Fragonset/FM Rail memories

[90sWereBetter]

I remember this company being all over the railway magazines back in the mid-2000s, with their 31s, 33s and 47s popping up almost everywhere on the network (and on Top Gear in the case of 31107!). They seemed to be prospering with the Wessex Rail contract and giving old BR locos a new lease of life.

Was there any indication FM Rail was about to fall apart in such a spectacular and rapid way in late 2006?

 

[D365]

I’m not familiar with the Fragonset/FM Rail timeline, but the former directors went on to form Nemsis Rail. The rolling stock engineering unit was superseded by RVEL, now LORAM.

 

[sprinterguy]

Purely from an enthusiast's perspective, the transition from Fragonset to FM Rail took me by surprise, and the latter felt like a bit of a "last gasp" of the operation, though it did, fairly briefly, give us interesting concepts like their "Blue Pullman" top and tailed air-con mark 2 luxury dining set.

I'd always considered Fragonset themselves to be more or less infallible, given the breadth and scope of their involvement in the charter sector and the spot hire work they did for the likes of Virgin Crosscountry, First North Western and Wessex Trains: They had a lineage that could be traced back, through the initial class 47s they operated, to the sell off of BR's Intercity Charter unit to Waterman Railways. West Coast Railway Co quickly expanded to fill the vacuum that was left.