Riviera Trains


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

History

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

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.
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.

Charter Alliance

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

Fleet

Locomotives

In 1999 Riviera Trains purchased its first locomotives; 37029 and 47705. Two further Class 47s were acquired from Porterbrook in 2002. Further Class 47s were purchased from Harry Needle Railroad Company and Porterbrook. 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.

Carriages

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

Fleet details

NumberClassNameLiveryYear AcquiredFormer OwnerStatus
0850708-Oxford Blue2013ex Harry Needle Railroad CompanyOperational
0860508-DB Red/Grey2016ex DB CargoOperational
0870408-Oxford Blue2013ex Harry Needle Railroad CompanyOperational
0878008-Oxford Blue2003ex First Great WesternOperational

Past fleet

NumberClassNameLiveryYear AcquiredFormer OperatorStatus
3738337-Mainline Freight blue2000ex EWSScrapped
4757547-Rail Express Systems2004ex EWSScrapped in 2010
4770547Guy FawkesLNWR black1997ex Waterman RailwaysSold to Porterbrook in 2002, and converted to 57303
4774747-EWS2007ex EWSSold to Direct Rail Services in 2011
4776947ResolveVirgin CrossCountry2004ex PorterbrookSold to Harry Needle Railroad Company in 2013
4780547-Oxford Blue2005ex PorterbrookSold to Direct Rail Services in 2011
4781247-Oxford Blue2005ex PorterbrookSold to Rail Operations Group in 2016
4781547Great WesternOxford Blue2005ex PorterbrookSold to Rail Operations Group in 2016
4782947-British Transport Police2005ex PorterbrookSold to Harry Needle Railroad Company in 2007
4783947PegasusOxford Blue2002ex PorterbrookSold to Direct Rail Services in 2011
4784347VulcanOxford Blue2005ex PorterbrookSold to Rail Operations Group in 2016
4784747-BR Blue Large Logo2005ex PorterbrookSold to Rail Operations Group in 2016
4784847Titan StarOxford Blue2005ex PorterbrookSold to Rail Operations Group in 2016
4785347Rail ExpressXP64 Blue/Red2002ex PorterbrookSold to Direct Rail Services in 2011