Stand at ease as David J. Hayes concludes his look back at these trains during the post-Speedlink era by overviewing such operations in the privatisation period
WHEN the British Rail pre-privatisation freight companies Transrail, Loadhaul and Mainline Freight were acquired by American railroad operator Wisconsin Central, and collectively rebranded as English, Welsh & Scottish Railways (EWS) in 1996, it was only a matter of time before Railfreight Distribution (RfD) would be added to the fold as well, and this finally happened in November 1997. EWS’s already impressive business portfolio was now joined by the likes of Channel Tunnel traffic and Government Stores contracts for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), both of which could be easily absorbed into the successful Enterprise wagonload operation launched by Transrail in September 1994.
Even before the sale of RfD to EWS had been finalised, much Channel Tunnel traffic and that of the MoD was already being conveyed in mixed wagonload formations, giving the Enterprise model an almost Speedlink-like appearance on some routes, especially the West Coast Main Line axis and that between the West Midlands and Hampshire via Oxford, Didcot, Reading and Basingstoke.
It wasn’t long before the Carlisle to Crewe and Crewe to Eastleigh MoD trunk trains, and their corresponding northbound counterparts (detailed in Part One), were operating as fully mature Enterprise freights, calling at Warrington, Bescot and Didcot, but no longer at Crewe. There was also a welcome resumption of rail traffic to and from several MoD sites that had seen their rail connections either severed, ‘mothballed’, or had become just non viable to serve in the post Speedlink era.
One of these was Donnington, Shropshire, part of which was redeveloped and given the rather grand title of Telford International Railfreight Park (TIRP). This facility opened in summer 2009, but has never fully fulfilled its intended international potential. At the time of writing, TIRP was served
