Your Favourite TOC logo?

[monkey]

Hi,

seeing as my first post was about the logo I designed for graphics project I did for the art college I go to. I was wondering what your fave train operating company logo's were?

I quite like...

GNER (looking quite fetching on this class 393 )

(cos the db logo is just classic)

...theres not many I actually like. hmm. on the whole I'd say british logo's/liveries are pretty poor. national express is smart, but feels cheap overall. grand central is annoyingly poor as well, although the new revision is an improvement, it still looks cheap, although it does win on the whole novelty factor. the worst offenders are probs imo are the arrriva train wales - never liked the logo, and the livery should have remained on the buses; govia franchises and northern - they just look a mess or dated...

anyway fire away...

 

[GNERman]

do you mean gner logo on a 373...

i do like gner but i love grand central's logo, simple yet diferent to others

 

[monkey]

^^nah, I like it in general on all the rolling stock it was used on, marketing material etc. its simple logo, but its soooo effect, and they had the most well thought out livery post br, a balance of function and aesthetics. oh and the uniforms, they were amazing! they made the railways feel special again..

I look at most logo's and liveries today, and it's depressing... the southern one hurts my eyes!!!

 

[SouthEastern-465]

I like Grand Centrals-and-Southerns they look brilliant on the trains they operate,171s,377s,456s,455s(excluding CIGs in southern livery didnt look nice).

And I like all the units/locos in GC livery 43s,180s,etc...
Regards

 

[Daimler]

^^nah, I like it in general on all the rolling stock it was used on, marketing material etc. its simple logo, but its soooo effect, and they had the most well thought out livery post br, a balance of function and aesthetics. oh and the uniforms, they were amazing! they made the railways feel special again..

I think you hit it spot on there! It's not just the logo that made GNER great, but everything that went with it - simple, tasteful, elegant, deeply classy. Of course, as the parent company also owns the VSOE, they should know all about elegance and classiness! I, however, would argue that the logo was the (officially recognised) coat of arms on the carriage sides:

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2418/2053954678_b429e8a684.jpg?v=0)

Out of the current mottley crew, I'm reasonably fond of London Midland's branding - the grey/green/black theme works well in my eyes: (especially now it's appearing all over stations too)

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2377/1991022454_bc9ff3d80c.jpg)

Either that or I'm just so relieved to see the back of Silverlink and their vomit inducing violet and lime green...

(http://www.wide-ranging.com/Beta/MusicMovies/Remix%20silverlink/321_4_silverlink.jpg)

In terms of overall branding, I think South West Trains/East Midlands Trains' idea of having 3 distinct (and rather nice) schemes for intercity, suburban, and inner urban services all linked together works pretty neatly too.

 

[monkey]

^^I don't like the stagecoach parot livery though. ooof, that silverlink one is pretty bad!

 

[Daimler]

^^I don't like the stagecoach parot livery though. ooof, that silverlink one is pretty bad!

Tell me about it...almost a decade of that livery :cry:

With regard to Stagecoach livery, I'm actually relatively fond - I know it's bright and garish ('parrot' is right), but I just think it looks kind of...cheerful - Waterloo Station is a nice place to be, with all of those bright colours (it helps that the trains are always pretty clean, too!). That's not to say I wouldn't prefer a return to LSWR livery, though:

(http://www.scalemodelrailways.co.uk/7mm%20LSWR%2002%20Adams%20Tank%2050%25%20Web.jpg)

Real class. Southern malachite green with 'sunshine' lettering would be equally welcome for me at Waterloo:

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/FileR_West_Country_Class_21C123_%27Blackmore_Vale%27_at_York_Railfest.JPG)

I guess one of the reasons I like GNER so was that it emulated the old-fashioned liveries of [cliché] a bygone age [/cliché]!

 

[eastwestdivide]

Well I liked it a couple of years back before Northern started wearing purple, when it was a random livery generator. Not sure that purple belongs on a train to be honest. The purple certainly swamps the actual "N" logo, which I'm having a hard time remembering.
And the Eurostar livery is a bit bland for an important international service. Do they even have a logo? Oh yes, that swishy E with a star, which reads E-étoile to a French speaker, and E-star to an English speaker.

As for actual logos, there's not many that actually say "railway" in their design (like the old double arrows hinting at two tracks). The new Cross Country "X" kind-of represents their routes crossing the country and crossing each other at Birmingham.

 

[monkey]

I guess one of the reasons I like GNER so was that it emulated the old-fashioned liveries of [cliché] a bygone age [/cliché]!

^^clichéd, it may be - but its what made the railways magical, the possibilities endless. I got a similar feeling of that using the caledonian sleeper, it felt like it was exciting and real and special. gner kinda had that. its hard to feel the same attachment to a modern livery like virgins, which is a good modern livery (especially from a branding point of view), but just doesn't have charm.

I just think its sad now that as the country that invented the railways, that it feels so instant and plastic... and dissappointing...

 

[Dai.]

I'll update later with more, because I can't think now, are going on logos or liveries? cause I like the liveries of some other trains but not the logos :P

UPDATE 1 -

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/HPIM0972.JPG

Central Trains White on a 170. is another one I like.

 

[monkey]

^^sort of both it looks like, I didn't have set idea, so we'll include both, people can just explain if they like the logo but not the livery and vice versa...

 

[Z12XE]

Logo wise I always liked the WAGN triangle

Anyone know if the colours of the triangles meant anything in particular?

 

[Dai.]

Tell me about it...almost a decade of that livery :cry:

With regard to Stagecoach livery, I'm actually relatively fond - I know it's bright and garish ('parrot' is right), but I just think it looks kind of...cheerful - Waterloo Station is a nice place to be, with all of those bright colours (it helps that the trains are always pretty clean, too!). That's not to say I wouldn't prefer a return to LSWR livery, though:

(http://www.scalemodelrailways.co.uk/7mm%20LSWR%2002%20Adams%20Tank%2050%25%20Web.jpg)

Real class. Southern malachite green with 'sunshine' lettering would be equally welcome for me at Waterloo:

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/FileR_West_Country_Class_21C123_%27Blackmore_Vale%27_at_York_Railfest.JPG)

I guess one of the reasons I like GNER so was that it emulated the old-fashioned liveries of [cliché] a bygone age [/cliché]!

Parrot Stagecoach Liveries. I like them!

 

[eastwestdivide]

Logo wise I always liked the WAGN triangle

Anyone know if the colours of the triangles meant anything in particular?

Don't know about the colours, but if you look at the lines not the triangles you can see W on the top and A (without the crossbar) in the white. Maybe.

 

[Oswyntail]

Log-wise, there is nothing to beat the BR arrows. Simple, says what it is (if you think about it). I cannot think of any other company logo that has become an internationally accepted symbol for the type of product it describes.

 

[monkey]

^^actually you're right. that is the penultamate in logo's I'd be hard pressed to argue with that, it's a design classic, like the underground logo. but I was generally referring to private ones post br...

 

[37401]

Intercity Swallow and BR LLB

 

[Active_Lad]

Log-wise, there is nothing to beat the BR arrows. Simple, says what it is (if you think about it). I cannot think of any other company logo that has become an internationally accepted symbol for the type of product it describes.

And is still used today on roadsigns.

The loss of GNER to NXEC was a blow in so many ways. The quality of service these days on the ECML is in the toilet. :cry:

 

[monkey]

^^hehe, yeah deffo a classic. I actually wonder what happened to the swallow sign thing behind the counter at the ticket office in newcastle central, I'd have bought it if I had the money maybe...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

And is still used today on roadsigns.

The loss of GNER to NXEC was a blow in so many ways. The quality of service these days on the ECML is in the toilet. :cry:

...I wouldn't say the service is bad, but it does lack that magic. makes me wonder what happend to those lovely uniforms, which were so much better than nxec ones, which make them look like they've rolled through a sheet of polyester...

 

[Oswyntail]

Yes, I just like showing my age!

 

[me123]

I like the new Scotrail logo, beats the previous two in my opinion. I also liked the "Highland Rail" logo on some units and locos based in Inverness (see here).

The GNER is a classic logo on a classic livery. I'm talking about both the coat of arms and the GNER name. I also like Virgin's logo (although I appreciate that it's used by all Virgin's companies).

 

[monkey]

^^yeah credit to redpath in edinburgh for the scotrail logo. I have to say I didn't love it at first, but having doen project around it I have grown to like it more and it's certainly an improvement on that hideous post-br nx one and the associated liveries...

I also liked the "Highland Rail" logo on some units and locos based in Inverness (see here). .

...ooh wow! I like that little logo, that would have been useful for my project during research phase... although it reinforces that I made the right choice about using a deer and not the rampant lion...

 

[me123]

I actually thought that was your inspiration for the sleeper logo!

 

[Aictos]

Well apart from the BR era logos, I quite like First's logos from the Barbie livery to the Current First livery as modelled by FTPE, FGW and FHT not to mention I don't mind the FCC livery.

Talking of which, I really like the plain FCC livery wore by the 377s until the full FCC livery gets put on them.

 

[berwickspotter]

I like the EWS Logo but also like the BR Logo as for livery it has to be the west coast railways maroon

 

[Dai.]

Intercity Swallow and BR LLB

The swallow logo was lovely.

 

[37401]

The swallow logo was lovely.

indeed it was that HST i was on back in 95-96 up the lake district will always stay in my mind

 

[Fincra5]

I like Grand Centrals-and-Southerns they look brilliant on the trains they operate,171s,377s,456s,455s(excluding CIGs in southern livery didnt look nice).

And I like all the units/locos in GC livery 43s,180s,etc...
Regards

The southern livery look really good on a CIG. I think it is one of the best liveries they have had.

I like the southern logo.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

I have a think for the London Midland Desiro's as well. Took a bit of getting used to though.

I quite like the Stagecoach orange/white/blue on EMT and SWT as well

 

[Electrostar]

I can't stand the Northern logo. It's like something out an 80s electricity showroom.

WAGN, Anglia, and Thameslink logos weren't anything special. 'one' was ridiculous because of the need to use inverted commas when writing it.

Southern, South West Trains, GNER (as was), Heathrow Express and London Midland do the job.