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Pardon my question if it has been asked before but I am new to the forum. Here goes, Is there a general concensus regarding the quality of rail passenger operations from British Rail to the current system of opertors? Excluding the equipment and technology evolution that has brought improvements to the system has it improved?

Secondly, do most folks prefer the uniform appearance of a national fleet or the current opertor paint schemes? I must confess I liked the BR colours when compared to the newer operator schemes that I have seen. As equipment is shopped for repairs how well can the shop crews restore some of these rather abstract paint schemes to proper appearance?

Finally what is the travelling publics opinion of transfers? Unfortunately in the US travelers are loath to change trains to reach their destination and seek "single seat" arrangements. In the end there is little intermodal coordination or cross platform transfer opportunities. We have a long way to go!

Thanks,
Joe

From the sounds of it overall I think most people preferred the BR livery schemes over the private operators.

It sort of looked respectful after privatisation (Virgin, Midland Mainline and GNER a few), but over time the liveries have gone over the top and knowbody liked some of them, operator 'One' had to scrap their livery scheme becuase of it's unpopularity.

British Railways are certainly much more colourful than they have ever been in the past. I would guess that Carlisle before the grouping would probably have been the next most colourful: Blue, Red, Black and several shades of green and that was just the locos!

Connections between trains can be a pain especially if they involve a long wait. I think it is one reason why people use cars!

Berst wishes,

John H-T.

Yes and of course we should not forget the overcrowding problems on trains. We have an operator in this area who the passengers are constantly complaining about through the local press. Running 4 car units where 8 cars or even 12 are called for to accomodate the number of passengers, especially during the rush hours. Then there is the fares, paying "X" amount of pounds for a season ticket and getting far from ideal service.
I do think sometimes that some of the private companys running the trains on the railway in this country today, went into it blindfolded so to speak, especially some of these bus companys, thinking they can run a train service like a bus service or a train company like a bus company. Well nothing could be further from the truth and the sooner they realise that the better, for the railways, their staff and the travelling public.

48111

Apart from Virgin, TfL and Chiltern Railways (which is owned by Deutsche Bahn) they all are run by bus companies aren't they?

Go Ahead
First
Stagecoach
Arriva
National Express

are all bus or coach operating companies. And I think there are enough similarities between buses and trains to make bus companies the best existing companies for the job of running the railways.

Not quite right
1 ) Northern Rail "Northern Rail's owner, Serco-NedRailways, is a consortium formed of NedRailways (the British unit of Nederlandse Spoorwegen) and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems. "
2) Merseyrail - I think also owned by Serco ?
3) Wrexham & Shropshire - another DB subsidiary ?
4) Grand Central - ???

Note that these are some of the better operators IMHO !

Well some of the new liveries are perhaps not so good, but there is definately more colour around now.

Northern and Mersyrail are both owned by Serco-NedRailways, both are run quite closely, or at least have been in the past, with several Nothern trains taking Merseyrail livery, etc.

Wrexham & Shropshire is owned by DB Regio, which is itself a subsidery of DB.

Grand Central I believe is privately owned and as such as somewhat stand-alone rather than a subsidary?

Oh, it's worth noting Virgin trains is owned 49% Stagecoach, a bus company. :D

Regarding the restoration of paint schemes, the truth is they ain't paint! A lot of the complex "Paint Jobs" are nothing more than vehicle size sheets of self-adhesive pre-printed vinyl, applied by a specialist team from the firm that makes them, the backing sheet is peeled off and the whole thing smoothed down with careful use of a sharp knife here and there, to ensure a good fit around door apertures/push buttons/indicators, etc.

Painting can be a problem.
When painting something like a locomotive, it is probably best to get rid of the existing paint jobs first and not let them build up.
If this continues, the paint will flake off in big bits.
As far as I know this hasn't been done in the world of rail, but I did it on a sheet of metal using enamel paint like you would.
Just as advice, don't let is build up too far.