British Rail Brand Names
British Rail was the brand image of the nationalised railway owner and operator in Great Britain, the British Railways Board, used from 1965 until its breakup and sell-off from 1993 onwards.
From an initial standardised corporate image, several sub-brands emerged for marketing purposes, and later in preparation for privatisation. These brands covered rail networks, customers services, and several classes of new trains.
With the size of British Rail's fleet, due to the time required to repaint rolling stock, in terms of the physical trains brand switchovers could be lengthy affairs lasting years. This worsened into privatisation, with the same services often using 3 or 4 different liveries.
Following privatisation, several of the brands disappeared, although some such as ScotRail, Merseyrail, Eurostar and Freightliner remain. Some privatised train operating companies have since introduced their own brands along the same lines, such as, Midland Mainline's "Meridian" trains, and the Virgin Trains "Voyager" services).
The iconic double-arrow symbol introduced with the creation of the British Rail brand remains post-privatisation, as a unifying branding device for the privatised National Rail network, used on most tickets, stations and publicity, but not trains.
Read more about British Rail Brand Names: Timeline of Brands
Famous quotes containing the words british, rail, brand and/or names:
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—Report on the British royal family. quoted in Sunday Times (London, Nov. 13, 1988)
“We rail at trade, but the historian of the world will see that it was the principle of liberty; that it settled America, and destroyed feudalism, and made peace and keeps peace; that it will abolish slavery.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)
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—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)