"Perhaps one of the most surprising facets of the Class 220s' early days, as seen from today's vantage point nearly twenty years later, is that the units were initially popular."
47826 was one of the Class 47/8 XC regulars paid tribute with a heritage repaint, courtesy of Chief Exectutive Chris Green.
After the renewal commitments of privatisation, the late 1990s brought a new climate to UK railways. As increasing stocks of old locomotives packed the scrap lines, it dawned on us that for the first time since the end of steam, a primary genre of train was soon going to vanish from widespread operation. The locomotive-hauled passenger train.
As the brand with by far the biggest realm of loco passenger haulage in the UK, Virgin Trains was expected to undergo the most dramatic transition. At the time, Virgin ran both West Coast and CrossCountry, and the renewal on CrossCountry was scheduled for a swift metamorphosis from what was effectively still late 'eighties British Rail, into a virtual “closed shop” of mega-modern DEMU services. In this post, I'm going to chart the timeline of Virgin CrossCountry's transition.
Almost new at Kings Norton in 2002, Class 221 No. 221122 places more unstoppable pressure on loco-hauled and HST services.
You can find details of the Class 220/221 birth, from planning to realisation, in The Introduction of the Virgin Voyagers. But here, we'll take things from the start of Voyager service in May 2001, through the year-long switchover programme, and then the turbulence of Operation Princess, to May 2003. The point at which Virgin CrossCountry essentially became, aside from a few summer Saturday services, an entirely Voyager-powered affair.
Those two years changed the face of CrossCountry beyond recognition. As our shutters clicked, we knew we were recording a special time. As we watched the sparklingly fresh, brand new Voyagers arrive at New Street alongside the vintage locomotives they were coming in to replace, we knew that the railway would never be this good again...
HSTs formed the backbone of Virgin CrossCountry until 2002, when they were rapidly usurped by the incoming Voyagers. 43160, shown in the photo above at Crowle in Worcestershire on 11th May 2002, was one of the power cars that was twice repainted in the standard Virgin red livery.
Here's how Virgin CrossCountry morphed from a British Rail inheritance into a wall-to-wall Voyager whitewash. Don't forget you can supplement this info with the further reading in The Introduction of the Virgin Voyagers...
MAY 2001: THE VOYAGER BEGINS SERVICE
Virgin had paid an engineering project management firm called W S Atkins to ensure that the Voyager units went through every stage of their building process without any safety case hold-ups or other barriers to Railtrack acceptance. And so smooth was the service introduction, rolling out from 21st May 2001, that it won Virgin an award. The prestigious Railway Industry Innovation Award was presented to Virgin by the Strategic Rail Authority in March 2002, for the delay-free implementation of the far-reaching and ambitious Voyager project.
Perhaps one of the most surprising facets of the Class 220s' early days, as seen from today's vantage point nearly twenty years later, is that the units were initially popular. Not just with drivers - who among other things were impressed that the 220 offered double the acceleration of an HST - but with enthusiasts, who were fascinated with the heavily hyped streak of red and silver. Believe it or not, in its first year and a half of service, the Voyager was in demand for various enthusiast applications, and its journeys on private lines were packed out.
JULY 2001: VOYAGERS BEGIN TIMETABLED SERVICE
All of the initial Voyager use, exclusively between Birmingham New Street and Reading from spring 2001, had been service-extra. The timetabled services as they stood remained untouched. But from 23rd July 2001, the first timetabled runs began within the Birmingham - Gatwick/Brighton timetable. A brand new depot facility was required for the new flow, and it opened just in time, at Three Bridges.
Trains on sections of the long route between Manchester and Brighton were among the first to be hit by the Voyager invasion. Here's how some of the long-distance runs looked before the Class 220s pooped the party.
Two challenges of the Voyager roll-out that we've perhaps forgotten with time, were the extensive depot provisioning developments, and actually getting the crews trained on the new trains. By summer 2001, Virgin had a lot more Class 220s available than it had drivers to operate. And this problem persisted to the point where in October '01, Virgin Trains Chief Exec Chris Green felt it necessary to reassure the public that the issue was being dealt with.
LATE SUMMER 2001: VOYAGERS START REPACING LOCOMOTIVES AND STOCK
On 31st August, the 17:49 Manchester - Birmingham employed 220005. The run was significant in that the 220 replaced a standard Virgin loco-hauled set. Notably, however, this replacement ran overcrowded with just four coaches carrying a passenger load normally spread over seven, and it was badly received. The replacement was left as a one-off and this train reverted back to Class 47 haulage until 2002.
Nothing was safe. They were not the first priority, but even electric-hauled services were earmarked to migrate to DEMU power as soon as Voyager stocks were sufficient.
The grief was not, however, enough to stop the Voyagers from permanently replacing loco-hauled trains out of Manchester from 17th September. These were the first proper “switches” from loco-haulage to Class 220 usage. Notably, Virgin's PR sensibilities kicked in and services like the 07:15 Manchester - Brighton avoided previous complaints by running with two Voyagers connected together. This practice subsequently became a default when Voyagers replaced long-distance trains, or trains with significant passenger volume.
The double Voyager default continued throughout the main switchover programme, which lasted from September 2001 until September 2002. In fact, so routine was the use of double sets, that when only a single one was required, Virgin sometimes still ran a double and locked one set out of use. It wasn't initially a problem in terms of availability, because the HSTs remained in full service, and the replacement of loco-hauled trains was very gradual.
EARLY AUTUMN 2001: PLANS BEGIN FOR THE STAND-DOWN OF LOCOMOTIVES
47822 'Pride of Shrewsbury' was one of the first four Virgin locos identified for conversion to Class 57.
On 9th October, it was revealed that Virgin ILRA (CrossCountry diesel pool) locos 47807, 47814, 47822 and 47827 had been identified as the first candidates for conversion to Class 57. Whilst they would not leave the pool immediately, this was the first concrete information about the proposed fate of existing motive power. Just two days later, however, 47845 was stopped at Birmingham on the 04:50 Reading - Liverpool, and sent to Loughborough, effectively jumping to the front of the conversion queue. It would re-emerge in mid 2002 as 57301.
On 2nd November, more reality hit home as 47742 and 47769 - also ILRA pool locos - were withdrawn from the Virgin fleet and sent back to their owner, EWS. The shrinkage of Virgin's native loco stable was underway.
LATE AUTUMN 2001: MAJOR UPSCALING OF VOYAGER OPS, FIRST ANGLO-SCOTTISH VOYAGER SERVICE, AND HONORARY REPAINTS FOR OUTGOING LOCOMOTIVES
The 09:20 "Sussex Scot" Brighton - Edinburgh on 26th November 2001 (pictured above) was entrusted to 220021 and 220009. This was the first Anglo-Scottish service ever to employ Voyagers, as well as being the first Voyager-powered service train to venture north of Preston on the WCML. The novelty was hugely overshadowed at the time by the fact that this service update effectively ended loco-haulage out of Brighton. The previous "Sussex Scot" had been formed from ex-works Class 47/8 No. 47851, in BR two-tone green, plus seven Mk.II air-con coaches and Virgin red 47747 tailing dead.
47851 'Traction Magazine' as it looked in July 2002.
47851 was one of four 47/8s treated to a heritage livery in November 2001, courtesy of Chris Green. The copiously PR-aware Green had probably seen the idea as a good way of winning the support of enthusiasts' magazines - after which he'd proposed three of the locos would be named. These same magazines would soon be writing about ambitious Virgin Voyager initiatives, and it would not do any harm to get the editors on-side by directly associating their publications with what would become very high profile, celebrity locomotives.
The plan appeared to work. The Voyagers got a lot of positive press in their initial eighteen months of service - including a sympathetic (if honest) spin on the launch of Operation Princess. A fifth and final heritage Class 47/8 repaint would be completed in May 2002.
By late November 2001, 29 Voyagers were technically in service (220001 to 220032, with the exception of 220010, 220014 and 220015), although not all sets were allocated to passenger duties. Formations were quite fluid. Not just with the doubling of four-car sets, but also concerning the actual vehicles in each set. For instance, on a Central Rivers - Darlington test run in the first half of December 2001, 220020 ran with six cars, having borrowed one coach from 220007 and another from 220016. This would obviously render 220007 and 220016 short, and temporarily preclude them from standard operation.
But reinforcements were fast coming in. On the evening of 8th December I went to Wolverhampton after work to take night photographs of loco-hauled trains - including the pic of 47805 on the 12:30 Glasgow - Poole, above. As I was setting up the tripod, Virgin red 47750 Atlas ran through in the dark on what was then the platform-avoiding line (to the right of 47805, and where Platform 4 now stands), hauling three brand new Voyagers. You could feel loco-haulage going into freefall at that point, and delivery of the 221s hadn't even started.
On 13th December 2001, a confirmed list of designated Voyager-compatible maintenance depots was released by Virgin. It included projected sites as well as existing, and cited Central Rivers, Aberdeen Clayhills, Bristol Barton Hill, Edinburgh Craigentinny, Eastleigh, Longsight, Old Oak Common, Polmadie, Three Bridges and Tyne Yard. Simultaneously, the final Class 220 was ceremoniously presented to Chris Green at the Wakefield works, along with the first Class 221.
EARLY VOYAGER NAMINGS
The early Voyager namings were interesting because they typically related to firsts for the fleet or came in connection with events we've now forgotten.
220027 'Avon Voyager' leads what, by summer 2002, had become a familiar format of doubled Voyagers on a newly adopted express. The train is the 07:15 Bristol - Edinburgh, which I was expecting still to be loco-hauled on this day in the first half of July. But that's how it was. One day, you had a loco and stock. The next, without warning, the service had switched to a double Voyager formation.
The first Voyager to be named was the pioneer 220001. It was the only Voyager named in the year 2000. The Maiden Voyager plates were fitted by the manufacturer in Belgium, on 6th December that year, but they would refer to a Brugge to Ostend press publicity run which took place later that day, and effectively launched the Voyager in the public consciousness.
The next naming saw 220016 Midland Voyager gaining its plates at Central Rivers on 19th May 2001, two days before regular passenger services began. Despite the non-chronology of its number, '016 was in fact the second Voyager to enter passenger service, and actually the first one to arrive at Central Rivers depot during the pre-service period. The reason for this numerical oddity was that the 220s were assembled and fitted out simultaneously at two production sites, with the first numerical series allocated to the examples completed in Belgium, and the second allocated to the examples completed in England. 220016 was essentially Wakefield's equivalent of Brugge's 220001.
220004 became the third Voyager to be named, at Euston station on 5th June 2001. Its name, New Dawn, was dedicated as part of a publicity event, presented as a mock political election manifesto, designed to grab public attention in the run up to the general election, taking place two days later. Virgin's New Dawn manifesto was not, however, going to win many votes from rail enthusiasts, as it involved the complete elimination of all ex-British Rail stock, including the HSTs.
Unlike the Class 220s with their primarily geo-based names on red nameplates, the Class 221s generally had explorer names on blue nameplates. Here are two five-car Class 221s both running one car short in summer 2002. Not an unusual event at the time.
The earliest naming sequence was completed with the christening of 220005 Guildford Voyager, at Guildford, on 23rd July - the day timetabled services began. Subsequent 2001 namings then continued, in chronological order of naming, with the following...
SEPTEMBER
03/09/2001: 220003 Solent Voyager (at Portsmouth - re inauguration of Portsmouth switchover).
16/09/2001: 220009 Gatwick Voyager (at Central Rivers open day).
16/09/2001: 220025 Virgin Voyager (at Central Rivers open day).
17/09/2001: 220023 Mancunian Voyager (at Manchester Piccadilly - re inauguration of Manchester switchover).
18/09/2001: 220017 Bombardier Voyager (at Central Rivers formal opening ceremony).
26/09/2001: 220020 Wessex Voyager (at Bournemouth - re inauguration of Bournemouth switchover).
27/09/2001: 220018 Central News (“media-schmooze” naming at Birmingham International).
OCTOBER
10/10/2001: 220021 Blackpool Voyager (at Blackpool North - marking the first Voyager service to depart from Blackpool).
25/10/2001: 220002 Forth Voyager (at Edinburgh Waverley - re inauguration of Voyager services in Scotland).
25/10/2001: 220006 Clyde Voyager (at Glasgow Central - re inauguration of Voyager services in Scotland).
NOVEMBER
07/11/2001: 220026 Stagecoach Voyager (at Edinburgh Waverley - publicity naming promoting Voyagers in Scotland, followed by a special press/guest run over the Forth Bridge).
23/11/2001: 220008 Draig Gymreig - Welsh Dragon (at Llandudno - first Voyager into North Wales).
DECEMBER
13/12/2001: 220034 Yorkshire Voyager (to mark handover of the final Class 220 at Bombardier Wakefield).
14/12/2001: 220022 Brighton Voyager (at Brighton - to mark completion of the Brighton Switchover).
JANUARY 2002: LINE OF ATTACK REFOCUSES ONTO THE BI-DIRECTIONAL FLEET
The start of 2002 brought new danger for the Virgin CrossCountry HSTs. In spring 2002, 43084 trails into Five Ways with its job very much on the line.
7th January 2002 saw no fewer than twelve services permanently switching to Voyager power in one day. One of the major talking points regarding this switchover was the proportion of services that were NOT previously loco-hauled. The majority of the new Voyager turns were in fact previously Virgin Class 158 duties, with HSTs second most represented, and only a couple of loco-hauled expresses in the total.
This was not only the projected end of the Class 158 on Virgin CrossCountry (although four 158s did remain with Virgin for Swindon-based shuttles); it was also the point at which HSTs really began to come under attack. Voyagers had not yet hit the HST-dominated North East - South West route, but that was soon to come...
FEBRUARY 2002: NE-SW TAKEOVER BEGINS, WITH HSTs AS MAIN CASUALTIES
A significant shot above, showing 220027 in sparkling condition, on a NE-SW route training run at Northfield, on 6th February 2002. Twelve days after this photo, 220027 would not only inaugurate Voyager service on the NE-SW route - it would also be named Avon Voyager, at Bristol, to mark the launch of the new DEMUs on trains between Bristol and Newcastle. The North also celebrated the launch with the naming of 220011 - Tyne Voyager - at Newcastle.
EARLY SPRING 2002: CLASS 221s GO INTO SERVICE AND FINAL WIND-DOWN OF LOCO-HAULAGE GATHERS PACE
After the Class 221s began service in April 2002, a major knock-on effect sprang into motion, assuring an end to the regular loco-hauled timetable by summer.
A build-up of 13 Class 221s had amassed before they were cleared to go into service, so there was obviously going to be an instant impact when clearance came. Although some of the fleet would be required for training purposes, they would immediately free up the Class 220s allocated to training, so the available Class 220 fleet would expand overnight.
At the beginning of May, 25 weekday loco-hauled XC services remained. Down from 35 at the start of the year, and down from over 50 in summer 2001. Across the full timetable, a big chunk of the remaining loco-powered trains were scheduled on the spot for Voyager takeover in May. These included:
09:14 Manchester - Paddington
09:16 Liverpool - Plymouth
11:16 Manchester - Birmingham International
14:18 Paddington - Glasgow
15:16 Birmingham International - Manchester
15:35 Bristol - Edinburgh
18:18 Bournemouth - Manchester
Not all of these services were switched as scheduled - in part, perhaps, because the projected switchovers, released by Virgin's Press Office, didn't always appear to take into account the full stock/loco diagramming patterns.
For the chop. Electric-hauled XC services had resisted well until spring 2002. But now even the 86s were about to become victims of the Voyager invasion. This is 86249 that spring, still surviving in its original BR InterCity livery.
But with deliveries of the Class 221s rapidly ongoing, the writing was now more than on the wall. The writing was on all four walls, and the ceiling, and the floor. By mid August, CrossCountry locomotive haulage as a guaranteed, daily predictable, would be over.
SUMMER 2002: FINAL WIND-DOWN OF LOCO-HAULAGE
By latter July, daily, loco-hauled CrossCountry services were down into single figures. And by 16th August - the final Friday of the weekday timetable - only two remnants of the seriously stubborn North West - South West timetable were still in existence. The 08:40 Glasgow - Penzance (via WCML, diesel from Preston), and the 08:46 Penzance - Manchester.
The 08:46 was classed as the last train of the full timetable, even though it didn't finish its journey last. It ran with Rail Blue celeb 47 No. 47840, a headboard, and the main volume of enthusiasts on board. The 08:40 Glasgow - Penzance got bog-standard Virgin red 47805 forward from Preston. The two trains almost met at Kings Norton, where the photo above shows 47805 on the Down service. You can see my shot of the headboarded Up service in the XC loco-haulage finale post.
There was no scheduled loco-haulage for CrossCountry on Saturday 17th, but if you'd visited New Street on that date you wouldn't have known it. The 09:15 Manchester - Paignton was loco-hauled, and in fact scheduled for loco-haulage, but despite the route it was actually a Virgin West Coast service, hauling a full West Coast Mk.III set with DVT. It was hauled by 90009 to Birmingham, and Virgin red 47812 forward to Paignton. I had my camera, but the scene was a total enthusiast swarm-out and I couldn't get any kind of vantage point on it at all.
Moments later, announced as a Virgin Voyager service, the 08:15 Manchester - Bournemouth crawled in over an hour late comprising one of the new loco-powered stand-in sets, topped by 47848 and tailed by 47839. I was having similar problems getting a photo, but fortune shone down, and the powers that be decided to let the 11:18 local to Coventry out in front of the spectacularly late Virgin “Voyager” service. That enabled me to get to Adderley Park and grab a nice shot of the “Voyager” stand-in, as reproduced above - 47848 Newton Abbot Festival of Transport still at the front.
On Sunday 18th August, there was just one XC service scheduled for loco-haulage. This, the 10:03 Glasgow - Penzance effectively ran as a service-timetabled “railtour”, with blue liveried 86233 taking the train down the WCML to Nuneaton, and then large logo 47847 partnering Rail Blue 47840 for the diesel leg to Cornwall. It ran with ten coaches, rather than the typical XC allocation of seven. And 86233 was a West Coast loco, so this was clearly more than just a regular CrossCountry service.
47840 was the last of Virgin's celebrity heritage repaints, and it was the loco most heavily involved in the finale services. Here it is on the 11:50 Plymouth - Liverpool of 22nd May 2002; only its second train since the repaint.
And on Monday 19th August, the same pair of 47s returned with eleven coaches on a truncated version of the 08:46 Penzance - Manchester. Once again, effectively run as a special, as far as New Street only, with Manchester passengers needing to change onto a Voyager unit. The train carried the same headboard as Friday's full run. And once again it was a full-on swarm-out at New Street, with news crews on site as well as the summer spotters and a train load of fans.
Another of the heritage liveries. 47853 was treated to the unique mid 1960s XP64 look, and named 'Rail Express', after the magazine. This photo has a double connection with the time. I took it at Saltley viaduct on 28th July 2002 when loco-haulage really was on its last legs. But also, it was included in my 'Irreverent Guide to Railway Photography' article, which was published in the CrossCountry loco-haulage finale issue of Rail Express about six weeks later.
Although the goodbyes were passionate, they were only really symbolism, since it was expected that the use of locos would continue for a while on summer holiday trains and Voyager stand-ins. Which it did. It would be the start of Operation Princess, six weeks later, that much more soundly killed off the use of locos and stock.
There's a small insight into Virgin during the six-week period between loco-haulage officially ending, and Operation Princess beginning, in An Afternoon at Birmingham International.
SEPTEMBER 2002: OPERATION PRINCESS
Going live on 30th September 2002, Operation Princess was hyped as a new level of convenience in rail travel, with more frequent CrossCountry services and reduced journey times. Central News reported on Richard Branson's launch of the new timetable, billing one Virgin Voyager departure from Birmingham New Street every seven minutes. This, said Virgin, was the turning point. The moment when motorists would forget about their cars and begin catching trains.
But behind all the spin, lay a virtually unworkable plan. The problems included...
- Maintaining paths into and out of the already congested Birmingham New Street station - the hub of CrossCountry. The theory of this did not allow for any adversities, which was not a realistic expectation. And for that reason, failure of the plan was immediate, with way over half of the services reaching their destinations late in the first few days, and some trains terminating short, so they could at least make an attempt to run to time on the return.
- The reduced length of the trains, from between 7 and 10 coaches, down to either 4 or 5.
- Virgin's over-hyping of the new timetable, which would inevitably bring big increases in passenger volume, and thus, with trains now considerably shorter, soon result in overcrowding. Even before Operation Princess, there were doubts as to whether a Class 220 or 221 was a realistic proposition for long distance journeys. But with overcrowding, those doubts would escalate exponentially.
- The lack of alternative. There were single Voyagers in traffic before Operation Princess, but most passengers still had the option to travel on a longer train if they wished. That option all but vanished with the launch of Operation Princess. Loco-haulage was almost eliminated, the double Voyager sets were split down to single format, and the remnant HSTs were cut down to five coaches so as to compete with the Voyagers for performance.
It's not true that the Class 220s' red cab-front Virgin badges were prized off and given to the 221s immediately upon the latter's entry into service. The 220s worked alongside the 221s in spring, summer and into autumn 2002 with both classes badged red. The replacement of the Class 220 badges with a silver version came during Operation Princess. 220010 appears newly silver-badged in the shot above.
THE 'CHALLENGERS' AND 'PIONEERS'
43069 was one of the power cars used in these original Operation Princess 'Pioneer' HST sets.
Operation Princess was mainly catered for by the almost complete fleet of Class 220s and 221s. However, even the full Voyager fleet fell six diagrams short of the stock requirement, so Virgin opted to give those six diagrams to short-length, high-performance HSTs, which they called 'Challengers'. Speaking to Rail Express magazine, Chris Green said of the 'Challengers' at the planning stage...
“Some drivers think they will out-perform the Voyagers and several are very keen to prove it!”
At the off, there were eight 'Challengers' available, each with five coaches. These re-formed trains were expected to remain part of the timetable in the long term, and were scheduled to undergo full refurb into the new red and silver livery, as per the Voyagers. Everything in the 'Challenger' inventory - power cars and stock - was reallocated from Laira to Longsight effective from 4th October 2002.
The original 'Challenger' power car fleet as confirmed on 4th October (but effectively already in use by then), comprised: 43087, 43088, 43089, 43155, 43156, 43159, 43161, 43162, 43180, 43193, 43194, 43195, 43196, 43197 and 43198. These existing Virgin power cars, all in the old Virgin red livery, were the ones Virgin initially intended to refurbish into the Voyager-style red and silver.
Four days into Operation Princess... The compilation above, assembling photos taken within a couple of hours on 3rd October 2002 at Dudley Port canal junction, shows that the 'Challenger' HST sets were a significant part of Operation Princess. In reading order, the sequence shows 43088, 221137, 43180 'City of Newcastle Upon Tyne', and 43087. However, in comparison to the amount of HST service before Operation Princess, the remaining traffic seemed sparse.
Additionally, there were more five-coach HSTs prepared to cover four booked Voyager diagrams, due to the immediate term unavailability of four Voyagers. Although these emergency cover sets didn't differ in composition from the 'Challengers', they were classified as 'Pioneers'. They remained based at their previous home - Laira - and were not scheduled for refurbishment.
Subsequently, some of the original 'Pioneer' power cars also moved to Longsight. They were 43063, 43069, 43070, 43071, 43078, 43079 and 43086.
AUTUMN 2002: CROSSCOUNTRY CLASS 86 WITHDRAWALS
Virgin needed to retain some of the CrossCountry Class 47s, for various purposes including cover, dragging, Thunderbird conversion and the like. But one place where you could see in plain terms that CrossCountry loco-haulage as we knew it was over, was in the withdrawal of the ICCA (XC pool) Class 86s. This came on 1st November 2002, when 86206, 86214, 86222, 86236, 86240, 86244, 86248, 86249, 86251, 86253 and 86256 were removed from the pool and placed into store.
Evidently, Virgin XC had no more plans to run the kind of trains that had still been at the core of their operation just a year earlier.
EARLY 2003: OPERATION PRINCESS THROWS IN THE TOWEL
Late in the game, with time running out for Operation Princess in spring 2003, a 'Challenger' set breezes through Barnt Green. Note that by this time, the power car fleet has deviated from the original lineup. This is 43067.
Operation Princess was very short-lived. Due to its general unworkability, the Strategic Rail Authority spoke out in February 2003 to effectively end it. The resultant scaling back of VXC services from May 2003, rendered the 'Challengers' and 'Pioneers' surplus to Virgin's requirements. The bulk of Virgin's CrossCountry power cars were passed across to Midland Mainline, officially moving into the MML Rio Pool (IMRL) at Neville Hill, from 16th May. This included all of the 'Challenger' and 'Pioneer' power cars listed earlier.
And that, as they say, was that. An entire empire of former British Rail motive power and rolling stock swept aside in less than two years. The void that our favourite magazines had been predicting since the late 1990s, was finally upon us. This was the future. And the now overly familiar Voyager had quit its role as the hero, to play the part of the villain.
After Operation Princess, the Virgin Voyagers began to show subtle visual differences as compared with their early image. The couplers began to feature a yellow marker strip forward from 2003, although nowhere near all units acquired it. Rolling out from 2005, the first class section was identified with a BR-style yellow band above the passenger windows, and circular first class identifiers on the window section itself. 221114 shows the post-2005 look above, at Defford.