New Deliveries / New Livery & Branding Discussion

[RW]

The livery is also restricted as the owners of the new buses, Zenobe, have placed restrictions on colours that can be used.

So is it the case that NXWM could choose any colour provided it was grey or could other colours have been used as part of the new livery but it was decided that grey was the cheapest and easiest to maintain? We're any other liveries even considered?

[don]

The new livery is quite close to the existing Platinum livery - which has appeared on every new bus since 2015 or so - thus not a change for passengers - presumably the vinyls will add to it. However part of what made that livery was the red lining.

I am a bit concerned the diagonal stripe, especially on the offside, will mostly be obliterated by a T advertisement (if fitted - they have the frame on them) thus negating the livery somewhat!! Hopefully the vinyls will be tasteful - I see E034 has the silver electric flash on the front above the windscreen.

I shall reserve judgement until I've seen the full livery, and got used to it. I like the crimson livery also but this hasn't appeared on a new vehicle since 2201-2250 and 6101-48*

Correction - 3301-5

[Westy]

Never heard of Zenobe before!

[Stevo]

We've been here before - back in 1990 the fleet had become very dreary in grey or silver so the blue, red and silver livery was introduced and was far better.

[Westy]

We've been here before - back in 1990 the fleet had become very dreary in grey or silver so the blue, red and silver livery was introduced and was far better.

Wasn't there a 'problem ' with using silver, so it got changed to grey instead?

[Stevo]

The silver faded or wore out quickly on repaints.

[don]

The silver faded or wore out quickly on repaints.

I thought the silver and blue livery was excellent - pity the paint formulation/system used wasn't up to the task - in my view the fleet did look insipid rather than tatty when the silver was replaced with light grey. 

I'm not sure the replacement looked much better although it seemed to wear better.

The platinum fleet still looks very smart (even those which are 7 yrs old or so retain a sheen to them). Not sure if that's down to the paint formulation or whether a clear coat was added by the builders - but they seem to wear very well.  

[DJ]

I thought the silver and blue livery was excellent - pity the paint formulation/system used wasn't up to the task - in my view the fleet did look insipid rather than tatty when the silver was replaced with light grey.

I'm not sure the replacement looked much better although it seemed to wear better.

The platinum fleet still looks very smart (even those which are 7 yrs old or so retain a sheen to them). Not sure if that's down to the paint formulation or whether a clear coat was added by the builders - but they seem to wear very well. 

I'd argue the same with the Crimson livery too, the old red paint on the 'wedge' livery faded rather badly, especially when at garages where they're more exposed to the elements like Pensnett. The Crimson liveried buses aren't nearly as bad in that respect.

[don]

Yes I recall the 48xx batch were various shades of pink when in their final years at Pensnett - I seem to recall @Tony mentioning the reds chosen for the crimson livery used shades and formulation designed to resist fading - not sure if 4177 was involved in that (when it was in all over red).

Modern two pack paint should be capable of long life, dependent on the chemicals used to clean it also - I'm frequently amazed at the resilience of much of the railway passenger stock these days, in terms of cleanliness and finish - even colours like the dark blue used by South Eastern (would have expected it to fade in years gone by) and even the white used on Networkers - which often still looks reasonable - the washing tanks at Gillingham have Autoglym stickers on them - whether that's a joke I don't know but their stuff is used on many makes of high end car (eg JLR; VW Audi). 

I see no reason why the two tone grey can't be long lasting - will be interesting to see the vinyls on the electrics when finished. 

[BBS]

Seems like 2236's 40 branding has been stripped up

[Jack]

Seems like 2236's 40 branding has been stripped up

It has been for a week, it was mentioned last week it was debranded...

[Stevo]

I'm amazed how well both the crimson and the platinum liveries have lasted. There's no doubt maintenance is better now but the paint formulation must have improved greatly.

[2900]

From this weeks brief from main man, 22 buses could be named after Englands lionesses which will go down well considering there achievement in the euros,
the manager should be included too.

[Stu]

Having seen a couple of them 'in the flesh' now, despite the 'dreary grey' colour, these repainted E200MMCs do actually look quite smart now, and there's almost an air of consistency now when you see them amongst the Platinum double decks along the Stratford Road.

[B61 ANDREW]

Having seen a couple of them 'in the flesh' now.

When I started reading , I thought you may have been on about the previous post . . . . . .  Sorry.