Virgin has just unveiled its two Christmas trains that caught Londoners’ attention at King’s Cross Station. Trains sporting striking blue liveries in place of the famous Virgin red were the perfect start of December 2015.

London’s iconic station set the stage for a Class 91 made over as Claus 91 and a Pendolino transformed into a Penguilino. InterCity Railways Ltd chose Virgin Trains East Coast as its brand new name.

The railway company operates and serves UK cities including London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh. The event marked the end of a public competition for a Christmas Train design that saw many primary school children involved.

The competition was run in partnership with the Book Trust. Jill Murphy, author of the Worst Witch series and headmaster of the judging panel comments; ‘‘I am honoured to have been part of this exciting project. We received so many wonderful entries and Madeleine and Amber’s designs stood out as fun designs with a real Christmas feel to them.’’

Joint winners, nine-year old Amber Maxfield and 11-year-old Madeleine Deakin were there to see their festive drawings come to life and their names borne on the Christmas trains.

Both Penguilino, running on the West Coast, and Claus 91, running of the East coast, boast the young designers’ very different layouts but share the same midnight blue sky backdrop.

Madeleine from Copdock in Suffolk said; “I’m so happy to have won and it was incredible to see my drawing on the train – it’s made me even more excited about Christmas!”

Amber from Carlisle added “Seeing my drawing on a train and coming to London is a dream come true.”

Patrick McCall, Chairman of Virgin Trains, said: ‘‘We are proud to have their ideas transform two trains. It’s fantastic that both the East Coast and West Coast services have come together to make our customers’ journeys throughout December extra special – especially on their way home for Christmas.’’

Book Trust chief executive, Diana Gerald, also claims that the project has been an amazing change to push children to use their imaginations. She comments “We were really impressed with the quality of the entries.”

The Christmas trains will keep running on the Virgin Trains system all through December and convey travellers going over the joyful period.

 

Written by Cecilia Strada