Petit Chemins de Fer de la Bretagne?

You’d never think we’d managed to have an integrated rail network before would you 🙄

Still not sure why the ‘glitch’ needs to be on every coach, would look much better if the red stripe/band continued down the length of the train—see InterCity/LNER, GNER and even Network SouthEast—that must have been explored, surely? The whole thing is too complex (Photograph: Trevor Stone)

Makes some sort of sense but hard to see how it encourages joined-up thinking across a fully integrated system It might help a passenger board the right train; restricted (restrictive) ticketing is a recent phenomenon and wasn’t really a thing when British Rail was originally conceived

Another photograph of the first train to be painted in GBR livery (Network Rail) The ‘symbol + GBR’ device is particularly poor in terms of balance and weight (symbol was designed for use with upper and lower case); why not just use it without watering it down with an ugly, irrelevant abbreviation?

The livery design is flawed, based on a false premise—using the Union Flag (and its five colours!)—driven a political ideology encapsulated by the inappropriate ‘Great British Railways’ name, a legacy of Johnson jingoism, which was not satisfactorily challenged thereafter…

Rough

Class 387 in GBR livery, simpler than the original? Great British Railways remains a feeble name The ‘GBR’ abbreviation should not be used in branding; the *symbol* alone should be the abbreviation, not hard to understand The flash on every coach is a design weakness; brash overkill

Don’t worry, I’m sure you can still find the Chonk at other railway stations across the Northern England and North Wales, if, like Gareth, you’re acutely feeling the loss

@doublearrow64.bsky.social Do you need to sit down?

Not ideal of course but that is the least of its troubles

As you may know, the ‘Chonk’, formerly at Alderley Edge and elsewhere, was a truly abysmal manifestation of the rail symbol, but unfortunately it has recently been replaced by this shameful, retina-assaulting sign which is nothing short of bringing the railway into disrepute

Once again, a white symbol would be better IMO

Another iteration of the Great British Railways logotype, showing the accessible straight-legged ‘R’ and hooked lower case ‘L’; the clocks (not sure why there are two of them) need the LNER logo and weather details to be purged (Photograph: Andy Comfort)

Grim from a wayfinding point of view: - All caps - ‘Welcome to…’ - ‘…Station’ - No Rail Symbol

Fantastic photograph but perfectly illustrates the weakness of this railing design (back-to-front from one side)

I think I am going to have to make peace with the fact that GBR… never mind 😔

“Please stand behind the speckled line.”

How have I never noticed this sign before, guessing that’s a signalling centre/PSB of some sort? #Warrington #RailAlphabet

This is the first Rail Alphabet 2 that I’ve seen melted to the platform surface, shame about the skinny directional arrow #WarringtonBankQuay

It rivals Birmingham New Street in grimness at platform level - and that’s an achievement. A passenger environment of zero design quality that helps undermine the overall identity of the railway as a mode of choice.

I’m sure I’ve said this before but, when it’s done well, it is spectacular

No, because that would make some sort of sense (nice Freudian slip btw—‘robbing’)

Just don’t…

How about this for some half decent wayfinding? Nice revised arrow thickness but quite beyond the designer to use the right stroke thickness for the dividing line; at least they eschewed an ampersand (I would probably have put ‘Platforms 4 to 6’ but you can’t have everything)

‘Interesting’ co-branding on a hoarding at Manchester Victoria (pretty pointless); has a bit of a British Airways 2000 feel to it with that ribbed backdrop (I think it might even be Rail Symbol 2)

Birthday legend…

Signage as nature intended…

A whole lot of Helvetica Medium…

Apprehensive about Cambridge South branding (evidently the first UK station to be given GBR branding); surely the way to go is to follow the latest Wayfinding Design Guidelines? Or are we going to be subjected to this nonsense…

@garethdennis.uk Hey, is HS2 (northern section) back on the cards? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Making the landscape! @doublearrow64.bsky.social

I have suspicions that the ‘S’ might be upside down so these might not be original?

Nameplates and Southern style crest from 33056 ‘The Burma Star’ on display in the railway museum at Corfe Castle #RailAlphabet

Galvanised steel railings in #Haymarket (also featured in ‘Arrows of desire’) Photograph: Ben Job

What is Great Western Railways? There’s no s at the end of Great Western Railway #sloppy

Imagine leaving this bizarrely unnecessary spur on the R on your logotype…

Helvetica #Flake

Interested in lettering and typefaces…?

They’re also taking off from t’baseline #EzerGood

📰 Newspaper SOS! We’re trying to find a physical copy of last Thursday’s The Guardian, but no local libraries have one 😅 If you’ve got a copy, we’d be so grateful! Drop it at reception or call 01736 363625 and ask for Maisy-Sky. Thank you!

Vinyl drivel—‘drivinyl’—if you will (not Train Sim World’s fault)

Also, and this is rather nuanced, the Falcon Grey on the powercar should be marginally darker, if anything, than the Executive Dark Grey which should be being used on the Mark 3 rake in InterCity Executive livery

Falcon Grey and Warning Yellow miles off

What we‘re saying is, Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway advertising is better than National Rail’s

Cropped symbol? Why not read the Rail Symbol 2 Design Guidelines? Also please stop using the old British Rail symbol (especially the negative version in positive format). There is a typeface called Rail Alphabet 2 (or even 3 if you like). (Helvetica? Really?) Do stuff properly.

Another animal running away from the theatre of conflict, although apparently it’s now ‘looking forward, not back’—I guess it’s because shields were usually held in the protagonist’s left hand so the right hand can wield a weapon (Aston Villa have turned their lion back round FWIW)

From the current Private Eye: brilliant.

Onbrand #Underground #TfL

Bonkers in almost every regard