West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at

Carnforth MPD Carnforth MPD (Motive Power Depot) is a former London Midland and Scottish Railway railway depot located in the town of Carnforth, Lancashire, England. Completed in 1944 on the site of the former Furness Railway depot, its late construction in th ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the

Steamtown Carnforth Carnforth MPD (Motive Power Depot) is a former London Midland and Scottish Railway railway depot located in the town of Carnforth, Lancashire, England. Completed in 1944 on the site of the former Furness Railway depot, its late construction in th ...

visitor attraction, in June 1998 the company became the first privately owned company to be given a licence as 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 ...

History

Before 1998

After

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 rai ...

closed the Lakeside branch to passengers on 6 September 1965, a group of enthusiasts chaired by Dr Peter Beet formed the Lakeside Railway Estates Company, with the idea of preserving both the line and Carnforth MPD, to provide a complete steam operating system. After agreeing to rent out part of the Carnforth MPD site, but with the counter the development of the

A590 road The A590 is a trunk road in southern Cumbria, in the north-west of England. It runs north-east to south-west from M6 junction 36, through the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness to terminate at Biggar Bank on Walney Island.Sir Bill McAlpine became a shareholder in the company, with his 4472 ''Flying Scotsman'' making Carnforth its home. McAlpine subsequently acquired a controlling interest in the company, in order to fund the purchase of the complete site including the track from British Rail. In light of McAlpine's declining interest, in 1990 his controlling interest in Steamtown Railway Museum was sold to David Smith, who over the following years has bought out most of the minority shareholders. With increasing

Health & Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...

regulations, and an increased reliance on revenue from supplying and servicing steam locomotives to power enthusiast trains, the commercial decision was taken not to reopen Carnforth as a museum or visitor attraction for the 1998 season. Steamtown Railway Museum still exists today as the holding company, and operates an extensive railway repair and operating facility on the site.

After 1998

In June 1998, West Coast Railway Company was granted an operating licence to become a

. WCR is a spot hire company which provides locomotives, stock and crews to other companies within the rail industry. The company operates charter trains, some of which are hauled by steam locomotives. The company provides stock and crews for steam workings on the national network, and for diesel tours. The headquarters, engineering base and depot are at Carnforth, where locomotives and stock are stored and maintained, and where contract work is undertaken for other operators. WCR own and operated steam locomotive 5972 ''Olton Hall'' under the guise of ''

Hogwarts Castle Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry () is a fictional Scotland, Scottish boarding school of Magic in Harry Potter, magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and is the primary setting for the first six books in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Pot ...

'' for the

Harry Potter film series ''Harry Potter'' is a film series based on the eponymous novels by J. K. Rowling. The series is produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and consists of eight fantasy films, beginning with ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Ston ...

, with the ''

Hogwarts Express Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry () is a fictional Scottish boarding school of magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and is the primary setting for the first six books in J. K. Rowling's '' Harry Potter'' series and serves as a m ...

''.

March 2015 incident and operating licence suspension

On 7 March 2015, the 16:35 east bound ''

Cathedrals Express The ''Cathedrals Express'' was a named passenger express introduced in 1957 on the Western Region of British Railways. It connected the cathedral cities of Hereford and Worcester to . The service started on 16 September 1957 and was operated s ...

'' operated by WCR (

Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

to Southend East) approaching from

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

, headed by

Battle of Britain class The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as ''Light Pacifics'' or informally as ''Spam Cans'', are air-smoothed 4-6-2 ''Pacific'' steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engine ...

No. 34067 ''Tangmere'' and 13 coaches passed signal SN45 at danger at Wootton Bassett Junction on the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...

, overrunning the signal by and coming to a stand blocking the junction. This occurred less than a minute after the up/east bound

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 ...

(FGW) service from

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...

passenger service approaching via the

South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell De Cymru), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. ...

from

Badminton, Gloucestershire Badminton is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It consists of Great Badminton and Little Badminton. History In 1612 Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, bought from Nicholas Boteler his manors of Great and Little Ba ...

and operated by an

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

set, had cleared the junction at . The signal was being maintained at danger to ensure the safety of the FGW train after it had passed through the junction, as is signalling practice. The incident was investigated by track owner

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 ...

(NR), the

Office of Rail Regulation 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 its ...

and the

Rail Accident Investigation Branch The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is a British government agency that independently investigates rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. Created in 2005, it is required by ...

(RAIB). The RAIB launched an investigation into the incident on 27 March, releasing a statement in which they described the incident as a "dangerous occurrence". According to the RAIB, the incident was caused by driver error, after the traincrew isolated the

Automatic Warning System The Automatic Warning System (AWS) was introduced in the 1950s in the United Kingdom to provide a train driver with an audible warning and visual reminder that they were approaching a distant signal at caution. Its operation was later extended t ...

and

Train Protection & Warning System The Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) is a train protection system used throughout the British passenger main-line railway network, and in Victoria, Australia. The British Rail Safety and Standards Board's definition is: The purpose of TPW ...

on approach to a temporary speed restriction in the area of line immediately after signal SN43, the signal before signal SN45. These were not reinstated on approach to signal SN45; as a result, the train was not automatically stopped by the safety systems as it passed the signal at danger. down the line, the train was manually brought to a stop by the driver; it came to a rest across Wootton Bassett Junction. WCR and NR met on 30 March 2015. NR subsequently expressed the view that at that meeting "WCR demonstrated that its controls, communication and commitment following the recent SPAD were inadequate" and that since then "the response by the senior management of WCR to the issues raised" had been "inadequate", suspending WCR's operator's licence effective from midnight 3 April 2015. Previously operators had been banned from certain routes, but this was a total network ban unprecedented since privatisation. The suspension notice states: WCR stated that it was in negotiations with NR regarding the terms of the suspension, and also with other train operating companies in order to prevent the cancellation of many scheduled WCR operated railtours during the period of suspension. 46115 Scots Guardsman

On 8 May 2015, Network Rail lifted the track access ban off the company. This meant that the company could continue its scheduled tours for the coming months including the first of the Jacobite railtours. On 9 December 2015, 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 ...

(ORR) announced that the WCR and the driver of the train involved in the incident at Wootton Bassett were to be prosecuted for offences contrary to the

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974c 37 (abbreviated to "HSWA 1974", "HASWA" or "HASAWA") is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that defines the fundamental structure and authority for the encouragement, regulation and enfor ...

. An initial hearing was scheduled at

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

Magistrates Court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cou ...

for 11 January 2016. The case came to trial at Swindon Crown Court on 27 June 2016. WCR and driver Melvyn Cox both pleaded guilty. WCR was fined £200,000 and £64,000 costs. Cox was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for eighteen months. He was also ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work.

November 2015

On 24 November 2015 it was reported that the ORR had temporarily prohibited WCR from operating steam trains on the mainline rail network, following an initial investigation into an incident near

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 ...

on 2 October 2015 when 45231 ''The Sherwood Forester'' was hauling a WCR 'Spirit of the Lakes' charter train and the footplate crew of the engine had isolated the

equipment which would have applied the emergency brake if the driver made a safety critical error.

February 2016 Prohibition Notice

On 17 February 2016 the ORR issued a Prohibition Notice to WCR preventing it running its heritage rail services on the mainline railway. The notice related to concerns about WCR's management of safety, following a number of incidents over the past year. Under the terms of the notice, the company was not able to operate trains on the mainline network until the ORR was satisfied its governance and operations meet industry practice. Steps the company were required to take included: the introduction of clearer governance structures with proper accountability for safety; more robust risk assessments; and enhanced processes for managing staff with a focus on safety culture. Ian Prosser, HM Chief Inspector of Railways at ORR, said the decision to revoke the company's safety certificate had "not been taken lightly". On 23 March 2016 the track access ban was lifted. On 25 September 2018, the ORR, after extensive review and consultation with other affected parties, renewed West Coast Railway safety certificate for a period of five years.

Services

Loco 45231 The Sherwood Forester - Fort William - kingsley - 02-JUL-09

WCR operates several regular steam-hauled excursions every summer. The most famous of these trains is '' The Jacobite'' (named for the historic Jacobite political movement). It runs along the

West Highland Line The West Highland Line ( gd, Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean - "Iron Road to the Isles") is a railway line linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban in the Scottish Highlands to Glasgow in Central Scotland. The line was voted the top rail journey in th ...

from Fort William to

Mallaig Mallaig (; gd, Malaig derived from Old Norse , meaning sand dune bay) is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line (Fort William ...

, crossing

Glenfinnan Viaduct The Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Inverness-shire, Scotland, built from 1897 to 1901. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Scottish Highlands, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monu ...

. It runs Monday to Fridays from the middle of May until the end of October and also runs at weekends from the end of June until the end of August. In 2011, WCR added a second ''Jacobite'' service, leaving Fort William in the afternoons from the start of June until the end of August running on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. 2012 saw this second service increase to five days a week, between June and August. In July 2002, WCR began to operate the steam-hauled ''

Scarborough Spa Express The ''Scarborough Spa Express'' (SSE) is a regular summer heritage steam locomotive service between and . It is currently operated by the West Coast Railways, but has been operated in previous years by different companies, including the Railway ...

'' operated from

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 ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

three times a week between July and September. After a steam ban on the eastern region in 2014 which resulted in the season being axed a restricted season ran for 2015 over three days in October. This was once again put into place for three days in October 2016; the tour was also renamed ''The Scarborough Flyer'' for the 2016 season. In 2007, West Coast Railways took over operation of the ''

Cambrian Coast Express The ''Cambrian Coast Express'' was a named passenger train of the Great Western Railway (GWR), and later British Rail, running from London Paddington via Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli over the Cambrian Line. GWR era Prior to ama ...

'' running over the

Cambrian Line The Cambrian Line ( cy, Llinell y Cambrian), also known as the Cambrian Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell y Cambrian) and Cambrian Coast Line ( cy, Llinell Arfordir y Cambrian), is a railway line that runs from Shrewsbury, England, westwards to Aber ...

from

Machynlleth Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a popul ...

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

and

Pwllheli Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...

and renamed it ''The Cambrian''. The service ran from the last week of July until the end of August between 2007 and 2010. Before the 2011 season, WCR issued a statement stating that due to

's implementation of the new

European Train Control System The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...

(ETCS) signalling on the Cambrian Coast, which necessitated new in-cab signalling equipment, the seasonal steam services had to cease running because there isn't yet a system available for fitment in steam locomotives. In 2014, ''The Dalesman'' was brought back after a few years absence. The tour started at York and travelled to

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

via Normanton,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...

Hellifield Hellifield is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England (). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village was once an important railway junction on the Settle-Carlisle Railway between th ...

and the

Settle & Carlisle line Settle or SETTLE may refer to: Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania * ''S ...

. The tour was diesel-hauled from York to Hellifield where steam traction took over the train and travelled along the Settle and Carlisle line to Carlisle and then back to Hellifield. It had been planned to run only on Thursdays for 2016 but due to a landslip north of Appleby on the Settle and Carlisle line, ''The Dalesman'' did not run again until 2017 when the line re-opened. In 2016, to replace ''The Dalesman'' season, a new set of tours of ''The Scarborough Spa Express'' were run from Carnforth to Scarborough with steam haulage being between York and Scarborough. Alternating each week the tour would for one week run from Carnforth to York via Hellifield and Keighley and then the following week would run via Preston,

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

and

Brighouse Brighouse is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder, east of Halifax. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 m ...

. As of 2020 these trips are still running in place of the original Scarborough Spa Express trains; the tours start off diesel worked from Carnforth with a steam loco taking over in York. In June 2018, West Coast Railways ran a service on the Windermere branch line between

Oxenholme Oxenholme is a village in England just south of the town of Kendal, with which it has begun to merge. It is best known for Oxenholme Lake District railway station on the West Coast Main Line. Because Oxenholme does not have its own church it ...

and

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

after

Arriva Rail North Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva (legal name Arriva Rail North Limited) was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operato ...

cancelled all trains on the line in the short term in an attempt to fix the disruption and cancellations around their network.

Train Operating Company

WCR provides locomotives, stock and crews for railtour organisers. It provides crews to SRPS and Vintage Trains, who own their own stock. WCR act or have acted as

to the following companies: * Branch Line Society * North-East Railtours (Part operated by SRPS Railtours) * Pathfinder Tours * Railway Touring Company * Saltburn Railtours * SRPS Railtours * Spirit of the Lakes * West Coast Railtours (Formerly

Compass Tours Compass Tours was a UK railtour organiser specialising in excursions with heritage diesel locomotives such as the Class 37, Class 40 and Class 47 and also using Steam Engines such as the LMS Black 5. A pro-rail company, Compass Tours heavil ...

) * 21st Century Steam Ltd (Formerly Tornado Railtours)(Operations shared with

DB Cargo UK DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...

) Former companies operated with: *

Vintage Trains Vintage Trains is an operator of heritage railtours in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Birmingham Railway Museum Trust, and is based at Tyseley Locomotive Works, the trust's other subsidiary. Mainline locomotives Vintage Trains opera ...

(WCR unable to provide crews for tours from start of 2018, trains now operated by Vintage Trains CBS) *

The 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 ...

(Contracted ended April 2016 by owners due to running issues with WCR and awarded to

GB Railfreight GB Railfreight (GBRf) is a rail freight company in the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is owned by the global investment company Infracapital. GB Railfreight was established in April 1999 as the rail freight operating subsidiary of the train o ...

) * Budgie Transport (Ceased railtour operations in 2011) *

(Ceased trading in 2014, company with similar name now operating) * Daylight Railtours (Ceased trading in 2004) * Nenta Traintours (No longer operated by WCR, now operated by

) * PMR Tours (Ceased trading in 2020) * Railtourer (Ceased trading in 2013) *

Shepherd Neame Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the ...

(Ceased tour operations in 2013) * Spitfire Railtours (Ceased trading in 2012) * Statesman Rail (No longer operated by WCR, now operated by

Locomotive Services 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 Dreams (No longer operated by WCR, now operated by Locomotive Services)

Routes

Routes commonly operated over by WCR include the nearby

Cumbrian Coast Line The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furness line) via Ulverston an ...

and

Furness line The Furness line is a British railway between and , joining the West Coast Main Line at . A predominantly passenger line, it serves various towns along the Furness coast, including Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands. It runs thr ...

, Little North Western Line, the

and the

. The company utilises several sidings at

, south of Settle Junction, where the lines to and diverge, allowing easy access to the WCR home base.

Depots

The headquarters and main depot is at

. The former LMS depot coded 10A has workshops for steam and diesel locomotives, and also carriage and wagon facilities to maintain the company's fleet of

Mark 1 Mark 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 45 verses. Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts conta ...

and

Mark 2 Mark 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, the first arguments between Jesus and other Jewish religious teachers appear. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, m ...

carriages. The site includes extensive sidings plus a paint shop. The company's second base is the former

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

depot 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 ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...

which it has occupied since 2008. "The Green Train" is based here, used on "The Cathedrals Express". For half of the year the company also uses part of Fort William depot as a base for the stock and locomotives for its ''Jacobite'' service. The

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

depot at

has also been used previously for the Cambrian trains, but due to the line having the new

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...

system fitted which presently isn't compatible with steam locos the services had to cease.

Rolling stock

The company owns and operates a fleet of

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s, which are primarily used to haul charter trains, but have also been hired to other railway operators. The fleet is mainly composed of Class 37 and Class 47 locomotives, but also includes Class 57 locomotives, including the prototype passenger locomotive 57601. Several Class 37 locomotives were purchased from

Ian Riley Engineering Riley & Son (E) Ltd, is a railway locomotive engineering and refurbishment company. Founded in 1992 as Ian Riley Engineering, the company has been a leader in main line steam haulage, being one of the pioneers of fitting air brake, TPWS and OT ...

, which ceased its spot-hire operations in mid-2004. In 2005, WCR won the contract to haul ''

'' luxury train. As a result, its two operational Class 37 locomotives and a Class 47 were repainted into a revised maroon livery, officially known as Royal Scotsman Claret, based on that of the Royal Scotsman carriages. In late 2005, WCR sold its two operational Class 37 locomotives (nos. 37197 and 37261) to

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, ...

, and received four Class 33 locomotives in exchange. As of 2011, WCR started investing in more Class 57 locomotives, bought from

Advenza Freight Advenza Freight was an English rail freight company based in Gloucester. It was part of the Cotswold Rail group. The company was wound up in October 2009. History Advenza Freight was founded in 2001. It obtained a safety case in 2002 and a l ...

Harry Needle Railroad Company The Harry Needle Railroad Company (HNRC) is a railway spot-hire company, based at Barrow Hill Engine Shed in Derbyshire. Prior to 2010 the company also recovered valuable spares from scrapped railway vehicles, either on the vehicle owners site ...

, Freightliner and

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 ...

."Remaining Class 57/3s snapped up by DRS and West Coast Co" ''The Railway Magazine'' issue 1343 March 2013 page 80 The company's coaching stock consists of vacuum and air plus dual braked Mark 1 and Mark 2 coaches, mostly painted in the British Railways maroon livery, albeit with West Coast Railways branding on the bodyside. Some of these coaches were built as British Railways Pullman coaches.

Fleet details

Steam locomotives

Locomotives listed here are not owned by WCR, but are made available to operate on the mainline by their respective owners (assuming they have the appropriate mainline certification). Some engines may not now be operated on the mainline because their mainline or boiler ticket has expired or may be on display away from the national network. 5972 ''Olton Hall'' was on a 2-year loan agreement from November 2014 to the Warner Bros Studio Tour in Leavesden for their

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

tour.

Modern Traction

All locomotives below are owned and operated by West Coast Railways.

Diesel locomotives

Note: Marked names indicate that the loco is not presently wearing them.

=Shunting Engines

=Mainline Diesels

=Donor Locos

= Under Construction

Preserved locomotives

Bold = Current number

References

Sources

External links

Official site
{{British railway spot-hire companies Companies based in Lancashire Post-privatisation British railway companies Railway companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in England

History

Before 1998

After 1998

March 2015 incident and operating licence suspension

November 2015

February 2016 Prohibition Notice

Services

Train Operating Company

Routes

Depots

Rolling stock

Fleet details

Steam locomotives

Modern Traction

Diesel locomotives

=Shunting Engines

=Mainline Diesels

=Donor Locos

Preserved locomotives

See also

References

Sources

External links