Hanson Traction Ltd are a locomotive leasing company based at Washwood Heath

Washwood Heath

Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England...

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, West Midlands

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

.
The company own seven locomotives, consisting of four class 56

British Rail Class 56

The British Rail Class 56 is a type of diesel locomotive designed for heavy freight work. It is a Type 5 locomotive, with a Ruston-Paxman power unit developing 3,250 bhp , and has a Co-Co wheel arrangement...

's (two of which are stored), one class 50

British Rail Class 50

The British Rail Class 50 is a diesel locomotive built from 1967-68 by English Electric at their Vulcan Foundry Works in Newton-le-Willows. Fifty of these locomotives were built to haul express passenger trains on the, then non-electrified, section of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe,...

 and two class 31

British Rail Class 31

The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and originally as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62.- Description :...

's.
They are notable for the fact that they were the first company to return class 56 locomotives to mainline use in the United Kingdom after the previous fleet (operated by Fastline

Fastline

Fastline was a railway freight operator. It was part of Jarvis plc. It ceased trading when Jarvis plc entered administration and subsequently ceased trading in late March 2010. The company is in administration with N.G. Edwards, N.B. Kahn, P.S. Bowers and I. Brown of Deloitte LLP.They operated a...

 Freight) was withdrawn in 2008, owing to a decline in traffic levels (specifically the intermodal arm).

History

Hanson Traction was founded by IT entrepreneur Garcia J Hanson in 2006. The company purchased Neil Boden's preserved class 56, BR large logo blue liveried No. 56057 "British Nuclear Fuels" in 2008. The locomotive later became 56311 and was painted into a non-standard yellow & grey colour scheme at Derby Railway Technical Centre.Purchase of a second class 56, Load Haul liveried No. 56003 followed shortly afterwards - this became 56312 and was repainted into the striking "Artemis" livery which consisted of a purple bodyside, yellow cabs, grey roof and large green "ARTEMIS" name complete with squiggly green vinyls. Both of these 56's returned to the mainline in late 2008 and have seen use with Colas Rail, having appeared on their Washwood Heath to Immingham & Boston to Washwood Heath steel workings (the former was a short lived trial run), Dagenham to Dollands Moor "Transfesa" trains and Dollands Moor to Hams Hall Norfolk Line container workings. They have also been used on track machine movements and excursion trains from time to time.

56312 was repainted again in October 2011 and now wears the same livery as 56311, this being a non-standard grey & yellow colour scheme with 'DCR' (Devon & Cornwall Railways) logos (DCR being a subsidiary of British American Railway Services, the present owners of Hanson Traction).

Two further 56's, No's 56114 and 56128 were also purchased with the view to returning them to the mainline when traffic levels required. However, 56128 has remained in storage at Wansford (Nene Valley Railway

Nene Valley Railway

The Nene Valley Railway is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is currently seven and a half miles in length...

) since 2008 and now appears to have an uncertain future. 56114 has donated it's power unit to 56311, so this is also unlikely to return to use any time soon.

Hanson Traction also own class 31's No. 31190 & No. 31602 plus class 50 No. 50008. 31602 is on long term hire to Network Rail

Network Rail

Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...

 for test train purposes. 31190 has been used mainly on route learning runs for DB Schenker, Network Rail & DCR during 2010 and 2011. 50008 is currently residing at the East Lancashire Railway

East Lancashire Railway

The East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England.-Overview:After formal closure by British Rail in 1982, the line was reopened on 25 July 1987. The initial service operated between Bury and Ramsbottom, via Summerseat. In 1991 the service was extended...

 where it has been repainted into the unique BR "Laira blue" livery, which it carried when it was in service with 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...

. 31452 has remained inactive during 2011 after a brief spout of hire use with DB Schenker for Network Rail test trains during 2010.

Neil Boden's BR blue class 47 No. 47270 "Swift" had a short spell with Hanson Traction before he parted ways with the company to form Boden Rail Ltd in early 2010. He had initially joined the company when 56311 (057) was acquired, which he owned and operated at the Nene Valley Railway whilst it was in preservation.

Hanson Traction's core depot is the former Alstom

Alstom

Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...

 facility at Washwood Heath in the West Midlands, which it began using in 2009.

In October 2010, the company was merged into the operations of British American Railway Services

British American Railway Services

British American Railway Services is a British train operating company, specialising in locomotive and rolling stock hire and maintenance...

(BARS), a British railway rolling stock hire, maintenance company and railway owner in the United Kingdom. As part of the venture, Garcia Hanson has been appointed as a director of BARS.

The acquisition of Hanson Traction by BARS means that the combined assets now include six class 31s, five class 56s (three operational and two stored, a sixth loco was subsequently scrapped in November 2011) and one class 50, plus a wide variety of coaching stock and other vehicles.

Fleet

Number	Name	Livery	Location/Home Depot	Notes
56114	-	EW&S red / gold	Washwood Heath TMD	Stored unserviceable / Source of spares.
56128	-	Transrail grey	Wansford MPD, Nene Valley Railway	Stored unserviceable / Source of spares.
56311 (formerly 56057 "British Nuclear Fuels")	-	DCR grey & yellow	Washwood Heath TMD	The first locomotive to enter mainline use with the company. Returned to traffic after repairs in April 2010.
56312 (formerly 56003)	-	DCR grey & yellow	Washwood Heath TMD	Currently operational.
31190	-	BR Green	Washwood Heath TMD	Currently operational.
31602	Driver Dave Green	Network Rail yellow (unbranded)	Derby RTC	Currently operational, on long term hire to Network Rail.
50008	Thunderer	BR Laira blue	Washwood Heath TMD	Operational, awaiting return to mainline use.

External links

• Hanson Traction official website: http://www.hansontraction.co.uk/HTLsplash.html