British Rail Class 90

Infobox Locomotive
name = British Rail Class 90
powertype = Electric


caption = British Rail Class 90/0, no. 90017 at Norwich
roadnumber = 90001–90050
builder = BREL Crewe Works
builddate = 1987–1990
totalproduction = 50
gauge = RailGauge|sg|lk=on|al=on
tractionmotors =
electricsystem = 25 kV AC
collectionmethod =
whytetype = Bo-Bo
uicclass = Bo'Bo'
wheeldiameter =
minimumcurve =
trainbrakes = Air
locobrakes = Air, Rheostatic
locobrakeforce =
wheelbase =
length =
width =
height =
weight = convert|84.5|t|lk=on
topspeed =convert|75|-|110|mph|km/h|abbr=on|lk=on
poweroutput =
tractiveeffort =
trainheating = Electric Train Heating
multipleworking = TDM system
axleloadclass = Route availability
railroad = British RailThe British Rail Class 90 electric locomotives were built by BREL at Crewe from 1987-1990. Each locomotive weighs 84.5 tons and has a top speed of 110 mph. They operate from 25 kV AC overhead wires and produce 5,000hp. The class is employed on both express passenger services and heavy freight trains.

Description

A fleet of fifty Class 90/0 locomotives were built in the late 1980s, numbered 90001-050. They were developed from the earlier Class 87 locomotives, but featured many improvements and new features. The Class 90s were primarily built to replace the ageing fleets of Classes 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85 dating from the early-1960s, which were prone to fire damage.

The class is fitted with rheostatic brakes, in addition to standard westinghouse air brake equipment. A Time-Division Multiplexer or TDM is fitted to enable two or more locomotives to work in multiple. This also allows a Class 90 to work a push-pull passenger train with a Driving Van Trailer, DBSO or Propelling Control Vehicle.

In the early-1990s, with the sectorisation of British Rail, twenty-six locomotives were dedicated for freight traffic reclassified as Class 90/1 and were renumbered into the range 90125-150 (with the addition of 100 to the original number). The modifications included lowering the maximum speed to 75 mph and isolating the electric train supply. Many of these locomotives were repainted into the new Railfreight Distribution two-tone grey livery, which was later replaced by a revised version in 1994. Three locomotives, nos. 90128, 90129 and 90130 received special "continental" liveries (NMBS/SNCB blue, DB red, SNCF grey respectively) to celebrate the Freightconnection event in 1992.

Around the same time, five locomotives, nos. 90016-020, were repainted into the new Rail Express Systems livery and dedicated to postal trains. They were primarily used on London-Glasgow, London-Newcastle and Birmingham-Glasgow services.

Of the remaining locomotives, the first fifteen, nos. 90001-015 were operated by the InterCity sector on express passenger services. Locomotives nos. 90021-024 were operated by Railfreight Distribution but remained as standard Class 90/0 locomotives to enable them to rescue passenger trains.

Despite being built to be less susceptible to fire damage than classes 81-85, one example, 90050, caught fire at the end of September 2004, prompting its storage and subsequent stripping for spares. It is not expected to work again.

Over the years, many Class 90 locomotives have received names. The passenger locomotives were named after cities, newspapers or famous institutions. Many of the freight locomotives have been given names with a commercial link. Complete details are given below. The Class 90 was the first new locomotive to carry InterCity Swallow livery.

Current operations

Upon the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, the Class 90 fleet was divided between several operators.

EWS

EWS acquired a large fleet of 20 locomotives from the Railfreight Distribution business and a further 5 from Rail Express Systems. As well as freight duties, EWS are contracted to provide locomotives for First ScotRail's Caledonian Sleeper services between Scotland and London Euston, and the Class 90s are frequently used for this purpose. An agreement was reached in 2006 to livery a number of Class 90s in First ScotRail livery, for their exclusive use hauling the Caledonian Sleeper.

Freightliner

Freightliner inherited a fleet of ten Class 90/1 locomotives. These have since been returned to their original Class 90/0 configuration.

'one' Anglia / National Express East Anglia

In early 2004, 'one' (now known as National Express East Anglia) needed a replacement for the ageing Class 86 locomotives on the Norwich-London route. At the same time Virgin Trains was starting to get rid of its Class 90 locomotives. A deal was struck and progressly 90001-015 were delivered to Norwich Crown Point replacing the Class 86s. But the reliability wasn't good and the last few Class 86s left were kept in service and sometimes Cotswold Rail Class 47s were used. One then borrowed Class 90s from EWS and Freightliner to retire the Class 86s. The reliability got better and the borrowed locos went back to their owners. Through 2006 and 2007 relaibility has improved greatly. EWS loco has been retained to allow works repairs and a big modification campaign at Norwich and Crewe. In 2007 the whole fleet won the 'Silver Spanner' from Modern Railways for the most improved main line fleet relaibility in the UK.

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains (VT) inherited a fleet of 15 locomotives to work passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line. The locomotives, nos. 90001-015, were based at Willesden depot in London. The fleet was used on services from London Euston to Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Crewe, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Preston and Glasgow Central.

In 1998, no. 90002 became the first locomotive to be repainted in Virgin Trains red and black livery. It was named to launch the challenge of upgrading passenger services on the WCML. The rest of the fleet was quickly repainted into the new livery.

In 2002, new Class 390 Pendolino electric multiple units started to enter service. These 9-car units were built to replace VT locomotive-hauled trains from the WCML. The first locomotives to be replaced were the elderly Class 86/2 and some of the less reliable Class 87 locomotives. However, since the VT Class 90 fleet was relatively small and subsequently non-standard, it was decided to retain the larger Class 87 fleet. Therefore, from March 2004, VT started to replace its Class 90 fleet, with the locomotives being transferred to the new 'one' franchise. The final service operated by a Virgin-liveried Class 90 was on 27th August 2004, when 90015 worked a London Euston-Glasgow Central and return service.

However, following the derailment of 390033 at Grarrigg in 2007, Virgin Trains has had the need for an additional set. As a result, Virgin has seen to be using Class 90 locomotives hired from EWS, followed by a rake of MK3 coaching stock and a DVT 82101. It is expected that this set of coaches will be handed back to Porterbrook in December (2008?) as they require overhauls. This, and the signing of the lease on two Class 180 Adlentes signals the end of Virgins use of Class 90s.

Future work with National Express East Coast

As part of the new franchise agreement for the East Coast Main Line, the newly installed operator National Express East Coast will hire four Class 90 locomotives from EWS and operate them with four rakes of Mark 3 coaches from 2010. The lower maximum speed of the Class 90 compared with the Class 43 and Class 91 locomotives that NXEC will also operate will likely see the Class 90s operate on the slower stopping services. These could possibly be the London-Leeds routes, allowing Intercity 125s to be released to the rest of the route. [Citation| last1 = Tuplin | first1 = Richard| last2 = Morrison | first2 = Brian | last3 = Whitehouse | first3 = John | title = New brand image for East Coast as franchise goes to National Express| newspaper = The Railway Herald| pages = Page 3| year = 2007| date = August 17, 2007| url = http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/BackIssues/Issue96HIGH.pdf?PHPSESSID=0fc58427443a55af9941c6a77e5517ef]

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.traintesting.com/Class_90.htm Class 90 at traintesting.com]