FM Rail was a railway charter company based in
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
, England. The company was formed when
spot hire company Fragonset Railways and charter operator Merlin Rail merged. It went into administration in 2006.
History
Fragonset Railways
Fragonset Railways was formed in 1997 as a
spot hire company when four
Class 47/7 locomotives were purchased from
Waterman Railways
Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterm ...
with the operation initially based at the
Tyseley Locomotive Works
Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter Vintage Trains based in Birmingham, England. It occupies part of the former Great Western Railway's Tyseley depot, built in 19 ...
. In November 1997, Fragonset commenced its first contract providing locomotives 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 th ...
. A further Class 47/7 owned by the Lear family was also managed. A permanent base was established at the
Railway Technical Centre
The Railway Technical Centre (RTC) in London Road, Derby, England, was the technical headquarters of the British Railways Board, and was built in the early 1960s. British Rail described it as the largest railway research complex in the world.
T ...
,
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
. The locomotives were repainted into a new livery of black with a broad maroon mid-bodyside stripe.
In 1998, Fragonset purchased several redundant
Class 31 locomotives from
EWS. The first of these, 31452, was quickly repaired at the company's base at Tyseley Locomotive Works. A further four Class 31s quickly followed. They were initially employed on
Silverlink
Silverlink was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the North London Railways franchise from March 1997 until November 2007. At the end of 2007 Silverlink Metro services were taken over by Lond ...
services on the
Marston Vale Line, operating in top and tail mode with two carriages. The use of the Class 31s continued until 1999, when
Class 150/1 diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
s replaced them. Following this, the Class 31 fleet was employed on a variety of duties, including hire to
WAGN to haul
electrical multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...
s between depots for maintenance.
Fragonset would go on to purchase many redundant locomotives from EWS, mainly of classes
31,
33,
47 and
73. By 2002 it had purchased 75.
First Great Western
Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-city ...
,
Midland Mainline
Midland Mainline was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Midland Main Line franchise from April 1996 until November 2007. Midland Mainline ran fast and semi-fast passenger services fro ...
and
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 th ...
all hired Class 47s.
Wessex Trains
Wessex Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Wessex Trains franchise from October 2001 until March 2006, when the franchise was merged with the Great Western and Thames Valley f ...
hired Class 31s to haul passenger services from
Bristol-Weymouth and
Bristol-Brighton with 31601 repainted into Wessex Trains pink livery.
First North Western
First North Western was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the North West Regional Railways franchise from March 1997 until December 2004.
History
In the lead up to the privatisation of British Rail, the Nort ...
hired Class 31s to work
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
-
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
-
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
services.
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...
hired 31190 and 31601 to haul test trains. Both locomotives were repainted into Railtrack's blue and lime green livery.
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
(Railtrack's successor) purchased its own fleet of 31s, so no longer required the Fragonset locomotives.
First GBRf hired Class 73s to supplement its own fleet.
South West Trains
Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017.
SWT op ...
hired Class 33s and 73s to act as
Thunderbird
Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to:
* Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture
* Ford Thunderbird, a car
Birds
* Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds k ...
rescue locomotives.
West Coast Railways
West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the comp ...
hired 31190, repainted into ''
Royal Scotsman
The ''Belmond Royal Scotsman'' is a Scottish overnight luxury train, started in 1985 by GS&WR (Great Scottish and Western Railway Co.), and run since 2005 by Belmond Ltd. Its itineraries include 2, 3, 4, 5 or 7-night journeys around the Scotti ...
'' maroon livery.
Some locomotives, notably 47355 and 73107, were repainted into a freight livery of all-over black with large Fragonset lettering.
Merlin Rail
Merlin received its train operating licence in July 2002. It was originally very decentralised, considering itself to be a "virtual company" operating over the internet with no central office, although the control office was initially in
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
, Kent. As the business grew the need for a central location became apparent and offices at Wyvern House, by
Derby station, were rented from mid-2003.
Merlin saw itself as an operator of specialist, individually planned trains, and felt that such trains were not the core activity for conventional train operating companies and therefore did not always enjoy the best of operational and organisational arrangements. Merlin believed that a dedicated specialist train operator in this niche market could provide a high quality total service for all potential clients requiring individually planned trains.
Merlin was the first train operator to receive approval through the stringent Railway (Safety Case) Regulations, 2000, and held one of the widest
railway safety cases, allowing full geographic coverage of the network with all classes and types of conventional locomotives, passenger rolling stock and loaded and unloaded freight vehicles. It was specifically authorised to operate new, unusual and novel vehicles.
FM Rail
In January 2005, Fragonset and Merlin merged to form FM Rail. In August 2005, the business of
Hertfordshire Rail Tours
Hertfordshire Rail Tours was a company that operated charter trains in the United Kingdom. Founded in Hertfordshire by John Farrow, most of its trains started from London Terminals. The company was purchased by FM Rail in September 2005. FM Rai ...
was purchased.
FM Rail launched its new livery in September 2005, when 47832 was repainted for a
Crewe Works
Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1840, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s, a lot ...
open day.
In January 2006, the ''
Blue Pullman
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...
'' was launched, and two Class 47 locomotives were repainted into a Nanking blue livery to match the coaching stock. In 2006, FM Rail purchased the assets of
Pathfinder Tours
Pathfinder may refer to:
Businesses
* Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International
* Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature
Computing and information science
* Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser
* Pathfinder ( ...
, another railtour operator, in conjunction with
Riviera Trains
Riviera Trains Limited is a railway spot-hire company based at Burton-on-Trent and Eastleigh in England.
History
Riviera Trains was founded in 1995, initially based at Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway. It later relocated to Crewe and E ...
.
In February 2006, FM Rail operated its first freight service on behalf of
Fastline
Fastline was created by six railwaymen who undertook a successful management buyout (MBO) of Eastern Track Renewals from British Rail in 1996. In that year they bought Northern Track Renewals from British Rail, and undertook all the studie ...
between
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
and
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
.
In 2006, FM Rail concluded a deal to lease the former depot site at
Coalville
Coalville is an industrial town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Tr ...
in Leicestershire. It was planned to move most of its withdrawn stock there to reduce costs. Other locomotives were disposed of once they had yielded spare parts.
Administration
In December 2006,
Begbies Traynor
Begbies Traynor () (until 1997 known as Traynor & Partners) is a firm specialising in corporate restructuring. They were formed in 1989, expanded through mergers and organic growth and were floated in 2004. The company employs over 700 people and ...
was appointed as administrator of FM Rail.
The administrator sold the Fragonset Railways Maintenance business to Rail Vehicle Engineering Limited (RVEL), a company founded by former FM Rail managing director Andy Lynch; this business has since been sold to
Loram and rebranded as Loram UK. The Merlin Rail train operating licence and railtour operator Hertfordshire Rail Tours was sold to
Victa Westlink Rail
Victa Westlink Rail was a railway company based at Derby, United Kingdom. The company was formed in December 2006 following the liquidation of FM Rail. It has since been absorbed by Stobart Rail.
Victa is a well-known name in the rail industr ...
, which later itself also went into administration, the majority of which was then absorbed by
Stobart Rail.
The business affairs were not resolved until June 2013, when unsecured creditors received payments of 2p in the £.
["FM Rail creditors lose out" ''The Railway Magazine'' issue 1349 September 2013 p. 10]
Fleet details
References
{{British Rail Spot Hire Companies, state=collapsed
Post-privatisation British railway companies
Railway companies established in 1997
Railway companies disestablished in 2006
1997 establishments in England
2006 disestablishments in England
British companies disestablished in 2006
British companies established in 1997