"A combination of two detail traits could identify main line locos repainted in EWS livery prior to autumn 1996..."
In the post British Rail privatised era, it was, without any doubt at all, the train operator with the highest enthusiast appeal. Over the course of its life, EWS employed locos from classes 08, 09, 20, 31, 33, 37, 47, 56, 58, 59, 60, 66, 67, 73, 86, 87, 90 and 92. Almost all in considerable number. And early on, the range of surviving liveries was vast, extending back through all the BR sectors you could think of, to the earliest Railfreight grey, large logo, and standard Rail Blue.
In this post I’m looking back at the earlier period of EWS, through the eyes of a Midland railway enthusiast…
The Res mail operation was the first component of British Rail to be acquired by the company that became EWS.
EWS was formed in stages, as various components of British Rail were sold into the private ownership of Wisconsin Central and its financial backers. Still without a trading brand, the group purchased BR’s Res mail operation in December 1995, then the Loadhaul, Transrail and Mainline freight businesses in February 1996. The combination of these four divisions was branded English Welsh & Scottish in April 1996, with the branding abbreviated to “EW&S” on locomotives as they received the operator’s new red and gold livery. With its display branding having evolved to a simpler “EWS”, the company purchased the remains of Railfreight Distribution in 1997, and the National Power rail stock in 1998.
In the 1990s, EWS ran as a virtual monopoly, with the only other big railfreight operator – Freightliner – occupying separate territory. Unlike EWS, who inherited vast stocks and duties from British Rail, companies like Direct Rail Services (DRS) built from scratch, and so even in 1997 barely had a presence. The nuclear waste traffic with which DRS became synonymous by 1999, still fell under the auspices of EWS in ’98. It often felt as though EWS was simply a catch-all rebrand for all former BR freight and mail, and before any new stock started to arrive, the trains looked just as they had under British Rail too.
37057 was the first locomotive to be repainted in EWS livery, and was publicly unveiled on 25th April 1996 to coincide with the launch of the English Welsh & Scottish brand. A combination of two detail traits could identify main line locos repainted in EWS livery prior to autumn 1996. 1) The branding was applied as “EW&S” rather than just “EWS”. And 2) there was no cabside ‘zoo’ logo (lion, dragon and stag). 37057 Viking is seen here on the Bloxwich to Bescot return trip working – a very good bet for EE Type 3 haulage.
The Class 31s were one of the types that EWS planned to eliminate early on. In the 1990s they worked freight, departmental and passenger traffic. The latter notably, but not exclusively, when Virgin Trains encountered motive power emergencies. EWS 31s worked off Bescot until early 1999, when the first wave of 66s displaced them.
Many examples languished in the long line of withdrawn locos at Bescot through 1999. Shortly after this shot on 10th July that year, 31462 was taken off to Tyseley and used as a source of spares for Fragonset, who acquired a significant number of 31s from EWS. The 31s did make it into the 21st century in EWS service, working in very limited number in the South East, but once all of the Class 66s were delivered it was inevitably the end of the road for them. One example (31466) received an EWS red repaint whilst in full service, but only as a gesture for enthusiasts at the summer ’98 Toton open weekend. An EWS Class 33 (33030) was similarly treated for the same event, again as a gesture and not in anticipation of long-term retention.
58033 was another spring 1996 recipient of the EWS red livery, and again reveals its early adoption with “EW&S” branding and logo-less cabsides. The train, seen at Dudley Port, is the Wolves Steel Terminal to Hoo Junction metal containers. Traction varied on this run, but 58s were a popular choice. The train officially switched to Class 66 power in 1999, but like one or two other trains into Wolverhampton ST, older Type 5s subsequently fought their way back into the picture. The 66s then went unchallenged from 2002, when the EWS 58s were fully withdrawn.
One of the more interesting survivals in the initial EWS fleet, was a batch of mail sector Class 47/4s which BR did not manage to convert to 47/7 status before selling the business. All had been allotted 477xx numbers for conversion, which were never applied. There were 14 of them, six of which remained in the old Parcels livery. One such machine – 47635 (the projected 47754) - is seen approaching Bescot on the steel bar trip from Burton-on-Trent. Although these locos technically remained in the mail reserve, their lesser fuel capacity kept them in a separate pool from the 47/7s. Aside from restricted mail ops, they also saw use on freight traffic, and notably the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury section of Virgin's Euston - Shrewsbury route.
Given the fact that EWS was a freight business, its involvement in passenger work was pretty extensive. Aside from being Virgin Trains’ first resort for emergency and short-term cover, in the 1990s EWS supplied the default traction for operators like North Western Trains and Wales & West. EWS Class 37/4s in a variety of liveries worked daily on the Birmingham – Holyhead route. In the photo above, Regional Railways blue 37429 is partnered with Transrail grey 37412 on North Western’s 23:50 departure from New Street.
Whilst the Class 56s had plenty of power and could single-handedly cope with the heavy traffic of the late 1990s, they were a loco type for which the incoming Class 66s were a very direct replacement. Therefore, nearly all of the 56s’ duties in the Midlands were switched to GM power in 1999. Although the 56 fleet was reduced in number at that time, some GM switches proved to be a bit hasty, and the popular EWS ‘Grids’ were actually reintroduced to selected traffic to or through the Midlands. Perhaps most notably the train depicted above: the Aldwarke – Wolverhampton steel.
In the early 2000s the EWS 56s also made a resolute comeback on the Scunthorpe – Brierley Hill steel (returning with empties via the Lickey Incline), and refused to stay away from traffic with ‘unsettled’ traction, like the Hull – Baglan Bay acid tanks. The real rundown of the class gathered pace in the second half of 2003, and the last examples were taken out of service on 1 April 2004. Some of the liveries are shown above. Namely: ‘Dutch’, Rail Blue, Loadhaul black/orange, original EW&S red, Transrail two-tone grey, and Transrail yellow/grey.
EWS inherited many electric locos – again in a wide range of liveries. The Class 90s included 90027 (AKA 90127, AKA 90227) in old Railfreight Distribution livery. There were also class members in new RfD livery, Res red, GNER blue, and three international liveried “Freightconnection” one-offs. The first EWS 90 repainted in house colours was 90020, in 1997. Because of the late start in repainting the 90s, the type missed out on the “EW&S” era and only ever carried “EWS” branding. It was the same with the 47s, which the company didn’t see as a long-term keep, and so only initially gave very cursory cosmetic attention, again starting in mid ’97.
In May 1996, EWS placed a £350million order for 250 General Motors Class 66 locomotives, based on the Class 59 design. The new Type 5 freight locos began to arrive less than two years later, on 18th April 1998 – ready to run straight off the ship. Through the remainder of the 1990s the Class 66s’ rapid and hitch-free delivery decimated the prevalence of ex-BR traction on EWS freight.
At times it seemed like the only things EWS enjoyed doing with Class 47s, were withdrawing them, and palming them off on other operators in hire arrangements. But the mail sector’s dependency on the type could not be resolved by the Class 66. Hence, EWS ordered 30 ETH-fitted, express-targeted Class 67s specifically for mail duties, and perhaps even more specifically with a view to eliminating the Brush Type 4 from its flagship operations. The first Class 67 arrived at Newport Docks on 6th October 1999, although actual timetabled service didn’t begin until 1st March 2000. By the latter date, only seven examples had been delivered, but subsequent deliveries came thick and fast, and the 47s were effectively dislodged from booked mail workings through the course of spring. A batch of the redundant EWS 47/7s notably went to Virgin CrossCountry.
Prior to the arrival of the 66s, the fleet of ex-BR gems actually expanded. EWS aggressively pursued brand new freight flows, but also had a particular penchant for chasing former British Rail flows which had been poached by road hauliers. Such was the success of the company’s two-pronged growth strategy in ’96 and ’97, that all manner of essentially life-expired diesels had to be dragged out of the dumps to meet the boom in demand.
The situation reversed post-1998 when the Class 66s began to amass in number, and the ex-BR fleet began to dramatically shrink. To give some idea of how fast the axe was falling on life-expired traction, the remaining EWS Class 47/0s and 47/3s were placed into what was effectively a run-down pool at the start of ’99 (WHBF), and that pool was reduced from over 50 locos to zero by July. I remind you, that was just the 47/0s and 47/3s. The same period saw separate culls for Classes 31 and 37, and there were 56s and 58s being thrown into store too.
In 2000, when the Class 67s went into full service whilst later 66s were still entering traffic, the British freight scene began, for the first time, to show shades of the GM whitewash we now accept as normal. Unless you followed the large batch of BR-liveried 37s that moved into southern France, most of the EWS Type 3s remaining in traffic were now wearing house colours, and fighting to justify their continued existence. When the above shot was taken at Rashwood (M5 Junction 5), two-tone grey 37715 was en route from Cardiff Canton to Wigan CRDC. The truck driver had left the loco in the layby and popped down to the nearby Little Chef for lunch. An amazing photo opportunity, but a terribly sad time for all of these remnants of BR culture making their final journeys.
The Class 60s may still have been fairly new when EWS came into being, but their livery range – especially after it was broadened by EWS – made the type a target for photographers. In the compilation above are: 60096 in EWS red, 60054 in original Trainload grey, 60038 in Loadhaul black/orange, 60006 in British Steel blue, 60033 in Corus silver, 60011 in Mainline blue, 60081 in GWR green, and 60064 in Loadhaul grey. Other variants of the two-tone grey livery included Mainline, and Transrail.
The EWS postal operation went out with a bang in the run up to Christmas 2003, after Royal Mail announced a switch to road transport. Some of the Christmas postals were regularly double-headed. Above, 67021 and 67022 are seen at Stoke Prior on 17th December ’03.
And some postals even pressed the B-series 47/7s back onto the duties they were converted to perform. Here on the 18th December ’03, 47734 revives its heyday one last time at Selly Oak. 47734 was in fact the last of the 47/7b conversions. It was delivered not to British Rail, but directly to North & South Railways (the pre-branded EWS) in late March 1996, before they shut down the conversion programme.
The Rover car plant at Longbridge was still active in the earlier years of EWS, and was served by rail for both the shipping in of parts and the shipping out of vehicles. When EWS took over the parts trains from RfD in 1997, they were routinely hauled by Class 47s. This practice concluded in the run up to Christmas 1998, with Class 66s taking over when the factory restarted production after the holiday. The 47s continued to deputise initially, but as EWS rapidly withdrew the former RfD Brush 4s, stand-ins became more interesting for a while. In the main shot above, Mainline blue 58042 is seen depping for a 66 on the 16:03 Longbridge – Swindon KSA empties. The two smaller shots show the factory branch and works, all of which was cleared to make way for a college, shopping complex, and park, leaving the scenes unrecognisable today.
On 10th September 1999, it was hard to fathom the logic of loco administration as 37709 and 66142 disappeared up the Rover factory branch to haul: a) three cartics to Washwood Heath, and b) 20 KSA wagons to Swindon. So the 37 had fun with its cartics, right? Nope. Astonishingly, 66142 emerged with the cartics, whilst 37709 was given the mammoth task of dragging 20 heavy ‘Cube’ vans off to Swindon, single-handed.
After they were ousted from the mail scene, EWS 47/7s continued in use on Serco test trains. In the above scene at the old Bromsgrove station, 47746 and 47744 top and tail one such duty on 5th March 2001.
The EWS fleet of shunters mainly comprised Class 08s. There were some interesting specimens at Bescot, including the former New Street station pilot 08742 in Parcels livery, and 08567 in its original Rail Blue. But there were also representatives from Class 09. 09021 was an attractive sight fresh in EWS livery, circa 2000.
Conversely, 09014 retained its two-tone grey when captured at Washwood Heath yard in 2007.
EWS acquired 87101 from Railfreight Distribution in 1997, when the rest of the 87s were in full service with Virgin. But the freight operator was much better associated with a group of Class 86s, which it inherited from Rail express systems. The 86s covered for unavailable Virgin locos on many, many occasions, as is the case in the above memory of Res 86243 at Birmingham International, with Virgin’s 19:07 departure for Wolverhampton, on 27th November 2001.
After acquisition by EWS, the former National Power Class 59s were quickly branded in with house colours, after which they could, at a quick glance, be mistaken for Class 66s. In action on a Pathfinder tour, EWS red 59202 passes the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.
As we near the conclusion, here’s a final electric shot, showing 92005 with its characteristic Channel Tunnel 'roundels' at Lea Hall between Stechford and Birmingham International, on 10th June 2006.
Although by the mid 2000s, EWS was a modern and heavily standardised operator, with whom even the Class 60s were struggling to find work, its early phase remains unmatched in the privatised era for sheer locomotive variety and unpredictability. The company’s time under original CEO Ed Burkhardt will be fondly remembered as the last stand for the old-school British enthusiasts’ railway. A time when you could go to Bescot without having to worry about ‘gen’, and simply relax and enjoy the traffic. EWS cared about the railway enthusiast, and courted the railway enthusiast. Indeed, they were the railway enthusiast. Fun while it lasted.