Railways Illustrated Magazine Loco-hauled Passenger Trains Special Issue

Ever since commencement of the privatised railway network in 1996, there have been times when passenger operators have needed to rely on loco-hauled trains to provide sufficient rolling stock to operate services. Frequently running on just a short or medium term basis, such resources were often hired in from one or more companies and could either take the form of just locomotives or coaching stock as well.

Over the past 25 years, such occurrences have brought loco-hauled trains to some unlikely lines with formations typically being both short in length and normally top and tailed. The reasons for hiring in loco-hauled sets have varied widely but typically included a shortage of multiple units due to accident damage or maintenance issues, fluctuations in demand or just insufficient stock to run the advertised services.

This publication looks back at this colourful and diverse era of hire-ins, considering locos paired with the passenger operators’ own stock along with the deployment of trains formed of both hired motive power and coaches.