(10 Feb 2014, 2:41 pm)cbma06 wrote Fast Cats brand is not a Sunderland based brand, when the X35 was branded up at the beginning of the launch at GNE also stated that the brand came from the olden days at Hartlepool when the wooden ships came into the harbour and their used to be loads of rats that used to come off the boats/ships really fast and the locals used to call them the fastcats as their couldn't catch them.
It is now - next to nobody (including myself) know that story (Hartlepool's history is more linked to the unfortunate Monkey they hanged) while Sunderland is far better know in regards to its links with Cats. End of the day, either the brand is completely dropped and both routes run in Go North East red livery, the X36 is dropped which will simply reverse the improved reliability on the X35, or both routes are part of the brand as it is. Indeed, the X36 fits the 'Fast Cats' idea more (fast express from Sunderland, the city of the Black Cats lamp).