Future Railtour Destinations

Introduction                                                                                                    Updated 31/03/12

In the 23 year history of the class 90s, many charters, railtours and football specials have been run, with several new lines being explored for the first time, and in some cases never been repeated since. For example, Pathfinders ran a railtour to Stansted Airport using 90137 back in the 1990s.

As you can see from the list to the left, there are still a number of places for potential visits by charters and railtours in the future using class 90 traction, but the viability of some of them could be problematic i.e. insignificant OLE power, Route Availability limitations and pathing constraints.

Sadly the number of charters operated by the fleet has declined to an all time low in recent times, although a fair few ran in 2011, notably those by UKR and Virgin Trains using the MK3 set (commonly known as WB64) with Freightliner 90s. Should you wish to find out more, then why not visit the railtours section in the forums area of the website.  

The most under-utilised fleet members that have not worked charters/tours in days gone by are those engines used by Freightliner. However, this misfortune was turned around from December 2010 when Virgin started hiring 90s from Freightliner and hence seen a resurgence in usage.

In 2009 and 2010 all charters, tours and footex's that involved class 90 usage came from those owned by DBS albeit 90045 was used on a private footex between Euston and Wigan in December 2010. See the charters and railtours section of the forums for more info. During 2011 there were several instances of class 90s working railtours and charters across the UK network. The most significant were the private charters that ran between Euston and Glasgow Central using WB64 and Freightliner 90s.

The Future

A further train of thought is that if the proposed electrification programme is to be undertaken as planned (which is making good progress at the time of writing), then there could be an opportunity to travel over new lines such as Manchester to Liverpool via Chat Moss to name but a few. It is unclear how long the class 90s will be around for, but it is hoped that they will be around many years to come. One thing that can be said for this fleet of engines is their versatility and the number of places they have visited over the years.

Railtour & Charter Dates for 2012  
 

At the time of writing the following charters and railtours are planned to operate using class 90s although the two by Intercity Railtours are subject to confirmation. These are:

• Saturday 19th May - Kings Cross to Durham for Beamish / Newcastle Central (UKR)

There are no other charters to report on, but please come back again soon for any updates.

Railtour & Charter Publications

Freightliner class 90s in action between Euston and Glasgow Central on WB64

Whitley Bay Footex Specials between Newcastle and Kings Cross 2009 / 2010

Report on those class 90s that worked charters, Railtours & Footex's during 2011