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The 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 from overhead wires. The class is employed on both express passenger services and heavy freight trains.

Contents

Description

Current operations

EWS

Freightliner

'one' Anglia

Virgin Trains

Future work with National Express East Coast

Gallery

Fleet details

References

External links

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 (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.

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

In early 2004, 'one' 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. However, in 2006 reliability of the fleet is still not as it should be, and 90036 is on loan from EWS to sustain operations. EMU Class 321s also get used as cover. A massive overhaul project is currently being undertaken at Bombardier, Derby, to refurbish and improve the reliability of these locomotives.These locomotives will haul Mk3 coaching stock which have just been fully refurbished at Bombardier, Derby during Ocober 2006.

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 more unreliable 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.

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.^[1]

Gallery

Fleet details

Key	Operational	Stored

N.B. Currently all locomotives are in the standard Class 90/0 configuration.

Number(s)			Name(s)	Dates	Livery	Operator	Withdrawn	Status
Class 90/0	Class 90/1	Class 90/2
90001	-	-	BBC Midlands Today	1989-2004	'one' Anglia	'one'	-	Operational
90002	-	-	The Girls' Brigade	1993-1998 1998-2004	'one' Anglia	'one'	-	Operational
90003	-	-	The Herald Raedwald of East Anglia	1994-2004 2004-	'one' Anglia dark blue vinyl	'one'	-	Operational
90004	-	-	The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company City of Glasgow	1991-1997 1999-2004	'one' Anglia	'one'	-	Operational
90005	-	-	Financial Times Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson	1988-2004 2005-	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90006	-	-	High Sheriff Roger Ford / Modern Railways Magazine Roger Ford / Modern Railways Magazine	1992-2002 2002-2004 2005-	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90007	-	-	Lord Stamp Keith Harper Sir John Betjeman	1992-2002 2002-2004 2006-	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90008	-	-	The Birmingham Royal Ballet	1990-2004	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90009	-	-	Royal Show The Economist	1989-1994 1994-2004 2005-	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90010	-	-	275 Railway Squadron (Volunteers)	1989-2004 2005-	'one' Anglia	'one'	-	Operational
90011	-	-	The Chartered Institute of Transport West Coast Rail 250 LETS GO East of England	1988-2000 2000-2004 2005 2006- present day	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90012	-	-	Glasgow 1990 Cultural Capital of Europe British Transport Police	1990-1993 1993-2004 2005-	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90013	-	-	The Law Society	1992-2004 2005-	'one' Anglia	'one'	-	Operational
90014	-	-	'The Liverpool Phil' Driver Tom Clark OBE Norfolk and Norwich Festival	1990-1997 2002-2004 2006-	'one'	'one'	-	Operational
90015	-	-	BBC North West The International Brigade Spain 1936-1939	1989-1997 1999-2004 2005-	'one' Anglia	'one'	-	Operational
90016	-	-	-	-	Freightliner Green	Freightliner	-	Operational
90017	-	-	Rail Express Systems Quality Assured	1996-2002	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90018	-	-	-	-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90019	-	-	Penny Black	1990-2006	First Scotrail	EWS	-	Operational
90020	-	-	Colonel Bill Cockburn CBE TD Sir Michael Heron Collingwood	1991-1997 1997-2005 2005-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90021	-	90221	-	-	First ScotRail	EWS	-	Operational
90022	-	90222	Freightconnection	1992-	Railfreight Distribution (Revised)	EWS	-	Operational
90023	-	90223	-	-	Railfreight Distribution (Revised)	EWS	07/2005	Stored
90024	-	90224	-	-	First Scotrail	EWS	-	Operational
90025	90125	90225	-	-	Railfreight Distribution	EWS	01/2004	Stored
90026	90126	-	Crewe Electric Depot Quality Approved	1993-2002	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90027	90127	90227	Allerton T&RS Depot Quality Approved	1993-	Railfreight Distribution	EWS	-	Operational
90028	90128	-	Vrachtverbinding Hertfordshire Rail Tours	1992-2003 2003-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90029	90129	-	Frachtverbindungen The Institution of Civil Engineers	1992-2003 2003-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	10/2005	Stored
90030	90130	-	Fretconnection Crewe Locomotive Works	1992-2000 2000-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	01/2006	Stored
90031	90131	-	Intercontainer Railway Children Partnership	1995-2000 2000-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90032	90132	-	Cerestar	1994-2002	Railfreight Distribution (Revised)	EWS	02/2004	Stored
90033	90133	90233	-	-	Railfreight Distribution (Revised)	EWS	04/2005	Stored
90034	90134	-	-	-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90035	90135	-	Crewe Basford Hall	1995-2000	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90036	90136	-	-	-	Railfreight Distribution (Experimental)	EWS	-	Operational
90037	90137	-	Spirit of Dagenham	2001-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	02/2006	Stored
90038	90138	90238	-	-	Railfreight Distribution (Revised)	EWS	07/2005	Stored
90039	90139	90239	-	-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90040	90140	-	The Railway Mission	2001-	EWS Red/Gold	EWS	-	Operational
90041	90141	-	-	-	Freightliner Green	Freightliner	-	Operational
90042	90142	-	-	-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	-	Operational
90043	90143	-	Freightliner Coatbridge	1996-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	-	Operational
90044	90144	-	-	-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	-	Operational
90045	90145	-	-	-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	-	Operational
90046	90146	-	-	-	Freightliner Green	Freightliner	-	Operational
90047	90147	-	-	-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	-	Operational
90048	90148	-	-	-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	-	Operational
90049	90149	-	-	-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	-	Operational
90050	90150	-	-	-	Freightliner grey	Freightliner	12/2004	Stored - fire damage

References

1.

External links

{{commonscat|

★ Class 90 at traintesting.com

★ wnxx.com

★ "90039 tries to go to Holyhead!"