WEEK REVIEW ~ Fri 20th Nov

Harry here, covering for Andy during his Vacation. My task today is to bring you the Week Review!

 ABELLIO GREATER ANGLIA
12024 (standard class) returned from Wolverton and DVT 82133 from Loughborough, now in Abellio Greater Anglia livery. 57306 was the loco hauling this move. 12040 (Coach D- Standard) and 10403 (Buffet) both went the other way, and are now being repainted. Meanwhile, Carriages 10404 (Buffet) and 12108 (1st Class) are due back soon from the paint shop.
(C) Northern Rail
Also, Robert W tells us that 317668 now has new seat covers as part of the internal refurbishment. And finally at AbellioGreaterAnglia, 156419 is back from Derby following wheel lathe work and 82102 is now at Loughborough for a repaint. The Fleet List is updated to show these changes.

NORTHERN
Northern Rail have devised a method to allow customers to know how serious the affects are of the leaf-fall season, by using a colour coded chart. As you can see, yellow is minor whilst black is severe. Customers are able to plan their journey around this and understand whether to expect delays. Thanks to Northern Rail for allowing us to use this image (copyrighted to them) to demonstrate the purpose.

Meanwhile, and as previously reported, 17 Class 323s are scheduled to transfer to London Midland soon from Northern. These 323s will be replaced by a similar amount of Class 319s - some of which are already at Northern. These are used on many recently electrified Manchester/Liverpool and Wigan/Manchester services. The above image is copyrighted to David Hollowood.

FREIGHTLINER:
90043 is now in Freightliner livery. Look out for the next freight focus, coming soon, for more news. Thanks to Jonathan Maxim for sending us a photo (C). 

VIRGIN:
  • Virgin Trains have opened up their doors to the BBC, who have provided a 'behind the scenes insight' of how valuable Social Media is to companies, such as TOC Virgin Trains. They introduce the team, state some of the issues and dilemmas they deal with and also how the team are encouraged to use humour to defuse sticky situations.
  • 91114 is now in a livery to commemorate Durham cathedral, to match the loco's current name. 
Doesn't the new uniform look great? (C) VTEC
  • Virgin Trains East Coast have recently introduced a new style of smart and professional  uniforms, known already as 'Red Hot'. Virgin said: 'The new red hot uniform features fresh micro checked shirts and blouses, bright and bold red ties and scarves, plus waistcoats and jumpers – helping both staff and customers to connect with the Virgin brand'. Alison Watson, Customer Experience Director at Virgin Trains, said: “Our staff are our greatest asset, so it is important that they both look and feel good, and in turn deliver an amazing customer experience."
  • Staying with the Virgin brand, the West and East Coast brands have partnered up for their new marketing regime. On the night of the Mobo Awards I saw the advert, which consists of someone who appears in their early twenties meeting his partners family for the first time! 

Regards:

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