Harry Needle Railroad Company (HNRC), the north Derbyshire based locomotive hire business, has increased the size of its train fleet after securing funding from Lombard, the asset finance arm of RBS.  

The company has bought three British Rail built shunting locomotives and will base them at its Barrow Hill Shed depot near Staveley in north Derbyshire. HNRC now owns and operates more than 110 locomotives, one of the country's largest privately owned train fleets.   

HNRC specialises in spot hire services - providing locomotives, stock and crew to other companies operating within the rail industry. These include businesses that need to move freight and other goods by rail such as Lafage Cement, Tata Steel and Bardon Aggregates.

Established in 1990, HNRC also provides a full locomotive rescue and refurbishment service, specifically designed to return older trains to active service.          

Harry Needle, owner of HNRC, said: "We provide spot and contract hire services to customers throughout the country and pride ourselves on being able to quickly respond to each request. We can only achieve this by regularly investing in our fleet to ensure we have enough locomotives available to meet customer demands." 

Lisa Kershaw from Lombard and John Paulson from NatWest provided the company with a £72,000 asset finance loan to part fund the purchase.  

Lisa, a Lombard Relationship Manager, added: "Harry's willingness to invest in the business has created a substantial fleet of trains and is key to establishing HNRC as one of the country's leading locomotive hire companies. We are very pleased to have worked with the company on their latest purchase."