Voyagers that covered the other North Wales services. The downside of this arrangement was that whilst the Class 390 Pendolino sets are longer and have the added advantage of running off OHLE south of Crewe, coupling and uncoupling at Crewe added to the journey time. From December 2008, all North Wales Coast services were operated by Super Voyagers, except for one Saturday service formed of a Class 57/3 and Class 390 Pendolino set. However, this too was converted to Voyager operation in November 2012. As a nod to their purpose as rescue engines, Virgin named the engines after characters and vehicles from Thunderbirds. In keeping with this theme, the engines also bore special plates with the International Rescue logo above their regular nameplates including: All were named: After the completion of the West Coast Main Line upgrade in 2008, Virgin's requirement for Class 57/3s decreased. The sixteen strong fleet found other work with both Arriva Trains Wales and Colas Rail. During September 2010, six were placed in warm storage at Eastleigh Works before being returned to Porterbrook and leased to Network Rail in September 2011. In December 2012, the remaining seven Class 57/3s were returned, three of which were leased to Direct Rail Services while the remaining four sold to West Coast Railways. Fleet details See also Passenger locomotives in use in the UK References External links 57 Brush Traction locomotives Co-Co locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1998 Rebuilt locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Great Britain Diesel-electric locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom