Riviera Trains
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| Founded | 1996 |
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| Headquarters | Crewe, United Kingdom |
| Subsidiaries | Pathfinder Tours |
| Website | www.riviera-trains.co.uk |
Riviera Trains Limited is a railway spot-hire company, based at Crewe in Cheshire. It owns a large fleet of Class 47 locomotives, which have been hired to both passenger and charter train operators. One of their main customers was Arriva Trains Wales, which used locomotives to haul Manchester to Holyhead services until February 2005. The fleet is also used to haul "Foot-ex" specials as well as other Riviera Requirements.
Riviera has hires to Train Operating Companies such as Abellio ScotRail, Arriva Trains Wales, DB Cargo UK, Direct Rail Services, Freightliner, GB Railfreight, Grand Central, Great Western Railway, Serco Rail and Virgin Trains.
Riviera supplied Virgin CrossCountry with a "stand-by" train set made up of Mark 2F vehicles. This contract ended when Arriva took over the franchise.
Riviera also hire to rail tour customers who include: The Branch Line Society, Compass Tours, Kingfisher Railtours, Past Time Rail, Pathfinder Tours 2006, SRPS, The Railway Touring Company and UK Railtours.
In 2006 the company acquired Pathfinder Tours.
Locomotives
One of Riviera's locomotives, 47839, was the first to be painted in the Oxford Blue livery. Most of the fleet retained the livery of their previous operators until late-2006. 47805, 47843 & 47848 received the Riviera touch of Oxford Blue in 2006 leaving 47812 painted in BR Two Tone Green in late November 2005 to match its sister no. 47815.
In September 2006, all operational Class 47 locomotives, with the exception of nos. 47769 and 47815, were due to be hired to Direct Rail Services for a period of one year. However this turned out to be just over 4 months hauling flask trains. In May 2007 Riviera bought another locomotive - class 47747. This locomotive has since been sold to DRS, along with 47805, 47839 and 47853. 47769 and 47829 have also been sold to HNRC, with 08507 and 08704 moving the other way in exchange for 47769 in 2013. Another locomotive acquired by Riviera, 47575, was scrapped in 2010, offering a spares pool for the remainder of the fleet.
In April 2014, 47843 was the first of the remaining Riviera Class 47's to be hired out to GB Railfreight. 47815, 47812, 47847 and 47848 have since followed (in this order), with the final loco, 47848, due to enter traffic during March 2015. These five remaining Riviera Class 47's are now maintained by the Harry Needle Railroad Company, based at Barrow Hill in Derbyshire.
Coaching stock
Riviera has one of the largest fleet of vehicles for spot hire and charter work in the UK, rivaling that of West Coast Railways. They can create up to 7 charter train sets and several sets for TOC work. They are now one of the leading providers of charter trains to the railtour industry and Train Operating Companies.
The Company launched a rake of Mark 2F coaching stock early in 2006, called "The Great Briton". All the coaches are in the livery of Oxford Blue and Cream, which were hand painted at LNWR Crewe. The eight coaches are named after famous Britons, such as Shakespeare and Churchill and feature hand painted Union Jacks on each side of the coaches which is very distinctive. In January 2007 "The Great Brition" luxury Pullman train set took over the operation of the 'Blue Pullman' for Hertfordshire Railtours, formally part of Victa Westlink Rail.
On 11 April 2008 Riviera launched a rake of British Rail Mark 1 coaching stock named "The Royal Scot". This set has had over £500,000 spent on refurbishing and repainting each vehicle to high standards.
Charter Alliance
On 12 March 2007, EWS and Riviera Trains announced the formation of Charter Alliance as "a dedicated provider of reliable and high class specialist passenger rail services". Charter Alliance was to start operations on 1 April 2007, with four charter trains for football fans being the first ones operated by the new alliance.[1] EWS provided itself charter trains and operates the Royal Train.
Fleet details
| Key: | In service | Under repair |
|---|
| Number | Class | Name | Livery | Year Acquired | Former Operator | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08507 | 08 | - | Oxford Blue | 2013 | ex-Harry Needle Railroad Company | Operational |
| 08704 | 08 | - | BR Green | 2013 | ex-Harry Needle Railroad Company | Operational |
| 08780 | 08 | - | Oxford Blue | 2003 | ex-First Great Western | Operational |
| 47812 | 47 | - | BR Two Tone Green | 2005 | ex-Porterbrook | Operational |
| 47815 | 47 | Great Western | Oxford Blue | 2005 | ex-Porterbrook | Operational |
| 47843 | 47 | Vulcan | Oxford Blue | 2005 | ex-Porterbrook | Operational |
| 47847 | 47 | - | BR Blue Large Logo | 2005 | ex-Porterbrook | Operational |
| 47848 | 47 | Titan Star | Oxford Blue | 2005 | ex-Porterbrook | Operational |
Past fleet
| Key: | Withdrawn | Sold for further use |
|---|
| Number | Class | Name | Livery | Year Acquired | Former Operator | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37383 | 37 | - | Mainline Freight Blue | 2000 | ex-EWS | Scrapped |
| 47575 | 47 | - | Rail Express Parcels | 2004 | ex-EWS | Scrapped in 2010 |
| 47705 | 47 | Guy Fawkes | LNWR Black | 1997 | ex-Waterman Rail | Sold to Porterbrook in 2002, and converted to 57303 |
| 47747 | 47 | - | EWS | 2007 | ex-EWS | Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011 |
| 47769 | 47 | Resolve | Virgin CrossCountry | 2004 | ex-Porterbrook | Sold to Harry Needle Railroad Company in 2013 |
| 47805 | 47 | - | Oxford Blue | 2005 | ex-Porterbrook | Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011 |
| 47829 | 47 | - | British Transport Police | 2005 | ex-Porterbrook | Sold to Harry Needle Railroad Company, 2007 |
| 47839 | 47 | Pegasus | Oxford Blue | 2002 | ex-Porterbrook | Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011 |
| 47853 | 47 | Rail Express | XP64 Blue/Red | 2002 | ex-Porterbrook | Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011 |
References
- ↑ Press release "Charter Alliance launched for quality specialist passenger rail services"
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