Riviera Trains Limited
Founded1995
Headquarters
Crewe
,
England
SubsidiariesPathfinder Tours UK Railtours
Websitewww.riviera-trains.co.uk

Riviera Trains Limited is a railway spot-hire company based at Burton-on-Trent and Eastleigh in England.

History

47805 at Cromwell Moor in July 2007
Mark 1 in Great Western Railway livery
Mark 2 in Great Briton livery

Riviera Trains was founded in 1995, initially based at Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway. It later relocated to Crewe and Eastleigh.[1]

Operations

Riviera Trains has provided rolling stock on both short and long term hire to many train operating companies including Abellio ScotRail, Arriva Trains Wales, Direct Rail Services, First Great Western, First ScotRail, Grand Central, Virgin CrossCountry and Wales & Borders.[2][3][4]

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 Riviera Trains acquired Pathfinder Tours.[5]

Charter Alliance

On 1 April 2007 EWS and Riviera Trains launched Charter Alliance to provide charter services.[6][7]

Fleet

Locomotives

In 1999 Riviera Trains purchased its first locomotives; 37029 and 47705.[8] Two further Class 47s (47805 and 47839) were acquired from Porterbrook in 2002.[9] Further Class 47s were purchased from Harry Needle Railroad Company (47575 and 47769) and Porterbrook (47812, 47815, 47829, 47843, 47847 and 47848).[10][11] After long periods with little use, the 47s were sold to Direct Rail Services, Harry Needle Railroad Company and Rail Operations Group between 2011 and 2016.[12][13]

Carriages

Riviera Trains commenced with one set of Mark 1 carriages.[1] It later purchased further Mark 1s and Mark 2s.[14][15]

Riviera Trains launched a rake of Mark 2F coaching stock early in 2006, called The Great Briton. All carriages were 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. In January 2007 The Great Briton luxury Pullman train set took over the operation of the Blue Pullman for Hertfordshire Rail Tours after FM Rail ceased.

On 11 April 2008 Riviera launched a rake of Mark 1 coaching stock named The Royal Scot. This set has had over £500,000 invested in it, with all the coaches painted in carmine and cream livery and featuring The Royal Scot carriage destination boards. Both the interior and exterior of the vehicles underwent a full refurbishment.

Past fleet

Key: Withdrawn Sold for further use


Number Class Name Livery Year Acquired Former Operator Status
47575 47 - Rail Express Systems 2004 ex EWS[10] Scrapped in 2010
47705 47 Guy Fawkes LNWR black 1997 ex Waterman Railways[8] Sold to Porterbrook in 2002, and converted to 57303[16]
47747 - EWS 2007 ex EWS Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011
47769 Resolve Virgin CrossCountry 2004 ex Porterbrook[10] Sold to Harry Needle Railroad Company in 2013
47805 - Oxford Blue 2005 ex Porterbrook[9] Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011[12]
47812 - ex Porterbrook[11] Sold to Rail Operations Group in 2016[12]
47815 Great Western
47829 - British Transport Police
47839 Pegasus Oxford Blue 2002 ex Porterbrook[9] Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011[12]
47843 Vulcan 2005 ex Porterbrook[11] Sold to Rail Operations Group in 2016[12]
47847 - BR Blue Large Logo ex Porterbrook[11]
47848 Titan Star Oxford Blue ex Porterbrook[11]
47853 Rail Express XP64 Blue/Red 2002 ex Porterbrook[11] Sold to Direct Rail Services in 2011[12]

References

  1. 1 2 About Riviera Trains Limited Riviera Trains
  2. ↑ "DRS begins its own service to ferry workers to Sellafield and return". Rail Express. No. 189. February 2012. p. 7.
  3. ↑ "Riviera in the Valleys". Rail Magazine. No. 466. 23 July 2003. p. 71.
  4. ↑ "Virgin announces summer loco-hauled trains". The Railway Magazine. No. 1238. 23 June 2004. p. 64.
  5. ↑ "Riviera/FM acquire Pathfinder Tours". Today's Railways UK. No. 51. March 2006. p. 7.
  6. ↑ Charter Alliance launched for quality specialist passenger rail services EWS
  7. ↑ "EWS/Riviera Charter Alliance runs first trains". Today's Railways UK. No. 78. June 2007. p. 78.
  8. 1 2 "Riviera Trains buys main line diesels". The Railway Magazine. No. 1185. January 2000. p. 13.
  9. 1 2 3 "Riviera Trains acquires two Class 47s from Porterbrook". Rail Magazine. No. 448. 13 November 2002. p. 58.
  10. 1 2 3 "Riviera buys two more 47s". Rail Magazine. No. 492. 21 July 2004. p. 27.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Seven more 47s for Riviera". Rail Magazine. No. 501. 24 November 2004. p. 26.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "More 47s for DRS". Today's Railways UK. No. 118. October 2011. p. 58.
  13. ↑ "ROG buys five Riviera Class 47s". Today's Railways UK. No. 176. August 2016. p. 60.
  14. ↑ "Riviera takes HSBC stock". Rail Magazine. No. 440. 24 July 2002. p. 61.
  15. ↑ "Arriva Mk 2 coaches leave South Wales". Rail Express. No. 210. November 2013. p. 55.
  16. ↑ "Reprieve for 47705". Rail Express. No. 73. June 2013. p. 73.

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