Porterbrook is a British

rolling stock company A rolling stock company (ROSCO) or rolling stock leasing company owns and maintains railway engines and carriages which are leased to train operating companies who operate the trains. Africa * Sheltam Grindrod * Swifambo Rail Leasing Austral ...

(ROSCO), created as part of the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...

. Together with

Angel Trains Angel Trains is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Angel Trains was established in March 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. In ...

and Eversholt Rail Group, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Porterbrook was established in March 1994 and was privatised via a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena o ...

during November 1995. In August 1997, it was acquired by the transport specialist

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

at a far higher value. Two and a half years later, Stagecoach sold Porterbrook to the British banking group

Abbey National The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies. It was the first building society in the United Kingdom to demutualise, doing so in July 1989. The bank expanded thro ...

. Prior to this, Porterbrook had entered the freight leasing market for the first time as well as the continental European rail leasing market; the latter activities were sold off in December 2004, resulting in the creation of CB Rail. On 27 October 2008, Porterbrook was purchased from Abbey National by a consortium of

Antin Infrastructure Partners Antin Infrastructure Partners is a private equity firm focused on infrastructure investment, with offices in Paris, London and Luxembourg. History Antin was founded in Paris in 2007. Initially sponsored by BNP Paribas, the firm bought out the bank ...

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...

and

Lloyds TSB Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exte ...

. During the 2010s, Porterbrook engaged in various projects to overhaul or dispose of aging rolling stock. Some of its Class 319 electric multiple units were rebuilt as Class 769 bi-mode units to work on both electrified and non-electrified routes. In 2020, Porterbrook started a £55 million five-year programme to refurbish 214 Class 377 'Electrostar' EMUs operated by

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

. Furthermore, many of its Class 43 power cars, historically operated as a part of the

Intercity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125New trai ...

, were sold or donated to other parties, along with its fleet of Class 90 electric locomotives.

History

Porterbrook was established on 21 March 1994 as a subsidiary of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

in preparation for the

. It was named after the

Porter Brook The Porter Brook is a river which flows through the City of Sheffield, England, descending over from its source on Burbage Moor to the west of the city to its mouth where it joins the River Sheaf in a culvert beneath Sheffield railway stati ...

, a river that passed by British Rail's

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

offices (Specifically Sheaf House, adjacent to

Sheffield railway station Sheffield station, formerly ''Pond Street'' and later ''Sheffield Midland'', is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England; it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire. Adjacent is Sheffield station/Sheffield Hallam Unive ...

, which was demolished in late 2005 as part of a city centre regeneration project). In November 1995, Porterbrook was privatised via a

. In 1996, Porterbrook entered the freight leasing market though a deal to purchase and lease back 70 locomotives and 699 wagons from Freightliner. On 28 August 1996, the company was purchased by the transport conglomerate

in exchange for £825 million; this deal was subject to considerable criticism for the low value returned to the taxpayer. On 20 April 2000, Stagecoach opted to sell Porterbrook to the British banking group

for a reported £1.44 billion. Porterbrook established its own subsidiary to handle its European rail leasing activities; this was sold to a joint venture between

Babcock & Brown Babcock & Brown LP was a global investment and advisory firm, established in 1977, based in Sydney, Australia, that went into liquidation in 2009. Babcock & Brown Securities LLC was an active investment banking firm focused on equipment and pro ...

and Bank of Scotland Corporate Europe during December 2004, creating CB Rail.Rail Cargo information Netherlands railcargo.nl
At the time of the takeover, the subsidiary had leasing arrangements for 28 locomotives and 67 coaches. On 27 October 2008, the business was purchased from Abbey National by a consortium of

and

. The sale, which reportedly valued Porterbrook and its 6,014-strong rolling stock inventory at £2 billion, gave rise to concerns that Abbey National, and its Spanish parent

Banco Santander Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centr ...

, were subject to considerable financial stress at that time. During the 2010s, Porterbrook engaged in various efforts to overhaul and refurbish elements of its rolling stock, particularly multiple units. One proposal was the refurbishment of its

British Rail Class 144 The British Rail Class 144 ''Pacer'' was a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train built at Derby between 1986 and 1987. BR, seeking to procure improved derivatives of the earlier Class 141, placed an order with the manufacturers British Ra ...

'Pacer' diesel multiple units, referred to as the ''Class 144e (Evolution)'', it would bring it up to the requirements of the Persons with reduced mobility- Technical Specifications for Interoperability accessibility regulations. It featured several upgrades such as the addition of new 2+2 style seating, a fully accessible toilet, two wheelchair spaces and spaces for bicycles and luggage, as well as Wi-Fi and media screens. In December 2016,

Arriva UK Trains Arriva UK Trains Limited is the company that oversees Arriva's train operating companies in the United Kingdom. It gained its first franchises in February 2000. These were later lost, though several others were gained. In January 2010, with th ...

subsidiary Northern and Porterbrook announced a plan to convert eight Class 319 electric multiple units to bi-mode units, to allow through working between electrified and non-electrified routes. These units, which were initially marketed as "Class 319 Flex", have been designated as Class 769 under TOPS, will use newly-installed diesel engines

alternator An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Gor ...

s fitted under each of the driving trailer vehicles, to power the traction motors through the train's existing DC bus. During the 2010s, Porterbrook begun disposing of their Class 43 power cars, typically used on

Intercity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125New trai ...

services; numerous power cars (along with a set of Mark 3 coaches) were acquired by

Locomotive Services Limited Locomotive Services Limited is a train operating company in Great Britain. The company operates rail tours using heritage steam, diesel and electric locomotives with support from associated companies and trusts. History In August 2017, Locomo ...

, while multiple were both donated and bought by the

125 Group The 125 Group is a railway heritage group in England dedicated to the preservation of the InterCity 125s. The 125 Group was founded in 1994 at a time when the InterCity 125 remained in daily use and under no threat of withdrawal. In 2006 it pur ...

. During 2019, Freightliner purchased 13 Class 90 electric locomotives from Porterbrook that were formerly operated by Greater Anglia. Upon their transfer in May 2020, they underwent a modification programme to match the freight Class 90 specification. In February 2020, Porterbrook signed a 15-year lease with St Modwen to take over the ''Quinton Rail Technology Centre'' at Long Marston. In 2020, it was announced that Porterbrook was funding a £55 million five-year Project Aurora programme to refurbish 214 Class 377 'Electrostar' EMUs operated by Southern Trains. Changes include the installation of screens showing live GTR and London Underground service information, the provision of USB and power points, energy-saving LED lighting and a passenger-counting system which will enable GTR to analyse how busy individual services are. During July 2021, an agreement was announced for the British investment fund Dalmore Capital and Israeli infrastructure fund Generation Capital to acquire the 30% shareholding in Porterbook previously held by The Infrastructure Fund, Utilities Trust of Australia and the

NatWest National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, i ...

pension fund.

Porterbrook liveried locomotives

Porterbrook has painted some locomotives in its purple house colours. ''Deltic'' D9016 was repainted in 1999 after Porterbrook sponsored its return to service. Class 47s 47807 and 47817 operated for

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...

in the late 1990s in Porterbrook livery as did 57601 for

First Great Western Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.87002 for

Virgin Trains West Coast Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise fro ...

from 2003.

Initial fleet

The fleet Porterbrook inherited from

in 1994 comprised:

References

External links

* {{Stagecoach Group Allianz Lloyds Banking Group Post-privatisation British railway companies Privatisation of British Rail Railway companies established in 1994 Rolling stock leasing companies Stagecoach Group 1994 establishments in England