when insufficient Class 90 locomotives were available. By mid-2005, no. 86232 was out of use and no. 86235 was operational but not used. The final use of the class came on 17 September 2005, when no. 86235 was used on several Norwich-London return trips to mark its retirement from service. This brought an end to 40 years of Class 86-hauled passenger trains. Colas Rail 86701 joined the Colas Rail fleet and was painted into the Colas Rail yellow and orange livery in October 2012. This, however, was short lived, as it was withdrawn from mainline use in January 2013. In 2015, it was used for contractual work at Ilford depot. In March 2016, it was transferred to Europhoenix, where it was subsequently exported to Bulgaria for further use. Caledonian Sleeper On 31 March 2015, the new Caledonian Sleeper contract started, following takeover of the contract from DB Schenker. In February 2015, 86101 was repainted into the new Caledonian Blue livery. From 31 March 2015, 86101 was used to convey the empty sleeper coaching stock between London Euston and Wembley Intercity Depot, as well as between Glasgow Central and Polmadie TRSMD, along with 87002. After a lengthy refurbishment, 86401 joined the Caledonian Sleeper fleet on 8 August 2015. In October 2019, the Class 86s were withdrawn, primarily due to coupler incompatibility, and returned to the AC Locomotive Group. English, Welsh & Scottish Railway English Welsh & Scottish inherited a small fleet of 15 locomotives when it bought the Rail Express Systems parcels business. The locomotives were employed on mail trains from London King's Cross to and Birmingham to Glasgow. One of the locomotives, no. 86239 LS Lowry, was destroyed in an accident at Stafford in 1996. EWS soon diversified the use of its fleet, hiring its locomotives to charter train operators and also to Virgin Trains, to supplement their unreliable fleet. Three locomotives (nos. 86261/401/426) were repainted into EWS's red and gold livery. The rundown of the fleet started in 2001, when the locomotives were replaced on charter and mail trains by Class 67 or Class 90 locomotives. They saw continued use with Virgin Trains, however, but were gradually withdrawn as new Class 390 Pendolino units entered service, reducing the need for hired locomotives. By the end of their working careers, most of the EWS locomotives were in an appalling state and suffered from numerous failures. The final locomotives, nos. 86210/401/424