Branding and marketing blunders or failures on the railway.

[Doctor Fegg]

Or it is like Greater Manchester - ie applies to the area around Manchester not just Manchester.

It doesn't, though. The Greater Anglia franchise really is just East Anglia. At a pinch I guess you could cite Liverpool Street and that Bishop's Stortford is not quite East Anglia - but then BR used to call that bit West Anglia, and it's not like people have trouble understanding that Paddington is not actually in the West nor Kings Cross in the North-East.

No, it stems from the time when the SRA were using the word "Greater" to describe their new enlarged, single franchises. Greater Western is another one; GWR's holding company is still First Greater Western. But they don't use that as a consumer-facing brand.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If u mention that one youve got to mention Thameslink livery. Who in hell sanctioned that

There was a period of time when white was the "thing" because it eases moving stuff around.

To be honest, I actually quite like it. It looks clean and ultra-modern on the 700s, almost Japanese. It looked bad on rotting 319s, though.

 

[Meerkat]

It doesn't, though. The Greater Anglia franchise really is just East Anglia. At a pinch I guess you could cite Liverpool Street and that Bishop's Stortford is not quite East Anglia - but then BR used to call that bit West Anglia, and it's not like people have trouble understanding that Paddington is not actually in the West nor Kings Cross in the North-East.

No, it stems from the time when the SRA were using the word "Greater" to describe their new enlarged, single franchises. Greater Western is another one; GWR's holding company is still First Greater Western. But they don't use that as a consumer-facing brand.

I very much doubt the people of Cambridge like to think of themselves as East Anglian. Also Essex isn't in East Anglia and neither is London.
So basically in passenger numbers terms most of Greater Anglia isnt in East Anglia!

 

[YorksLad12]

Smiley faces on Class 365s. I've no idea whether this was unintentional, or whether some marketing type leaned over the designer's shoulder and told them to make the grille smile-shaped - brighten up commuters' mornings and give the brand a positive, happy image etc.
Believe me, it's possible to want to punch a train in the face, when it turns up 30 minutes late in the sleet wearing a stupid grin.

You've reminded me of the half-circles that appeared on units in West Yorkshire around 20 years ago. Hideous. The original version had the (M) Metro symbol on the yellow cab ends until H&S objected. That plus the overall scheme made the Pacers look like the toytown trains a lot of people thought they were...

 

[geoffk]

WAGN -"we are going nowhere".

 

[Bletchleyite]

WAGN -"we are going nowhere".

There's an unkind name for every railway company. I think there's been threads on it in the past.

 

[greyman42]

Smiley faces on Class 365s. I've no idea whether this was unintentional, or whether some marketing type leaned over the designer's shoulder and told them to make the grille smile-shaped - brighten up commuters' mornings and give the brand a positive, happy image etc.

When the 365s went up to Scotland, many passengers did comment that they liked the "happy trains".

 

[MadMac]

The Bullseye Line - Thanks for playing, Yorkshire, here's what you could have won.
(Plus it goes to Birmingham.)

And they run a speedboat instead…..

 

[CBlue]

I very much doubt the people of Cambridge like to think of themselves as East Anglian. Also Essex isn't in East Anglia and neither is London.
So basically in passenger numbers terms most of Greater Anglia isnt in East Anglia!

Grew up in rural Cambridgeshire here right on the edge of the fens, while I wouldn't say "I'm from East Anglia" to people I still consider myself as such.

London isn't in East Anglia much in the same way it isn't in the South West or East Midlands so I guess we should find better names for those operators too.

..... although equally non-geographic names like Lumo and Avanti seem to get hated on here so maybe we should paint everything white and write "TRAINS" on the side in nice block capitals

 

[LeeLivery]

I definitely heard some pronounce WAGN as 'Wagon'.

Grew up in rural Cambridgeshire here right on the edge of the fens, while I wouldn't say "I'm from East Anglia" to people I still consider myself as such.

London isn't in East Anglia much in the same way it isn't in the South West or East Midlands so I guess we should find better names for those operators too.

..... although equally non-geographic names like Lumo and Avanti seem to get hated on here so maybe we should paint everything white and write "TRAINS" on the side in nice block capitals

Reasonable... being from Northamptonshire, we're part of the Anglian tv region. While old terraced houses certainly look typically Midlands, I don't think I ever heard anyone actually say Northants was in the 'East Midlands' until more recently. Although the East Midlands feels like home, I still find it a bit strange describing Northants as such.

As for London, I'd argue it's the Thames Valley and Thameslink is the most accurate name you could get.

 

[Pigeon]

..... although equally non-geographic names like Lumo and Avanti seem to get hated on here so maybe we should paint everything white and write "TRAINS" on the side in nice block capitals

I'd pick a colour that didn't show the dirt so much, but apart from that, sounds great.

 

[xotGD]

I definitely heard some pronounce WAGN as 'Wagon'.

Is there another way to pronounce it?

See also GNER - G'ner.

 

[YorksLad12]

Is there another way to pronounce it?

See also GNER - G'ner.

In the Usenet days someone proposed merging West Anglia Great Northern with Great North Eastern Railway (as WAGNER), putting horns on the fronts of locos and changing the message announcement 'chime' to be Ride of the Valkyrie. I miss those days.

 

[Gems]

Calling the BTP a police force was the biggest branding obscenity in my view.

 

[Neo9320]

In the Usenet days someone proposed merging West Anglia Great Northern with Great North Eastern Railway (as WAGNER), putting horns on the fronts of locos and changing the message announcement 'chime' to be Ride of the Valkyrie. I miss those days.

You mean people don’t use usenet anymore?…damn I’m behind the times…

 

[ac6000cw]

I very much doubt the people of Cambridge like to think of themselves as East Anglian.

I think they do (speaking as a resident of it for 40+ years but being originally from the Midlands).

You really wouldn't want to be regarded as living in the 'South-East' would you - East Anglia is much better than that .

 

[Bletchleyite]

Calling the BTP a police force was the biggest branding obscenity in my view.

Er, how isn't it?

 

[ExRes]

Calling the BTP a police force was the biggest branding obscenity in my view.

Tell that to the parents, widows and orphans of the BTP officers killed on duty

 

[LeeLivery]

Is there another way to pronounce it?

See also GNER - G'ner.

Ah yes, I'm sure I did that a few times.

If Virgin Trains wasn't seen to be cool, I think the Great British public would've been creative with the insults.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Ah yes, I'm sure I did that a few times.

If Virgin Trains wasn't seen to be cool, I think the Great British public would've been creative with the insults.

I'm sure I can remember quips about VT back in the day... they may not comply with the forum rules though!

 

[D6968]

I'm sure I can remember quips about VT back in the day... they may not comply with the forum rules though!

Vermin Trains is the politest one I can recall.

 

[Pigeon]

I just call them Slut, don't bother about being clever.

I call their successors Slut too because they're not noticeably different. Same trains and same staggeringly outrageous fares. Their principal distinguishing feature on first contact is still the same - if I look up a journey on the OJP and the fare for one of the timing options it gives me is several times the fare for any of the others, it's because they're the ones who have set that fare - and having a different brand name attached to the figure is not a matter of significance.

 

[102 fan]

I'd pick a colour that didn't show the dirt so much, but apart from that, sounds great.

Didn't BR propose to paint train underframes brown at one time?

 

[D6968]

Didn't BR propose to paint train underframes brown at one time?

I’m sure that happened to one of the Warships. Can’t remember which one though.

 

[ScottGallagher]

I very much doubt the people of Cambridge like to think of themselves as East Anglian. Also Essex isn't in East Anglia and neither is London.
So basically in passenger numbers terms most of Greater Anglia isnt in East Anglia!

Why wasn't it designated as Great Eastern Railway to which I think the DFT still owns the trademark, GNER is long gone so it wouldn't have confused these days. You wouldn't ever rebrand Southern as Greater Sussex.

It's highly probable that had First won the franchise instead of NX in 2004 that the Great Eastern name would have stayed with appropriate local suffixes.