Mendip Rail

Mendip Rail Ltd is an independent freight operating railway company in Great Britain. It is composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries (formerly Foster Yeoman) and Hanson Aggregates (previously ARC).

The company operates aggregate trains from the Quarries of the Mendip Hills in South-West England to London and South-East England. The Foster Yeoman quarries are at Torr Works and Dulcote Quarry, while Hanson has plants at Batts Combe Quarry and Whatley Quarry.

The company operates four Class 59/0 diesel locomotives owned by Aggregate Industries and four Class 59/1 locomotives owned by Hanson Aggregates.

Mendip Rail owns Merehead Traction Maintenance Depot (Merehead TMD) where the above eight rail locomotives are allocated. They can also be seen at Hither Green TMD or Eastleigh Works where they receive heavy maintenance.

Foster Yeoman first purchased its own fleet of 140 12-ton wagons in 1923, to take advantage of the fact that the Great Western Railway line ran adjacent to Dulcote Quarry. When the Torr Works opened in the 1960s, a rail terminal named Merehead after the old Quarry, was constructed to support the new quarry and was opened in August 1970, served by a spur from the East Somerset branch line which joins the main line at Witham. Further expansion was soon needed with an additional chord being added between the terminal and the branch line in 1973.

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