the Manchester - Liverpool Electrification thread that we have a seperate Transpennine thread. Now I know that Manchester - Stalybridge is actually part of the Northern Hub project , but to me, haulage bashing Peaks in the 1970s-1980s - Liverpool-Newcastle was classed as...

www.railforums.co.uk

It looks like the steps are open but the lifts aren't in operation yet. This video update has gone on YouTube

 

[treasury brain]

Anyone know if the green handrails are weaver network branding or just a coincidence?

 

[Narrowgauge725]

Anyone know if the green handrails are weaver network branding or just a coincidence?

Batley was in the WYMetro colours so I would expect the green is Weaver branding

 

[dodecahedron67]

The green is Weaver green, same as Mirfield. Mirfield’s new platforms have the Weaver network logos on the signs too

 

[QueensCurve]

Anyone know if the green handrails are weaver network branding or just a coincidence?

It's a long way from the Weaver.

 

[edwin_m]

It's a long way from the Weaver.

Also a long way from the Chesunt and Chingford lines, which probably have orange handrails anyway.

 

[Bill50023]

I imagine any railway stations or bus stations in West Yorkshire will get the Weaver treatment from now on. I hope a reasonable smattering of the old Metro signs are preserved. The big M sign at Bradford Interchange was cut to pieces when they removed it a few years ago, which was a sad sight.

 

[josh-j]

It's a long way from the Weaver.

Might be missing something but the Weaver network is for West Yorks and Batley is in West Yorks? So it makes sense for it to be branded nice and green.

 

[IanXC]

Might be missing something but the Weaver network is for West Yorks and Batley is in West Yorks? So it makes sense for it to be branded nice and green.

Just someone being London (Overground) centric.

 

[edwin_m]

Just someone being London (Overground) centric.

There's also a river Weaver (and a Weaver Junction) in Cheshire.

 

[josh-j]

Ah, so I was missing something!

I quite like it, the first photo I've seen of the branding at a station I think. It will be strange once the WY Metro red is gone everywhere though.

 

[QueensCurve]

There's also a river Weaver (and a Weaver Junction) in Cheshire.

Yes. The Weaver I had in mind.

 

[Ian Hardy]

The background to the Weaver Network is here:
www.wymetro.com/corporate/news/releases/weaver-network-will-offer-made-to-measure-public-transport-for-west-yorkshire/

Weaver Network will offer made to measure public transport for West Yorkshire

12 May 2025

The modern brand will offer a single branding for passengers, making it easier and more accessible, however they choose to travel around the region.

It follows extensive work to explore the region’s cultural identity, including the involvement of poet laureate and West Yorkshire resident Simon Armitage.

The Weaver Network name is inspired by the region's industrial past and visually reflects the cultural fabric of modern-day West Yorkshire. It will drive forward an overriding ambition to improve lives by connecting people with places.

The new brand was officially unveiled by Mayor Tracy Brabin and West Yorkshire's five council leaders at Millennium Square in Leeds this morning (Monday 12 May).

To be cost effective, the brand will be gradually introduced, starting with existing planned replacements at bus stops and stations. The branding will then be rolled out further when buses are taken under local control from 2027, before being included on the planned West Yorkshire tram system, for which construction work will start in 2028.

The news item has a lot more information.

 

[Railsecrets]

Anyone know if the green handrails are weaver network branding or just a coincidence?

It’s weaver network branding, as midfield has green on light poles, and pretty much everywhere that would be red. Not to mention the weaver network logo too.

 

[Tim_UK]

I quite like it, the first photo I've seen of the branding at a station I think. It will be strange once the WY Metro red is gone everywhere though.

Metro red has been around at least 35 years? I'm too young to know when it started.

 

[YorksLad12]

Metro red has been around at least 35 years? I'm too young to know when it started.

Forty-ish. It was Verona Green and Buttermilk from 1974 to 1986, then red and cream in the run-up to deregulation and after.

 

[Andyh82]

Forty-ish. It was Verona Green and Buttermilk from 1974 to 1986, then red and cream in the run-up to deregulation and after.

And the red ‘M’ was introduced some time in 1987. They initially used a red version of the previous green logo. (I wasn’t there I’ve just got some old timetables)

 

[Roger B]

Forty-ish. It was Verona Green and Buttermilk from 1974 to 1986, then red and cream in the run-up to deregulation and after.

The cl 141 pacers were quite a sight in the green and buttermilk.

Although given their 'features', perhaps their looks could only have been significantly enhanced by shrouding them in tarpaulins. With apologies to anyone who liked to the look of the 141s, after all 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', or so they say!

ISTR some were exported to Iran - are they still in use, or long gone?

 

[YorksLad12]

And the red ‘M’ was introduced some time in 1987. They initially used a red version of the previous green logo. (I wasn’t there I’ve just got some old timetables)

I've been trying to create digital versions of the old branding - difficult, as it was never applied consistently (especially letter spacing). The one I gave up on was the interim brand. This was the previous Metro-National (bus) or Metro-Link / Metro-Train (train) logo, with the WY rose replaced with an outline of the county. It looked hideous, especially at the small size applied to bus stop plates. I don't think it was ever applied anywhere important, such as bus or rail stations. By the time I did my second-year placement there, Feb-March 1988, we were in "red M" territory. It isn't, of course, a red M, that's just what everyone called it...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Apr 2026 ==

The cl 141 pacers were quite a sight in the green and buttermilk.

Although given their 'features', perhaps their looks could only have been significantly enhanced by shrouding them in tarpaulins. With apologies to anyone who liked to the look of the 141s, after all 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', or so they say!

ISTR some were exported to Iran - are they still in use, or long gone?

The 141s were repainted into red and cream, which looked a lot harsher. They were in those colours when in Iran. I wouldn't like to go on a field trip to track them down just now...!

And yes - I did like them. A bit.

 

[321362]

Also a long way from the Chesunt and Chingford lines, which probably have orange handrails anyway.

OT but these, helpfully, mostly have green handrails at the stations

 

[norbitonflyer]

Just someone being London (Overground) centric.

It is confusing though for two quite separate networks on NR to have such similar names.

Likewise whoever came up with the "Gainsborough Line" moniker for the Sudbury (Suffolk) branch seemed to be unaware that there is a town in Lincolnshire of that name, with two stations. (However, the line's original name "Stour Valley Railway" would be even more ambiguous given there are at least three orther rivers of that name - in Kent, Dorset (as in Sturminster Newton) and the Midlands (as in Stourbridge), at least one of which has given its name to a railway line

 

[GoneSouth]

The big M sign at Bradford Interchange was cut to pieces when they removed it a few years ago, which was a sad sight.

Some may say they shouldn’t have stopped with the sign but given the whole station the same treatment.

I've been trying to create digital versions of the old branding - difficult, as it was never applied consistently (especially letter spacing). The one I gave up on was the interim brand. This was the previous Metro-National (bus) or Metro-Link / Metro-Train (train) logo, with the WY rose replaced with an outline of the county. It looked hideous, especially at the small size applied to bus stop plates. I don't think it was ever applied anywhere important, such as bus or rail stations. By the time I did my second-year placement there, Feb-March 1988, we were in "red M" territory. It isn't, of course, a red M, that's just what everyone called it...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Apr 2026 ==


The 141s were repainted into red and cream, which looked a lot harsher. They were in those colours when in Iran. I wouldn't like to go on a field trip to track them down just now...!

And yes - I did like them. A bit.

Well it takes all sorts I guess. I have memories of travelling on the stopping services via Barnsley to Sheffield on them and I hated them at the time but somehow I’m quite nostalgic about them now. A bit like nostalgia for corporal punishment and no central heating!

 

[vlad]

(However, the line's original name "Stour Valley Railway" would be even more ambiguous given there are at least three orther rivers of that name - in Kent, Dorset (as in Sturminster Newton) and the Midlands (as in Stourbridge), at least one of which has given its name to a railway line

I think the Sudbury branch has a better claim to the Stour Valley Railway moniker than the Stour Valley Line between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, given that the latter doesn't go anywhere near the River Stour!

However, once you start getting pedantic you may start to argue that the other end of the Sudbury Branch should be in Harwich as that's where the Stour goes....