Riviera Trains Limited is a railway spot-hire company, based at Crewe

Crewe

Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

 in Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

. It owns a large fleet of Class 47

British Rail Class 47

The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...

 locomotives, which have been hired to both passenger and charter train operators. One of their main customers was Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...

, which used locomotives to haul Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 to Holyhead

Holyhead

Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....

 services till February 2005. The fleet is also used to haul "Foot-ex" specials as well as other Riviera Requirements.

Riviera hires to Train Operating Companies such as Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...

, Direct Rail Services

Direct Rail Services

Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished Class 20/3 diesel locomotives. Since then it has expanded greatly, and has acquired many more locomotives, most bought...

, First Great Western

First Great Western

First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....

, FirstGBRf, First ScotRail

First ScotRail

ScotRail Railways Ltd. is the FirstGroup-owned train operating company running domestic passenger trains within Scotland, northern England and the cross-border Caledonian Sleeper service to London using the brand ScotRail which is the property of the Scottish Government...

, EWS, Freightliner, Grand Central, Serco Rail and Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland...

.

Riviera supplied Virgin Cross-Country with a "stand-by" train set made up of Mark 2F vehicles. This contracted ended when Arriva took over the franchise.

Riviera also hire to rail tour customers who include: The Branch Line Society, Compass Tours

Compass Tours

Compass Tours is a British railtour organiser specialising in excursions with diesel locomotives like the class 47. The brand was conceived initially in 2003....

, Kingfisher Railtours, Past Time Rail, Pathfinder Tours 2006, SRPS, The Railway Touring Company and UK Railtours.

In 2005 the company acquired Pathfinder Tours

Pathfinder Tours

Pathfinder Tours is a railtour operating company operating in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1973 by Peter Watts, who organised a rail journey from Severnside to the Cambrian coast. The company organises tours for both rail enthusiasts, and general tours to places of interest...

.

Locomotives

One of Riviera locomotives, 47839, was the first to be painted in the corporate Oxford Blue livery. Most of the fleet retained the livery of their previous operators until late-2006. 47805, 47843 & 47848 received the Riviera touch of Oxford blue in 2006 leaving 47812 painted into BR Two Tone Green in late November 2005 to match its sister no. 47815. In September 2006, all operational Class 47 locomotives, with the exception of nos. 47769 and 47815, were due to be hired to Direct Rail Services

Direct Rail Services

Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished Class 20/3 diesel locomotives. Since then it has expanded greatly, and has acquired many more locomotives, most bought...

 for a period of one year. However this turned out to be just over 4 months hauling flask trains. In May 2007 Riviera bought another locomotive - class 47747.

Coaching stock

Riviera owns the largest fleet of vehicles for spot hire or charter work in the UK. They can create up to 7 charter train sets and several sets for TOC work. They are now the leading provider of charter trains to the rail tour industry and Train Operating Companies.

They launched a rake of Mark 2F

British Rail Mark 2

The Mark 2 family of railway carriages were British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops between 1964 and 1975...

 coaching stock early in 2006, called "The Great Briton". All the coaches are in the livery of Oxford Blue and Cream, which were hand painted to high standards 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 which is very distinctive. In January 2007 "The Great Brition" luxury Pullman train set took over the operation of the 'Blue Pullman' for Hertfordshire Railtours, formally part of Victa Westlink Rail.

On 11 April 2008 Riveira launched a rake of British Rail Mark 1 coaching stock named "The Royal Scot". This set has had over £500,000 spent on refurbishing and repainting each vehicle to high standards.

Charter Alliance

On 12 March 2007, EWS Network and Riviera Trains announced the formation of Charter Alliance as a "a dedicated provider of reliable and high class specialist passenger rail services". Charter Alliance was to start operations on 1 April 2007, with four charter trains for football fans being the first ones operated by the new alliance. EWS Network provided itself charter trains and operates the Royal Train

Royal Train

A royal train is a set of carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of that particular royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.-Australia:...

.

Fleet details

Key:	In service	Under repair

Number	Class	Name	Livery	Year Acquired	Former Operator	Status
08780	08 British Rail Class 08 The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotive. From 1953 to 1962, 996 locomotives were produced, making it the most numerous of all British locomotive classes....	-	Oxford Blue	2003	ex-First Great Western First Great Western First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....	Operational
47769	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	Resolve	Virgin Red/Black	2004	ex-EWS	Operational
47812	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	-	BR Two Tone Green	2005	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Operational
47815	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	GREAT WESTERN	BR Two Tone Green	2005	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Operational
47843	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	VULCAN	Oxford Blue	2005	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Operational
47847	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	-	BR Blue Large Logo	2005	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Operational
47848	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	TITAN STAR	Oxford Blue	2005	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Operational

Past fleet

Key:	Withdrawn	Sold for further use

Number	Class	Name	Livery	Year Acquired	Former Operator	Status
37383	37 British Rail Class 37 The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the Class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan....	-	Mainline Freight Blue	2000	ex-EWS	Scrapped
47575	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	-	Rail Blue	2004	ex-EWS	Scrapped
47705	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	Guy Fawkes	LNWR Black	1997	ex-Waterman Rail	Sold to Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...  in 2002, and converted to 57303 British Rail Class 57 The Class 57 diesel locomotives were introduced by Brush Traction between 1997-2004. They are rebuilds, with reconditioned EMD engines, of former Class 47 locomotives, originally introduced in 1964-5.- Description :...
47747	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	-	EWS	2007	ex-EWS	Sold to Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished Class 20/3 diesel locomotives. Since then it has expanded greatly, and has acquired many more locomotives, most bought...  in 2011
47805	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	-	Oxford Blue	2005	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Sold to Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished Class 20/3 diesel locomotives. Since then it has expanded greatly, and has acquired many more locomotives, most bought...  in 2011
47829	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	-	British Transport Police British Transport Police The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...	2005	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Sold to Harry Needle Railroad Company Harry Needle Railroad Company The Harry Needle Railroad Company is a railway spot-hire company, based at Barrow Hill Engine Shed in Derbyshire. The company is also a scrap dealer and has dismantled many railway vehicles, either on site, or at the European Metal Recycling scrapyard in... , 2007
47839	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	-	Oxford Blue	2002	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Sold to Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished Class 20/3 diesel locomotives. Since then it has expanded greatly, and has acquired many more locomotives, most bought...  in 2011
47853	47 British Rail Class 47 The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...	Rail Express	XP64 Blue/Red	2002	ex-Porterbrook Porterbrook Porterbrook is one of the three major ROSCOs in the United Kingdom...	Sold to Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished Class 20/3 diesel locomotives. Since then it has expanded greatly, and has acquired many more locomotives, most bought... in 2011