Nightstar Generator Cars

A wholly-owned subsidiary of British Rail, European Passenger Services (EPS), was established in November 1990 to provide international passenger services through the Channel Tunnel, the latter at that time being expected to open in 1993 (ref: Maidstone Telegraph, 30th November 1990). To procure a series of Chunnel sleeper trains, linking British provincial cities and the capital with key European destinations, another concern by the name of European Night Services (ENS) was formed. The latter’s majority shareholder was EPS, smaller stakes being held by SNCF, Deutsch-Bahn (DB), and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Netherlands Railways). The sleeper concept was aimed at the leisure market, in which travellers were much less sensitive to journey times compared to business users.

The sleeper trains were marketed under the Nightstar brand and, initially, the following routes were proposed:

139 "Nightstar" carriages were ordered, which would be formed into a series of subsets of eight-vehicle and seven-vehicle length (ref: Modern Railways Traction and Rolling Stock Special, Autumn 1994). The longest sleeper formations were to be those serving Waterloo International, at sixteen vehicle length, formed of two eight-car subsets; those from Scotland were to be fourteen vehicles long, and the trains from Plymouth and Swansea would each be formed of seven-vehicle subsets and combine at Bristol into a fourteen-coach train for onward travel to Kensington Olympia.

The sleeper services to the continent from Waterloo, Kensington Olympia, and the Scottish cities would run upon routes that were wholly electrified through a combination of 25kV AC overhead wires and 750 DC Third Rail; however, those sleepers upon the Great Western Main Line to/from Plymouth and Swansea required diesel haulage. The construction of a small new diesel fleet specifically for hauling sleeper trains was considered prohibitively expensive. As a result, it was decided to convert twelve existing Class 37/5 diesels into another subclass, 37/6, for the purpose. Whilst each Nightstar train from the west would be hauled by a pair of Class 37/6 diesels to keep to the proposed tight schedule, the locomotives alone could not provide the necessary electrical power required by the carriages (ref: Modern Railways Traction and Rolling Stock Special, Autumn 1994). The answer to the latter was the acquisition by EPS of five redundant BR Mk 3 sleeper carriages for conversion into diesel generator cars to supply auxiliary power to the Nightstar rakes, which were numbered into a new series:

(Ref: Rail Magazine No. 245, 15th to 28th February 1995)

The conversion of the carriages to generator cars involved removing all of the existing interior fittings and:

(Ref: Rail Magazine No. 245, 15th to 28th February 1995)

The gangway connections at either end of the vehicles were also removed and plated over, exhaust vents cut into the roof, grills installed within the former window frames on both body sides, the outward-opening doors replaced by inward-opening staff doors, and central locking installed (ref: The Railway Magazine, November 1995).

Carriage No. 10545 was noted at Wembley InterCity Depot in late February 1994 for component recovery, having for long been in store at MOD Kineton (ref: The Railway Magazine, May 1994). In November of the same year, rebuilding of No. 10545 into generator car No. 6371 was underway at Derby Engineering Development Unit (EDU) (ref: The Railway Magazine, January 1995). Testing of No. 6371 commenced between Derby and Leicester on 9th August 1995, the carriage being sandwiched in-between Class 37/6 Nos. 37601 and 37602 (ref: The Railway Magazine, October 1995). Later that same month, No. 6371 was on test between Doncaster and York (ref: The Railway Magazine, November 1995). On 25th October 1995, the carriage and Class 37/6 Nos. 37605 and 37607 were formally handed over to EPS at ABB Doncaster, although testing continued into November (ref: The Railway Magazine, January 1996).

Unlike No. 6371, the remaining four Mk 3 generator cars were converted at Doncaster Rail Maintenance Limited as part of the night stock traction contract (ref: The Railway Magazine, January 1995). By mid-March 1996, two of the four Doncaster generator vehicle conversions were noted in the yard there, wearing their new colour scheme of two-tone grey body sides with dark blue roofs, black underframes, and Chunnel logos (ref: The Railway Magazine, May 1996). The remaining two vehicles were reported to be in a slow state of conversion — before being completed, the pair were planned to be stored for a period, because delays in the delivery of Nightstar stock meant that there was no urgency to finish them (ref: The Railway Magazine, May 1996). Even in early 1996 the prototype — No. 6371 — was still found to require a series of modifications, these of which would also have to be made on all four Doncaster vehicles (ref: The Railway Magazine, May 1996).

On 8th June 1996, No. 6371 was on the move: the generator car was hauled from ADTranz Doncaster to Stewarts Lane by Class 37 No. 37612 (ref: The Railway Magazine, August 1996). Around midnight on various dates between 18th and 31st of the following month, main line testing of the first eight-vehicle Nightstar rake occurred between Washwood Heath and Derby, via Burton. For these runs, No. 6371 was sandwiched in-between Class 37 Nos. 37609 and 37610; once Derby was reached, the test train proceeded to Saltley (Birmingham), after which it made another trip to Derby, being stored there during the day at Litchurch Lane (ref: The Railway Magazine, September 1996).

Doncaster-converted generator car No. 6372 was involved in a test run return trip from North Pole Depot to Swindon on 5th September 1996, powered by Class 37 Nos. 37601 and 37612 (ref: The Railway Magazine, November 1996). No. 6372 was deemed complete on 17th June 1997 and, on 19th of that month, was taken into EPS stock (ref: The Railway Magazine, September 1997).

A pair of Class 37/6 diesels and generator car were together known as a triple set. On 5th March 1997, Nos. 37609, 6375, and 37612 were noted as running light from Doncaster to Old Oak Common, the triple set having received repairs at ADTranz (ref: The Railway Magazine, May 1997). Further testing of No. 6375 from Doncaster occurred on 24th June of the same year, this time with Nos. 37601 and 37603 (ref: The Railway Magazine, September 1997).

The generator vans were renumbered in the locomotive series, becoming Nos. 96371 to 96375. On paper, the vehicles were allocated to North Pole Depot, but were officially maintained at Bristol Bath Road; after closure of the latter, they were looked after at Old Oak Common (ref: The Railway Magazine, August 2000).

Through a combination of delays in procuring the sleeper rolling stock, rising costs, and a disappearing market (perhaps it did not even exist to begin with), Nightstar was officially cancelled. The fateful day was 9th July 1997 (ref: The Railway Magazine, September 1997) and, as a result, the five generator vans went into open store at North Pole Depot (ref: The Railway Magazine, August 2000). All five were offered for sale and, by summer 2003, were still at North Pole, their paintwork having started to disappear under a layer of grime (ref: The Railway Magazine, June 2003). By March 2009, all five were in store at Wembley Yard — four were reportedly owned by Direct Rail Services (DRS) at that time, and one by Alsthom (ref: The Railway Magazine, June 2009).

In the July 2010 edition of the RCTS’ The Railway Observer magazine, it was reported that Nos. 96372 to 96375 had moved to Long Marston, Warwickshire. In early January 2011, No. 96374 was subsequently moved from Long Marston to Wabtec, Doncaster (ref: RCTS’ The Railway Observer, March 2011); then, in 2020, the vehicle left Wabtec by road, bound for Eastern Rail Services at Great Yarmouth for restoration to serviceable condition (ref: RCTS’ The Railway Observer, October 2020).

No. 96371 had been reported at Leicester in early 2016 (ref: RCTS’ The Railway Observer, March 2016). On 27th July of the same year, the carriage was top-and-tailed by Class 56 Nos. 56098 and 56081 and moved from Leicester to Brush Traction, Loughborough (ref: The Railway Magazine, September 2016). By 2020, the vehicle had become part of the fleet belonging to Eastern Rail Services at Great Yarmouth (ref: The Railway Magazine, September 2016); by the end of that year, it had gone to Polmadie, Glasgow (ref: The Railway Magazine, January 2021). In the March 2022 edition of the RCTS’ The Railway Observer magazine, it was reported that all five of the former EPS generator cars, Nos. 96371 to 96375, were part of the fleet belonging to Eastern Rail Services. No. 96371 was subsequently reported at Chesterfield in Derbyshire (ref: The Railway Magazine, December 2022); on 30th November 2022, the vehicle was moved to Inverness by road for Caledonian Sleeper duties within the depot there (ref: RCTS’ The Railway Observer, February 2023).

As part of the Rail 200 celebrations, marking 200 years since the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, Network Rail commissioned a touring exhibition train. This was officially launched at Paddington on 26th June 2025 (ref: The Railway Magazine, August 2025) and comprised five BR Mk 3 vehicles, one of which was former EPS generator car No. 96371. The conversion of the Mk 3 carriages for exhibition use was completed by rolling stock engineering and maintenance firm Loram at Derby, a contribution of £250,000 to the project being made by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (ref: The Railway Magazine, July 2025).

20th July 2025

Former EPS generator car No. 96371 is seen at Margate as part of Network Rail’s "Inspiration" exhibition train, which was scheduled to tour the country for a year after launching at Paddington station on 26th June 2025. The train was at Margate on Sunday 20th and Monday 21st July, alongside platform 2, top-and-tailed by GBRf Class 66 Nos. 66719 and 66710. No. 96371 genuinely operates in the capacity of a generator vehicle on this train, as per its original proposed use on "Nightstar", by supplying electrical power to the other carriages. The vehicle is still owned by "Eastern Rail Services". © David Glasspool

Return to Index

Return to the Kent Rail Homepage or alternatively, check for Updates.

Website & Copyright information - Links - Contact the Webmaster