The company originated within Allco Finance Group's European rolling stock leasing business, which was acquired by the Japanese firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and rebranded as Beacon Rail shortly thereafter. Initially operating a relatively small fleet, it quickly moved to acquire new rail vehicles, such as the Class 68 and the Class 88, along with the buying out of competing firms such as HSBC Rail and Ascendos Rail Leasing. In 2017, Beacon Rail was purchased by the multinational investment group JPMorgan Chase; at this point, the company had almost 200 locomotives in its inventory. Rolling stock deals with other companies have continued, such as with Colas Rail, Stadler Rail, and the Clayton Equipment Company
During early 2009, in coordination with the British train operating company Direct Rail Services (DRS), Beacon Rail approached the Swiss manufacturer Stadler Rail to explore the construction of a bespoke locomotive to meet DRS's needs. The locomotive, which was based upon its existing Eurolight platform, became the Class 68.[8] From 2014, across multiple batches, a total of 32 locomotives would be delivered for mixed traffic operations,[9][10][11]
largely with DRS, or sub-leased by DRS to other operators.[12][13]
Beacon Rail also acquired ten Class 88electro-diesel locomotives for DRS, which had a high degree of commonality with the preceding Class 68 (70 percent of all components are shared).[14][15]
The firm also expanded its inventory of carriages; by 2016, 67 double-deck coaches were in operation in Denmark.[22] That same year, Beacon Rail, in coordination with TransPennine Express (TPE) and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), announced plans to acquire 66 Mark 5A coaches for TPE's services, to be hauled by Beacon-owned Class 68 locomotives leased from DRS.[23][24]
In 2017, Beacon Rail was purchased by the multinational investment group JPMorgan Chase. At the time of its acquisition, the company's portfolio had grown to include 190 locomotives, 944 freight wagons and 20 passenger trains.[2][25] Shortly after, 352 Class 220 and 221 diesel multiple units were purchased from subsidiaries of Lloyds Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.[26][27] In 2018, 67 locomotives were purchased from Colas Rail.[28][29] In July 2020, the company launched its new branding, trading simply as Beacon.[30]
