British Rail Class 91

British Rail Class 91
91119 at Kings Cross
Builder:	BREL.
Years built:	1988 - 1991
Number built:	31
Replaced by:	Still in use.
Height:	3
Maximum speed:	140 mph 225 km/h.
Operators:	National Express East Coast

The British Rail Class 91 is a class of 140 mph, 6,300 hp electric locomotives ordered specifically for the East Coast Main Line modernisation and electrification programme of the late 1980s. The Class 91 locomotives were to replace the previous British Rail Class 43 (HST) in addition to other InterCity locomotives. The Class 43s were better known as InterCity 125 trains and the Class 91s were given the auxiliary name of InterCity 225 trains to indicate their status as a new version of the 125 and their envisaged top speed of 225km/h (140mph). The other end of the InterCity 225 is formed of a Driving Van Trailer. The fleet was built in two batches, the first 10, then the remaining 21, between 1988 and 1991 at BREL, Crewe under subcontract from GEC to work with Mark 4 coaches. At the time the Class 91s were branded by British Rail as the 'Electra'. Derived from power cars of the ill-fated Advanced Passenger Train, a power supply to allow the Mark 4 Coaches to tilt was provided but was removed during their recent rebuild. One initial idea was to use these locomotives on fast passenger services in the day, and on inter-modal trains at night. These plans were dropped and freight workings left to the Class 90s.

A class 91 at Peterborough in the late 1980s wearing original InterCity Swallow livery.

In the early 1990's, after the Treasury failed to support funding for the IC250, British Rail examined the option of ordering a further set of Class 91s to operate on the West Coast Main Line. Limited funding meant that the procurement of the Class 465 EMU Networker stock was taken forward instead of these. The asymmetric body style is streamlined at one end to allow high speed operation with the fixed sets of Mark 4 coaches in push-pull operation. An additional requirement of the design was that they could operate as normal locomotives. This led to a second cab being incorporated into the 'flat end'.[1]

Class 91/1, no. 91118 "Bradford Film Festival" at Peterborough on 27 July 2003. This locomotive is painted in GNER blue livery.

The fleet is now operated under lease from HSBC Rail by National Express East Coast, owners of the ECML franchise post privatisation, and underwent a refit between 2000 and 2003 to improve reliability. This has resulted in the renumbering of the fleet from 910XX to 911XX, with the exception of locomotive 91023, which had been involved in the rail crashes at Hatfield and Selby. The locomotive escaped with minor damage on both occasions, but it was renumbered to 91132 (instead of the expected 91123) to avoid suggestions that it had "bad luck".^[1] A Class 91 holds the British locomotive speed record at 161 mph, set in 1991 on a test run down Stoke Bank with the DVT end leading. Although both APTs and Eurostars have run faster, both are regarded as EMUs, which means that an Electra is officially the fastest locomotive in Britain. Another loco, hauling five Mk4s and a DVT, once ran between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds, still the current record. She covered the route in an average speed of 112.5 mph, and reached the full 140 mph several times during the run. When introduced, they were also the most powerful locomotive in Britain. The trainsets have earned the nicknames Stealth Bombers due to the deep blue colour of the livery. They have also been described as dung beetles by some enthusiasts - an allusion to their opinion of the Mark 4 rolling stock^[2].

Fleet details

**Not taking account of the period immediately after repainting into GNER colours in the late 1990s, when all locomotives were briefly nameless

See also

• InterCity 225
• InterCity (British Rail)
• Class 93

Gallery

GNER Class 91 at York railway station	It has become unusual to see the flat end cab of the Class 91. This example is at Crewe Works	Class 91 "Robert Louis Stevenson" at Doncaster railway station in original Intercity Livery	91019 heading north out of Peterborough on the East Coast Main Line
Numbering applied to a GNER class 82 DVT (shown on the right), a GNER class 91 (InterCity 225) is seen on the left	A GNER Clas 91 at Doncaster on 4th September 2007	GNER Class 91 no. 91109 at Newark North Gate on 6th September 2007	A GNER Class 91, no. 91120 at Doncaster on 3rd November 2007

External links

• Testing the Intercity 225/Class 91
• Class 91 fleet list on www.thejunction.org.uk

References

1. ^ Pritchard, Fox & Hall (2007). British Railways Locomotives & Coaching Stock 2007. Sheffield, UK: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd.. 
2. ^ ukrailwayfaq » Rolling Stock Nicknames, <http://ukrailwayfaq.wikispaces.com/Rolling+Stock+Nicknames>