GB Railfreight

Formation and launch

The origins of GB Railfreight can be traced back to early 1999, when the privately owned train operating company GB Railways decided to form its own dedicated rail freight subsidiary. Accordingly, unlike the majority of private rail freight companies that emerged in the British market during the 1990s, such as DB Cargo UK and Freightliner, GB Railfreight was not formed from any element of the privatised British Rail freight sectors.

During April 2000, following the awarding of an eight-year contract to operate infrastructure trains on behalf of British railway infrastructure owner Railtrack, the company ordered seven Class 66 locomotives. In June 2000, GB Railfreight was granted an operator's licence, permitted it to run trains on the British rail network. On 1 April 2000, it commenced operations. During February 2002, GBRf commenced operating its first Intermodal container contract from the Port of Felixstowe for MSC Mendite. Also that same year, GBRf began its first bulk freight contract for British Gypsum.

FirstGroup era

During August 2003, GB Railways was purchased by the British transport conglomerate FirstGroup; subsequently, GB Railfreight was rebranded as First GBRf. In April 2004, GB Railfreight commenced operating a five-year contract for Network Rail; it also expanded its fleet through the acquisition of four former Gatwick Express Class 73 locomotives and numerous additional wagons to work the new contract.

In May 2005, First GBRf began operating Royal Mail services using Class 325 electric multiple-units (EMUs). The company's arrangement with Royal Mail was subsequently extended through to 2010. Also in 2005, GBRf commenced operating London Underground infrastructure trains for Metronet. During March 2007, First GBRf commenced operating its first coal trains, on behalf of both Drax Group and EDF Energy.

In June 2007, the business was renamed First GBRf.

During summer 2009, First GBRf was granted a passenger licence, allowing it to operate charter services. Between December 2009 and July 2010, First GBRf operated passenger services under contract to the train operating company First Great Western. These services, running from Cardiff Central to Taunton, consisted of hired Virgin Trains Class 57/3 locomotives hauling rakes of Mark 2 carriages.

Europorte era

During May 2010, FirstGroup announced that it was putting the business up for sale; various companies, including Europorte, Freightliner and SNCF, were reportedly interested in acquiring First GBRf. On 1 June 2010, it was announced that it had been purchased by Europorte. Following the acquisition by Europorte, the company reverted to its original name and a revised version of the original livery.

In February 2011, GBRf commenced operation of rail traffic at Cardiff Tidal/Tremorfa Works. In 2012, GBRf commenced a ten-year contract to operate the 43-mile (69 km) rail network at Sahavirirya Steel Industries Lackenby steelworks, Teesside.

Mainline fleet

To commence operations, seven Class 66/7s were ordered by GB Railfreight in April 2000. The type proved its value to the company, leading to multiple follow-on orders being placed. During October 2012, three unused Class 66s, previously ordered by Crossrail Benelux and stabled in the Netherlands, were purchased and transported to Britain by GBRf. In the following year, a further two Class 66s that had previously operated in continental Europe were also obtained. These were numbered 66747 to 66751 in the GBRf fleet. By the end of 2014, the total number of Class 66s purchased by GBRf had risen to 72.

In 2015, it was confirmed a further seven Class 66s would be purchased. Even though the locomotive type no longer conforms with emissions regulations, GBRf had purchased some spare EMD 710 engines, shipped them to the United Kingdom before the 31 December 2014 deadline and then returned them to the United States for fitting to the new locomotives to be delivered in 2016. During late 2017, DB Cargo UK sold ten Class 66/0s (66008/016/046/058/081/132/141/184/238/250) to GBRf, who allocated the 66780–789 series to them in ascending order. 66789 (formerly 66250), was outshopped in British Rail Large Logo Blue and named British Rail 1948 – 1997 to commemorate British Rail's 70th anniversary. It also acquired three Class 47/7s from Colas Rail, for use on Caledonian Sleeper and stock move duties (47727, 47739, 47749)

In June 2019, GBRf secured the lease of three Class 66 locomotives from Beacon Rail that had previously been in use with Hector Rail in Sweden as T66 403–405. The first locomotive, 66790 (T66 403) arrived on 3 June and was moved from Immingham Docks to Longport, where Electro-Motive Diesel were to convert it to UK standards before it entered traffic. The locomotives date from November 2002, and were bought by Beacon Rail from HSBC Rail in 2009. During October 2020, GB Railfreight commenced the lease of a further five Class 66s from Beacon Rail, all of which being imported from Germany. The first of this batch were planned to enter service in April 2021, receiving the numbers 66793–797.

In 2004, GB Railways purchased six former Gatwick Express Class 73s. After GBRf won a contract to operate Network Rail infrastructure trains in the south-east, four were overhauled by Fragonset Railways. Two more were purchased from Loram UK, and additional Class 73s were located and purchased, some from preservation, to give a total fleet, As of July 2018, of 24 locomotives. Of these, eleven were completely re-engineered between 2014 and 2015, being equipped with 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) MTU diesel power units; five were dedicated to Network Rail infrastructure traffic in the south of England while the remaining six being transferred to Scotland for use on the diesel-hauled legs of the Caledonian Sleeper services.