English, Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd. (EWS) was the largest British rail freight company; created as a result of the break-up of British Rail during the 1990s.
EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central Ltd in 1996. Canadian National bought Wisconsin Central in 2001, and held approximately 30% of the company.
On 28 June 2007 it was announced at a press conference held by Deutsche Bahn AG (DB), EWS and Spanish rail forwarder Transfesa that DB was to acquire all the shares in EWS as soon as contracts were signed. Initially it was announced that EWS would not be rebranded, but on 01 January 2009 EWS, DB's existing Freight organisation Railion and their freight logistics organisation DB Schenker were re-branded
DB Schenker.
EWS have formed part of DB Schenker and have become
DB Schenker Rail (UK) Ltd.
HistoryThe first stage of the creation of EWS occurred at 0500 on Saturday 9 December 1995 when it was announced that Rail Express Systems had been sold to a consortium led by Wisconsin Central for £25.7 million and renamed North & South Railways Ltd. Included in the sale were 164 locomotives, 677 vans, depots at Crewe, Bristol Barton Hill, Cambridge and Euston Downside (London), and 800 staff. North & South Railways confirmed that it was bidding for all three of the former BR trainload freight companies: Trans-Rail, Mainline Freight and Load-Haul.
The UK Government had hoped to sell the three trainload freight companies as separate businesses to encourage competition. Few bidders were interested in individual companies because of the threat of competition from the other two, but the outright purchase of all three was an attractive proposition.
By December 1995, there were just two bidders in the running for the trainload companies:
* Wisconsin Central
* FirstFreight - Load-Haul’s management backed by Denver-based rail haulier OmniTRAX
In early 1996 it was announced that Wisconsin Central/North & South Railways was the preferred bidder, and on 24 February 1996 the contract was signed. Later that day the formal handover from BRB chairman John Welsby to Wisconsin Central President Ed Burkhardt took place at a ceremony at London’s Marylebone station. Burkhardt announced several plans for the following two years:
* Order 250 new heavy freight locomotives - EWS bought 250 Class 66 locomotives
* Condemn most of the Class 37s and ‘ageing and unreliable’ Class 47s
* Withdraw all the remaining Trainload Class 20s and Class 33s
* Close “a very great many” diesel depots
* Merge the three freight companies with Rail Express Systems
* Reinstate stored Class 08s if increased business warranted it
* Rename the new company ‘London, Central & Scottish Railway’, or similar
£225.15 million was paid for the three trainload freight businesses, which carried 88.7 million tonnes of freight the previous year with a turnover of £559 million. Some critics said that the figure paid was less than the 10% of their replacement value, estimated at an astonishing £3 billion, as they were the only profitable national freight businesses in Europe. Subsequently, Wisconsin Central/North & South Railways purchased Railfreight Distribution and National Power's railfreight operation.
EWS 67012 on hire to Wrexham & ShropshireThe EWS livery is an in-house UK development of the Wisconsin Central corporate colours. Engineers at Toton were told to investigate how the WC corporate colours of maroon and gold (originally taken from the Soo Line) could be applied to smaller British locomotive designs. The overall concept was satisfactory, but there was difficulty in meeting the Chief Executive’s request that the words "Wisconsin Central" and the company's logo be emblazoned in red capitals on the gold band.
The specification that was outlined for the new EWS livery was:
* Maroon - bodysides, roofs and ends. To get the correct WC shade of maroon, a sample ‘plate’ was flown from the USA to the UK
and colours mixed to match it. When the Class 66s and 67s were being built, WC sent another sample ‘plate’ to General Motors to
mix, and it is said that this shade is slightly lighter than the British mix.
* Black - underframes and bufferbeams.
* Gold - most locomotives have a 600-mm gold band, but Class 37s, 58s and 73s look better with a 550-mm band due to their ‘odd’
shapes.
* Yellow - standard UK cab-end warning panels, and a reflective tape along the bottom of the body side, a safety feature taken from
WC practice arising from the need in the USA for locomotives to be visible at night to motorists approaching unprotected level
crossings.
All lettering was also in maroon applied over the gold, including:
* EW&S in Arial Bold typeface in maroon on the gold band. The ampersand was later dropped. The typeface was later changed to Gill
Sans, used by the LNER from the late 1920s and by BR until the 1960s.
* Locomotive number in the same style.
* Class number and locomotive number grouped as a single five-figure number, not spaced out as BR had insisted.
A later development was that the company name and locomotive numbers were at opposite ends of the band on each side, i.e. on one side, the EWS was on the left and the loco number on the right, while on the other side the reverse applied. The first locomotive to carry EWS livery was 37057 when it emerged from Toton in April 1996. Some Class 37s, 56s and 60s ran in traffic in undercoat when their overhauls were completed before the EWS livery was finalised. Due to the huge costs involved in painting locomotives, the new livery was to be applied to EWS locos after main works attention or overhauls.
Logo
EWS' Logo.
To develop its new logo, EWS partnered with RAIL magazine which, through a special "Freight in the 1990s" supplement issued with RAIL 273 in early 1996, invited its readers to submit ideas for the new company logo. Over 1,200 entries were submitted and each idea was judged by
Ed Burkhardt, who chose
Tom Connell's design depicting an
English lion, a
Welsh dragon and a
Scottish stag – the three national elements of the EWS operation. The logo, which was said to "give a sensation of speed", was to be used on locomotives, wagons, depot signs, publicity material and stationery. EWS originally planned to take a winning idea as the basis for a final logo to be produced by an agency, but only one minor alteration was made, slightly closing the stag's mouth.
Connell was invited to Toton depot on Tuesday 14 January 1997 to unveil the new EWS logo on the cab side of 58037. This was the first locomotive to carry the logo, which also had the company name beneath it in Gill Sans typeface. After unveiling the logo in the presence of Toton Depot Engineer,
Dave Smith, Connell was presented with a prototype 3D cast relief aluminium plaque of his logo by EWS Communications Manager
Richard Holmes. As part of his prize Connell was allowed a cab ride of his choice. He chose 60037 hauling the 0940 Burngullow to Irvine tanks on 15 May 1997. Originally it was intended to use a cast logo on each locomotive. However, with a fleet of around 650 locomotives, each requiring two plaques, this was ruled out on cost grounds. Instead, reflective yellow vinyl transfers are used.
Present OperationsEWS is divided into business sub-sectors:
EWS Network * Permanent Way Trains (sleepers, track materials, ballast)
* Intermodal container trains
* Cars/Automotive products
* Mail and parcels (on behalf of DHL)
* Ministry of Defence (military) contracts
* Chartered passenger trains (utilising steam, diesel and electric haulage), in co-operation with Riviera Trains
* Provides locomotives and drivers for the Caledonian Sleeper services between London Euston and major Scottish cities, on behalf of
First ScotRail.
* Provides locomotives for Wrexham & Shropshire, National Express East Coast First Great Western and other train operators.
* The British Royal Train, operated and maintained by EWS Network at Wolverton.
* Operates the EWS Company Train
EWS Construction * Stone and aggregate trains.
EWS Industrial * Steel, chemicals and petrolum.
* Coal for industrial use.
EWS Energy * Coal for electrical power generation
EWS International * Operates international trains through the Channel Tunnel on behalf of EWS Industrial, EWS Network and other train operators.
Euro Cargo Rail * Operates freight services in France (as of Oct 2005) and Spain (as of Dec 2008). This is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EWS, using
locomotives from the parent company as well as a smaller fleet of European loading gauge locos.
Axiom Rail * Railway vehicle overhauls at their Stoke On Trent workshops (formerly Marcroft Engineering)
* Undertakes commercial maintenance work for UK, French and Spanish railway companies.
* Operates ex-EWS locomotives on overseas contracts involving the building of new high-speed routes in France and Spain
* Supplier of specialist freight wagon bogies, formerly belonging to the Powell Dyffryn/Gloucester C&W/Probotec ranges.
Engineering Support Group
* Rail vehicle technical/engineering consultancy with offices at Toton, Derby and Crewe.
Railway Approval Limitied * Vehicle Acceptable Body (VAB)
* European Railway licienced Notified Body (NoBo)
67017 Arrow at Plymouth stationThe Class 67s were built for use on high-speed mail trains. EWS acquired the parcels business Rail Express Systems in 1996, inheriting Class 47 diesel and Class 86 electric locomotives and newer Class 90 electric locomotives and Class 325 parcels EMUs. EWS decided to purchase new high-speed 125 mph diesel locomotives to replace most of the older locomotives on mail trains. Since Royal Mail's decision to dispense with mail trains they are mostly used on freight services, long-distance railtours and are used on services for Wrexham and Shropshire and First Scotrail's Caledonian Sleeper on its various non-electrified portions. Two locomotives are kept ready for use on the Royal Train, (with 67005 and 67006 in the Royal Train Claret livery), and the EWS Company Train.
EWS's Class 90s, capable of 110mph, operate charter services on full electrified lines, such as recent tours working London Kings Cross-Edinburgh, and Preston-London Euston. An EWS owned class 90 is in use on the electrified parts of the Caledonian Sleeper.
EWS's European subsidiary Euro Cargo Rail is partly supplied from the EWS fleet. The EWS European locomotive fleet comprises:
* 60 modifed class 66 locomotive transferred from its UK fleet (delivered 2005-2007).( 66010 / 66022 / 66026 / 66028 / 66029 /
66032 / 66033 / 66036 / 66038 / 66042 / 66045 / 66049 / 66052 / 66062 / 66064 / 66071 / 66072 / 66073 / 66123 / 66179 /
66190 / 66191 / 66195 / 66202 / 66203 / 66205 / 66208 / 66209 / 66210 / 66211 / 66212 / 66214 / 66215 / 66216 / 66217 /
66218 / 66219 / 66220 / 66222 / 66223 / 66224 / 66225 / 66226 / 66228 / 66229 / 66231 / 66233 / 66234 / 66235 / 66236 /
66239 / 66240 / 66241 / 66242 / 66243 / 66244 / 66245 / 66246 / 66247 / 66249 )
* 60 new build class 66 locomotives for French/Belgium/German operation to be known as class 77s, (delivered 2008/2009)
* 10 Vossloh G2000 Diesel Hydraulic locomotives(Delievered 2008)
* 16 Vossloh G1000 Diesel Hydrailic locomotives (Delivered 2007-2008)
* 4 Vossloh G1206 Diesel Hydraulic locomotives (Delivered 2005)
* 4 Vossloh Euro 4000 4000hp Diesel Electric locomotives (transferred in 2008) - note these locomotives are built for the 1668mm Iberian broad gauge network.
* 20Class 186 Bombardier TRAXX quadruple voltage locomotives numbered 186.161 - 186.181 (to be delivered in 2009)
Euro Cargo Rail also briefly leased three Class 185.2 Bombardier TRAXX locomotives 185.552-554 from MRCE during 2007.
Locos inherited from British Rail * Class 08 Diesel-shunter
* Class 09 Diesel-shunter
* Class 31 Diesel (now withdrawn)
* Class 33 Diesel (now withdrawn)
* Class 37 Diesel
* Class 47 Diesel (now withdrawn)
* Class 56 Diesel (now withdrawn)
* Class 58 Diesel (now withdrawn)
* Class 59 Diesel
* Class 60 Diesel
* Class 66 Diesel
* Class 67 Diesel
* Class 73 Electro-diesel (now withdrawn)
* Class 86 Electric (now withdrawn)
* Class 90 Electric
* Class 92 Electric
Current fleet
66108 at Didcot station * Class 08 Shunters = Various
* Class 09 Shunters = 001-023/101-107/201-205
* Class 37 = 401
* Class 59 = 201-206
* Class 60 = 001-015/017-100/500(renumbered from 016)
* Class 66 = 001-250(UK:189, France:67)
* Class 67 = 001-030
* Class 90 = Various
* Class 92 = Various
* Vossloh Euro 4000
* Vossloh G1000
* Vossloh G1206
* Vossloh G2000
* Class 186 Bombardier TRAXX.
Contacts:HomepageEWS
Lakeside Business Park
Carolina Way
Doncaster DN4 5PN
Tel: +44 (0)870 140 5000
Source:
Wikipedia
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