Cotswold Rail was an English company, based in

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

, 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 InterCity Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of P ...

(and its successor

National Express East Anglia National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...

), as rescue locomotives, and to haul Mark 2 sets on summer Saturday services from

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

. In 2004, Cotswold Rail leased 12 former

Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (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, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 9 ...

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. Africa * Sheltam Grindrod * Swifambo Rail Leasing Austral ...

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 ...

. 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 or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

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 (

) in 2006. In September 2005, two former

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 ...

High Speed Train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

sets were leased. These were returned in August 2006. In 2005, Cotswold Rail purchased

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 ...

, 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 HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...

successfully applying in October 2009 to have

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 ( Bath), Corini ...

, or after music industry personalities, namely

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

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

and

Captain Sensible Raymond Ian Burns (born 24 April 1954), known by the stage name Captain Sensible, is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. Captain Sensible co-founded the punk rock band The Damned (band), the Damned, originally playing bass before switc ...

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 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 ...

service, setting up The Blue Pullman Train Co, using Blue Pullman-liveried coaches purchased following the receivership of the previous operator,

FM Rail FM Rail was a railway charter company based in Derby, 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 Fra ...

. Cotswold re-launched the Blue Pullman service in February 2007, using its silver Class 47s."Blue Pullman battle lines drawn" ''

The Railway Magazine ''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in t ...

'' issue 1272 April 2007 page 91

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