The Class 86 was an excellent mixed-traffic locomotive which was at home on all manner of traffic.
RES operated a small fleet comprising Class 86/2 and Class 86/4 locomotives on mail trains alongside Class 47/4s, Class 47/7s and Class 90s. They worked a variety of stowage, TPO and parcels trains as well as being loaned to InterCity for passenger duties.
The livery came about through a revision to Parcels Sector livery which was applied to Class 86s.
RES livery survived on some Class 86/4s long after EWS acquired the business. The EWS Class 86 fleet was frequently hired to passenger sectors as cover, which saw RES-liveried Class 86/4s working with Virgin Trainsliveried Mk.2f and Mk.3 stock on a regular basis.
Right: Class 86/4 locomotives were in operational in RES livery in 2002 and were used to supplement the Virgins Trains fleet. No. 86424 was photographed at Nuneaton on June 29, 2002 on the rear of a Wolverhampton-London Euston service which had been diverted via Water Orton due to line upgrading in the Coventry area. The locomotive survives today as part of the Floyd ZRt fleet after being withdrawn by EWS in December 2002. It was repaired for service in Hungary in 2012.
Class 86/2 No. 86243 was working an InterCity Cross Country service bound for Birmingham New Street when photographed at Carlisle on April 2, 1995. The lack of electrification warning notices on RES livery in the mid 1990s was noteworthy. It was withdrawn in November 2002 and scrapped in September 2004.
Wet conditions often meet photographers at Carlisle which was the case when this view of No. 86416 with BGs was taken in September 1994. It was withdrawn in early 2002 and scrapped in July 2005.
Class 86/2 No. 86241 Glenfiddich speeds down Shap near Scout Green with a southbound mail stowage train on July 18, 1994. It was withdrawn by EWS in January 2000 and scrapped two years' later.