Mainline Freight was a trainload rail freight operator based in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

with operations extending to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

in the north and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

in the west. It was formed from part 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 ...

Trainload Freight Trainload Freight was the sector of British Rail responsible for trainload freight services. The division was subdivided into four sub-sectors; coal, petroleum, metals and construction. It was formed in 1988 from the trainload operations of Br ...

division 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 industr ...

. Mainline Freight,

Loadhaul Loadhaul Ltd. was a railfreight operator based in the north-east of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1994, as part of the privatisation of British Rail, and acquired in 1996 by a consortium headed by Wisconsin Central, then merged into a n ...

and Transrail were purchased by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central in 1996 and amalgamated into a new company, English Welsh & Scottish.

History

Mainline Freight was created in 1994 along with Transrail and

as part of the broadly regional split of British Rail's

operations - Mainline Freight's centre of operations were South East England, and East Anglia, and the East Midlands. Three companies were created with the aim of promoting competition between the businesses.Sources: * * It was initially and briefly named "Trainload Freight South East Limited" before being re-branded in September 1994. All three former

companies including Mainline Freight were acquired in February 1996 by 'North-South Railways': a company formed by a consortium led by US railroad company Wisconsin Central, for a combined total of £225.15million (approximately $349 million). The management of Mainline Freight, backed by

Candover Candover may refer to: *Candover Brook, Hampshire, England *The Candovers, civil parish in Hampshire, comprising ** Brown Candover ** Chilton Candover **Preston Candover *Candover Clinic, Hampshire *Candover Investments Candover Investments plc. w ...

and

Associated British Ports Associated British Ports owns and operates 21 ports in the United Kingdom, managing around 25 per cent of the UK's sea-borne trade. The company's activities cover transport, haulage and terminal operations, ship's agency, dredging and marine cons ...

also formed a bidding consortium for the three former

companies. The three companies together with

Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems (RES) was a sector of British Rail. This sector was responsible for transport of mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains, as well as taking over charter operations from InterCity and haulage of the Roya ...

were formed into a new company, English Welsh & Scottish (EWS).

Fleet

Mainline Freight's fleet consisted of Class 08, Class 09, Class 31, Class 33, Class 37, Class 47, Class 58, Class 60 and Class 73 locomotives based at Toton, Stratford,

Hither Green Hither Green is a district in south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham. It forms the southern part of Lewisham, 6.6 miles (10.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross, and on the Prime Meridian. Growing extensively with ...

, Stewarts Lane and

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, ...

depots

Livery

The company introduced a livery of 'aircraft blue' with a silver bodyside stripe, and "rolling wheels" logo with Mainline branding. Some locomotives (particularly the classes 33, 37, 58 and 60) retained the Trainload Freight two-tone grey livery but with the addition of the Mainline Freight logo.

References

External links

DB Cargo UK Rail freight companies in the United Kingdom Privatisation of British Rail {{UK-rail-transport-stub