this day, four locomotives hauled special trains to Wolverhampton, Northampton and Manchester. However, this turned out not to be the final workings for Virgin, as further problems with the new trains meant sporadic appearances by Class 87s hired from other operators. The final working, which was between London and Birmingham, eventually occurred on 22 December 2006; 87002 performing the honours. English Welsh & Scottish Railway English Welsh & Scottish inherited the unique 87101 from Railfreight Distribution. The locomotive was used infrequently on freight and charter trains, but suffered a major failure in 1999 and was withdrawn due to its non-standard nature. It was eventually sold to Alstom for spare parts and finally scrapped at Barrow Hill by Harry Needle Railroad Company in 2002. Cotswold Rail In April 2005, Cotswold Rail acquired five locomotives, all of which had been out of service for a number of months. A fleet of ten locomotives was planned for by the company, which were intended for duties such as spot-hire work, charter operations and a new intermodal freight flow. They were based at Oxley depot in Wolverhampton. However, the fleet saw very little use only two ever worked a train (87007 and 87008), both having been repainted into Cotswold Rail livery and in July 2006 the locomotives went off-lease. Direct Rail Services In November 2004, Direct Rail Services (DRS) acquired four locomotives. They were used on Anglo-Scottish intermodal services, but never on a regular basis. In June 2005, the four locomotives were stored. The main reason for their lack of use was the need for a diesel to shunt the train in non-electrified sidings. First GBRf/GB Railfreight In November 2004, First GBRf acquired two locomotives which had recently been retired from Virgin passenger service. They were used as standby locomotives to rescue failed Class 325 units working GB Railfreight parcels trains. The fleet increased to four at one point, but finally consisted of two locomotives, 87022 Cock O' The North and 87028 Lord President, which were both withdrawn at the end of 2007. Their final working of a charter train was conducted on 29 December 2007. On 31 March 2015, Serco took over the Caledonian Sleeper franchise from FirstGroup, and contracted GB Railfreight to provide haulage, who took over from DB Schenker. In February 2015 87002 was repainted into the new Caledonian Blue livery, and from 31 March 2015 was used to convey the empty