Trainload Freight was the sector of British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 responsible for trainload freight services. It was formed in 1987 as a further development of the single Railfreight

Railfreight

Railfreight was a sector of British Rail responsible for all freight operations on the British network. The division was created in 1982 when BR sought to assign particular stock and management to the evolving requirements of freight traffic...

 division created by BR in 1982, and existed until the onset of privatisation

Privatisation of British Rail

The privatisation of British Rail was set in motion when the Conservative government enacted, on 19 January 1993, the British Coal and British Rail Act 1993 . This enabled the relevant Secretary of State to issue directions to the relevant Board...

 in 1994. The sector was subdivided according to the nature of the cargo. Each subsector had its own livery, all of which were based on a two-tone grey with different decals. In addition to the four Trainload businesses, the Railfreight General and Railfreight Distribution subsectors also adopted the new two-tone grey livery with their own specific branding, producing a total of six variations:

• Trainload Coal
• Trainload Construction
• Trainload Metals
• Trainload Petroleum
• Railfreight General
  Railfreight
  Railfreight was a sector of British Rail responsible for all freight operations on the British network. The division was created in 1982 when BR sought to assign particular stock and management to the evolving requirements of freight traffic...
  
  
• Railfreight Distribution
  Railfreight Distribution
  Railfreight Distribution was a subsector of British Rail created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services. In its early years the division was occasionally...
  
  

Trainload locomotives could often be seen hauling passenger trains, either as "Thunderbirds" (rescue locomotives), relief trains, specials or on charter hire. For example, Class 33

British Rail Class 33

The British Rail Class 33 also known as the BRCW Type 3 or Crompton is a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives ordered in 1957 and built for the Southern Region of British Railways between 1960 and 1962....

 locomotives in Railfreight Distribution livery would often haul Venice Simplon Orient Express trains for part of their journey, while Trainload Construction liveried locomotives would often be found hauling charters.

In 1994, immediately prior to privatisation

Privatisation of British Rail

The privatisation of British Rail was set in motion when the Conservative government enacted, on 19 January 1993, the British Coal and British Rail Act 1993 . This enabled the relevant Secretary of State to issue directions to the relevant Board...

, the four Trainload subsectors and the Railfreight General division were abolished, and replaced with three regional-based 'Shadow Franchises'; Load-Haul

Load-Haul

Loadhaul Ltd. was a railfreight operator based in the north-east of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1994, prior to the privatisation of British Rail...

, Mainline Freight

Mainline Freight

Mainline Freight was a trainload railfreight operator based in Islington, London England with operations extending to Yorkshire in the north and Somerset in the west...

 and Trans-Rail

Trans-Rail

Transrail Freight Ltd. was a trainload railfreight operator based in South West England, Wales, the North West and Scotland. It was formed in 1994 prior to the privatisation of British Rail...

. The Railfreight Distribution subsector was split with intermodal

Intermodal freight transport

Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation , without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and...

 traffic forming the activities of a new company, Freightliner

Freightliner (UK)

Freightliner Group Limited is a rail freight and logistics company, founded in 1995 and now operating in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. It is the second largest rail freight operator in the UK, after DB Schenker Rail .- History :...

, and both of these businesses were sold separately. In the post-privatisation era a number of companies retained the basic two-tone grey livery on some vehicles, with their own specific branding applied, most notably Trans-Rail

Trans-Rail

Transrail Freight Ltd. was a trainload railfreight operator based in South West England, Wales, the North West and Scotland. It was formed in 1994 prior to the privatisation of British Rail...

.