Cotswold Rail was an English company, based in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, which arranged the spot-hire of shunting and mainline locomotives.

History

Cotswold Rail was founded in 2000, initially as a broker for rolling stock. In June 2000, it offered 13 Class 141 ''Pacers'' for sale. In 2001, some Class 08 shunting locomotives were purchased, which were hired to both industry and main-line railway companies. Cotswold Rail also purchased a fleet of Class 47 locomotives. From June 2002 until June 2009, it provided Class 47s for

Anglia Railways Anglia Railways was a train operating company in England, owned by GB Railways and later FirstGroup, that operated the Anglia franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. History The Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Ra ...

(and its successor National Express East Anglia), as rescue locomotives, and to haul Mark 2 sets on summer Saturday services from

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

. In 2004, Cotswold Rail leased 12 former

Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (VT) (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 Group, Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West C ...

Mark 3 carriages from

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. Rolling stock companies have been criticised as rentier capit ...

Porterbrook. In April 2005, the company acquired leased some Class 87

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

s. A fleet of ten locomotives was planned, for spot-hire work, charter operations, and a new intermodal freight flow. However, all locomotives were returned to the leasing company ( Porterbrook) in 2006. In September 2005, two former

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Along with the InterCity West Coast franchise held by a separate legal ...

High Speed Train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

sets were leased. These were returned in August 2006. In 2005, Cotswold Rail purchased Advenza Freight, primarily for its safety case, which allowed it to operate freight services. In 2007, the railtour promoter, Steamy Affairs, was purchased. As a result of

HM Revenue & Customs His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the UK government responsible for the tax collectio ...

successfully applying in October 2009 to have Advenza Freight wound up over unpaid taxes, Cotswold Rail entered voluntary administration in January 2010.

Fleet

Cotswold Rail's livery adopted a silver livery, with red and blue bands. It named its locomotives after geographical features, such as Cam Peak and the

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...

, or after music industry personalities, namely

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British musician. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist, and lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, formed in 1976. The Clash' ...

and Captain Sensible.

Depot

In 2006, Cotswold Rail leased the closed Gloucester Horton Road depot. The facility, which had last been used in 1992, was next to Gloucester station. It was also the location of the company offices, and usually played host to stabled company-owned locomotives.

Blue Pullman

In 2007, Cotswold Rail acquired rights to the Blue Pullman service, setting up The Blue Pullman Train Co, using Blue Pullman-liveried coaches purchased following the receivership of the previous operator, FM Rail. Cotswold re-launched the Blue Pullman service in February 2007, using its silver Class 47s.

References

{{British_Rail_Spot_Hire_Companies, state=collapsed 2000 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 2010 British companies established in 2000 Railway companies disestablished in 2010 Railway companies established in 2000