Porterbrook


Porterbrook is a British rolling stock company established in April 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Together with Angel Trains and Eversholt Rail Group, it is one of the three original ROSCOs.

History

Porterbrook was established in April 1994 as a subsidiary of British Rail in preparation for the privatisation of British Rail. It was named after the Porter Brook, a river that passed by British Rail's Derby offices. In November 1995 it was sold to in a management buyout.
In 1996 Porterbrook entered the freight leasing market when it purchased and leased back 70 locomotives and 699 wagons from Freightliner. In August 1996, the company was purchased by Stagecoach, who in turn sold it to Abbey National in April 2000.
Porterbrook expanded into Europe. This was sold in December 2004 to CB Rail. In 2008, the business was purchased by a consortium of Antin Infrastructure Partners, Deutsche Bank and Lloyds TSB.
In 2020, Porterbrook signed a 15 year lease with St Mowlem to takeover Quinton Rail Technology Centre at Long Marston.

Porterbrook liveried locomotives

Porterbrook has painted some locomotives in its purple house colours. Deltic D9016 was repainted in 1999 after Porterbrook sponsored its return to service. Class 47s 47807 and 47817 operated for Virgin CrossCountry in the late 1990s in Porterbrook livery as did 57601 for First Great Western from 2001, and 87002 for Virgin Trains West Coast from 2003.

Initial fleet

The fleet Porterbrook inherited from British Rail in 1994 comprised:
ClassTotal
4381
4732
7314
8735
9015
14138
14336
14446
150128
15340
15676
158211
15966
20530
20710
323117
319344
411424
41228
42292
423188
455364
45648
Mark 3 coaches649
Driving Van Trailer52