Standardisation

Ever since the days of British Railways and their "Standards" (classes of steam locomotive which were the best bits of all the "Big Four" designs put together), the railways of the United Kingdom have tried to be as standardised as possible. British Rail's Corporate Identity Manual set out how every sign should be printed and laid out on the BR network. And now, in the 21st century, the Hitachi AT300 series of trains (Classes 800, 801, and 802) are being rolled out across two of the most major routes in the country; the Great Western Mainline and the East Coast Mainline.

However, it is sometimes the small trains and the introduction of trains in smaller areas which is often overlooked. The introduction of Class 195 trains for Northern Rail to replace Class 142 "Pacers" has not been given the same fancy introduction as the IETs and Azumas, and the replacement of the Class 707s on SWR by new Class 701s has, although this has not begun yet, been covered as much as the IETs.

The new Class 701s are being introduced by South Western Railway to replace the Class 707 trains. The 707s do not have toilets, and, as SWR want every train to have a toilet onboard, they will not meet new requirements. The Class 701s will also replace the Class 455, 456, and 458 units, and SWR will have a standardised set of trains for all commuter services.
The Class 707s were introduced in August 2017, and the Class 701s are currently under construction. New guidelines relating to yellow ends and headlights on trains may mean that these new units will not have yellow ends if the headlights are bright enough. The promotional picture, shown below, is what these new units will look like:

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54352236

As these new units will be built for SWR, they will be introduced into service directly with the SWR navy and light grey livery; this is similar to GWR, where new units which were introduced soon after a name and livery change* were introduced in the new livery.

Thanks for reading my rambling post, this time about the standardisation of our railways. Boring, I know!

Thanks for reading,

-Peter

Edit to original post: I would recommend reading this website (https://www.railstaff.co.uk/2017/09/11/waterloo-dawn-south-western-railway/) for more information about the introduction of the Class 701 units.

*I know in the case of GWR there was not a franchise change, but a branding change, and in the case of SWR there was a full franchise change.