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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 studies and examinations that resulted in their acquiring a Harsco Track Renewals Train, the first continuous-process track relaying system in the country. They also examined the possibility of acquiring their own diesel locomotives because of dissatisfaction with the service provided by others for engineering trains. The company was acquired by Jarvis, who later resurrected the Fastline name to create a railway freight operator. It operated a fleet of Class 56 and Class 66 locomotives. The class 56s cost £700,000 each to refurbish. A fourth and a fifth Class 56 (56311 & 56312) were hired in from Hanson Traction Ltd. Fastline's base was at
Locomotive numbers 56301 and 56302 have been preserved and were moved to
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 studies and examinations that resulted in their acquiring a Harsco Track Renewals Train, the first continuous-process track relaying system in the country. They also examined the possibility of acquiring their own diesel locomotives because of dissatisfaction with the service provided by others for engineering trains. The company was acquired by Jarvis, who later resurrected the Fastline name to create a railway freight operator. It operated a fleet of Class 56 and Class 66 locomotives. The class 56s cost £700,000 each to refurbish. A fourth and a fifth Class 56 (56311 & 56312) were hired in from Hanson Traction Ltd. Fastline's base was at Doncaster
Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
, Yorkshire. It ceased trading when Jarvis plc entered administration and subsequently ceased trading in late March 2010. The company is in administration with Deloitte
Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...
.
Operations
Container traffic
The company's main operation at first was 4O90, acontainer
A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping.
Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
train to Thamesport
London Thamesport (formerly just "Thamesport") was a small container seaport on the River Medway, serving the North Sea. It is located on the Isle of Grain, in the Medway unitary authority district of the English county of Kent.
History
Ke ...
on the Isle of Grain
Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the unitary authority, district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. Once an island and now forming part of the peninsul ...
, which operated in the afternoon/evening, and returned in the early hours of the next morning, usually operating Class 56 locomotives. Since the end of Fastline's container traffic flows from Doncaster to the Isle of Grain, the class 56 locomotives were intended to be used on Fastline's coal flows.
Coal flows
They also ran several coal flows including from Hatfield toRatcliffe-on-Soar Power Station
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station owned and operated by Uniper at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, England. Commissioned in 1968 by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), the station had ...
, using Class 66s and a new build of coal hoppers. Coal flows run by Fastline included:
* Coal from Daw Mill
Daw Mill was a coal mine located near the village of Arley, Warwickshire, Arley, near Nuneaton, in the English county of Warwickshire. The mine was Britain's biggest coal producer. It closed in 2013 following a major fire. It was the last remaini ...
to Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station owned and operated by Uniper at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, England. Commissioned in 1968 by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), the station had ...
* Coal from Hatfield Colliery to Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station owned and operated by Uniper at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, England. Commissioned in 1968 by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), the station had ...
* Coal from Daw Mill
Daw Mill was a coal mine located near the village of Arley, Warwickshire, Arley, near Nuneaton, in the English county of Warwickshire. The mine was Britain's biggest coal producer. It closed in 2013 following a major fire. It was the last remaini ...
to Cottam Power Station
* Coal from Immingham
Immingham is a town and civil parish in North East Lincolnshire, England, on the south-west bank of the Humber, Humber Estuary, northwest of Grimsby.
It was relatively unpopulated until the early 1900s, when the Great Central Railway began de ...
to Ironbridge Power Station
The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was operated by E.ON ...
Fleet
Locomotive numbers 56301 and 56302 have been preserved and were moved to Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Roundhouse, until 1948 known as Staveley Engine Shed, is a former Midland Railway roundhouse in Barrow Hill, near Staveley and Chesterfield, Derbyshire (), now serving as a railway heritage centre.
History
Staveley Roundhouse wa ...
in April 2011.
References
{{British freight operators Rail freight companies in the United Kingdom