Locomotive Services Limited is a

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating Passenger Trains, passenger trains on the Rail transport in Great Britain, railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the Privatisation ...

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, Locomotive Services Limited (LSL) was granted an operating licence by the

Office of Rail & Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting it ...

allowing it to operate mainline trains in the United Kingdom. Based at

Crewe Diesel TMD Crewe Diesel Depot is a former diesel-electric locomotive traction maintenance depot, formerly Crewe Diesel Traction Maintenance Depot or Crewe Diesel TMD, situated to the south of and visible from Crewe railway station. Built in 1958 by Brit ...

, it is owned by

Jeremy Hosking Jeremy John Hosking (born 20 July 1958) is a British businessman and political donor. Ranked number 351 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2019, with a net worth of £375 million, he is a shareholder in Crystal Palace F.C. and a noted railway e ...

. It operated its first tour from

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

Kingussie Kingussie ( ; gd, Ceann a' Ghiùthsaich ) is a small town in the Badenoch and Strathspey ward of the Highland council area of Scotland. Historically in Inverness-shire, it lies beside the A9 road, although the old route of the A9 serves as the ...

in March 2018."First LS tour" ''

Today's Railways UK ''Today's Railways UK'' is an English-based monthly magazine covering rail transport in Great Britain. It was founded by Platform 5 in January 2002 as ''Entrain'' as a sister publication to ''Today's Railways Europe'', in January 2006 it was reb ...

'' issue 197 May 2018 page 68 It built up a fleet of Class 08s, 37s and 47s, mainly acquired from

Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain. As of 2022, it is one of seven publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom, the others being NI Railways (the passenger rail operator in Northern Ireland), LNER, ...

. In December 2017, it purchased two Class 55s: D9000 and D9016.""Deltics sold – and could be put to work on new railtours" ''Rail'' issue 842 20 December 2017 page 30 The former is being restored at Locomotive Services' Crewe depot, whilst the latter has been cosmetically restored and transferred to the company's One:One Collection facility in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

. In August 2018, preserved Class 40 D213 ''

Andania Andania ( el, Ανδανία) is a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oichalia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 88.694&n ...

'' joined Locomotive Services on a three-year lease. In 2020, a Class 86, Class 87, two Class 90s and an

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

set were purchased.

Related companies, brands, and trusts

Hosking formed Locomotive Services under

Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust The Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust (RSL>) is a charitable trust set up in 2009, to enable ownership and restoration to mainline running condition of the London Midland and Scottish Railway Royal Scot Class locomotive No. 6100 ''Royal ...

(RSLGT), a company dedicated to the maintenance and operation of steam locomotives owned by the trust, and also a number of other engines owned by Hosking. The company initially operated from a main base at

Southall Railway Centre Southall Railway Centre is a non-publicised railway heritage centre at Southall in west London, near to Southall railway station and the Grand Union Canal. Formerly of the Great Western Railway the site is now run partly by Locomotive Services ...

and also a summer outpost at Bristol Barton Hill.

LNWR Heritage Ltd

In 2013, RSLGT acquired LNWR Heritage, a company specialising in the overhaul and restoration of steam locomotives, from

Pete Waterman 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 ...

. Subsequently, merged into Locomotive Services in 2015, RSLGT came to an agreement with

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 ...

to lease the former Crewe TMD close to LNWR Heritage's former base, which resultantly became Locomotive Services' main base. Having previously had locomotive overhauls undertaken by various companies across the UK, investment in Crewe TMD allows Locomotive Services to fully restore and maintain RSLGT's locomotive and coaching stock.

Locomotive Diesels Ltd

Already formed under Locomotive Services to handle operations and maintenance of RSLGT's stock of Class 47 locomotives, which were purchased to assist and move both steam locomotives and coaching stock around the UK network, the division took more prominence after Hosking agreed to acquire two Class 55 Deltic locomotives in November 2017. In January 2018, Locomotive Services announced that they had taken out a three-year loan agreement on a Class 40 locomotive D213 to operate on the mainline in the later half of 2018.

Locomotive Storage Ltd

After acquiring the former

Hornby Hornby may refer to: Places In England * Hornby, Lancashire * Hornby, Hambleton, village in North Yorkshire * Hornby, Richmondshire, village in North Yorkshire Elsewhere * Hornby, Ontario, community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canad ...

factory in

, Kent, the Trust formed Locomotive Storage Ltd, to enable safe and weather-secure storage of locomotives awaiting overhaul, away from the busy main site at Crewe. After refurbishment and the installation of seven tracks (the site is only accessible by road), the first stock to arrive on the site was a Class 503 in May 2018, followed by former LNER Class A4 4464 ''Bittern'' on 1 June 2018.

Train operating company

In August 2017, the associated company Locomotive Services (TOC) Ltd obtained the required certifications, licence and agreements to become a UK

(TOC) enabling the company to operate trains on the mainline network. The first tour was operated from

in March 2018. It subsequently created the associated company Saphos Trains which runs tours and excursions, starting and ending mainly at present from Crewe railway station. Two Class 90s and an

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

set were purchased from

Porterbrook Porterbrook is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO), created as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Together with Angel Trains and Eversholt Rail Group, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Porterbrook was established in March 199 ...

Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust

The Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust owns several locomotives that are now available to be operated by Locomotive Services.

The Steam Dreams Rail Company

In June 2022, it was announced that Locomotive Services had purchased Steam Dreams and

LNER Thompson Class B1 61306 LNER Thompson Class B1 61306 is a preserved British steam locomotive. In preservation, it has carried the LNER-derived number 1306 and the name ''Mayflower'', complete with LNER Apple Green Livery, though this guise is entirely fictional as th ...

from former owner David Buck. Steam Dreams now operates under the LSL umbrella, with the operator continuing to operate its own tours too.

Train Operating Company

LSL provides locomotives, stock and crews for railtour organisers. LSL act's as

to the following companies: *

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

(Diesel/Electric Tours) *

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 ...

(Midland Pullman, HST) *

Saphos Trains 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 ...

(Steam Tours) * Statesman Rail (Diesel Tours) * Steam Dreams (Steam Tours) (Company acquired in June 2022 & operations transferred from

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 ...

)

References

External links

Company website
{{British Rail Spot Hire Companies, state=collapsed Crewe Post-privatisation British railway companies Railway companies established in 2018 Train operating companies in the United Kingdom 2018 establishments in England British companies established in 2018