Introduction

 

This website is dedicated to the BR built class 90s, which were manufactured and assembled in Crewe Works by BREL from 1985 until completion in 1990 under contract to GEC. The original fleet size consisted of 50 locos - numbered 90001-90050. However, this tally has been reduced by 1/4 in recent years unfortunately bringing the total number in traffic down to 35. The dwindling numbers in service has largely arisen due to a lack of work for those owned by DBS (formerly EWS).

 

The class 90 locomotives celebrated there 23rd birthday on July 12th 2011. The first 90 to work a passenger service was 90003 having been attached to the 13:46 Blackpool North to London Euston service at Preston on July 12th 1988 owing to a failed class 86 the previous day - 90003 was used as a driver training engine for the Preston area at the time. It could however be argued that 90005 was in fact the first 90 to work a service train after it performed a VIP service to Northampton in March 1988 in readiness for naming - she was subsequently called 'Financial Times'.

 

One of the most bizarre situations to arise with the class 90 fleet in the beginning of their career was the deployment of 90008 to Hamburg fresh out of Crewe Works as part of the 'Hamburg International Transport Traffic Exhibition' in May 1988. The 90 went in a convoy of other locomotives and wagons including 91003 and 89001. It is unknown if the class 90 (90008) worked under its own power for any part of the trip to/from Hamburg despite pictures showing a raised pantograph at the Hamburg depot. If you like more information on this event, then go to http://www.traintesting.com/IVA_88.htm

 

The original 50 strong fleet of class 90 locomotives were built as a direct replacement for the then aging class 85s as well as being an opportunity to cascade a number of passenger class 86s to East Anglia. The design specification was based on a tried and tested system which BR had developed over the years.

 

Also one must not forget that the class 90s were a later version of the class 87s. Incidentally back in 1987 the original number sequence for the 90s took the form of 87/2s - I recall seeing what is now 90001 at a Crewe Open Day in 1987 as a young lad with 87201 written on the bodywork, but this number system was very short lived and the rest as the saying goes is history.

 

The maximum speed of a class 90 is 110mph, although they have been known to go faster in days gone by under test conditions. These engines are NOT permitted to operate at 125mph unless they are regeared and adapted to operating with disc brakes. The 90s entered service as a mixed traffic locomotive and have featured on both freight and passenger work throughout their entire history a trend still seen today in 2011. They have operated (and continue to do so) on a number of electrified routes including the West Coast, East Coast and Great Eastern Region.

 

A more detailed introduction of the class 90 fleet can be found in the 100th issue of “Today’s Railways (UK)” which was published on the 8th March 2010. Also further sub-pages of the site consider other areas of the class 90s history which includes operational routes, livery combinations, operating characteristics and associated names/nameplates.

 

Moving on, their has been a number of potential resurgence’s in recent years for the 90s with the most interesting one coming to light in November 2009. At the time it was proposed that 90s and MK3s would see use on the ECML, but this possible resurgence was short-lied following an announcement by East Coast. The East Coast operator stated that the existing Glasgow to Kings Cross service would be withdrawn from the May 2011 timetable recast - this in effect means that 91s + MK4s would become surplus to requirements and could be redeployed to running other extra services.  

 

At the time this was very disappointing news, but maybe, just maybe the electrification schemes coming on in stream in the future could result in a class 90 resurgence. For exam, Grand Central have plans to operate to loco-hauled services between Euston and Blackpool North beyond 2012 initially using class 67s, but this could be changed to class 90s as and when the infill section to Blackpool is electrified proposed at the time of writing for 2015., so watch this space for further developments.

 

Present & the Future

 

As already noted the 90s entered their 23rd year of operations on 12/7/11. It is unclear what will happen to these locomotives in years to come, but at the time of writing in the summer of 2011, the current fleet size has stabilised, with enough work to go around for the foreseeable future.

 

Focus now turns to DBS - there fleet of 90s are owned outright by DBS. Those currently in traffic operate passenger trains on behalf of FSR and NXEA as well as the odd freight working from time to time - note they use to work for Virgin, but this is no longer the case. This batch of engines seem to have secured a reasonable future depending on how much longer NXEA hire from DB.   On the subject of sleepers, rumours continue to circulate that class 92s would replace the 90s on the sleepers, but there are a number of issues that need to be addressed before they can work e.g. Network Rail require 100mph running south of Crewe.

 

I can report (at the time of writing in July 2011) that a number of 92s have now been fitted with ETS equipment notable examples include 92031. This engine had its ETS tested back in August 2009, but failed on first attempt. A further test session ran in February 2010 using stock from Cargo-D which proved successful. However, the idea of using 92s on the sleepers to replace the 90s has gone quiet and is currently on the back burner.

 

Now we turn to the Freightliner fleet - these could be seen as having the most uncertain future with many rumours circulating that the FL 90s will be returned to Porterbrook once FL have got all their singing all dancing class 70s up and running. Sadly, the once versatile class 90 locomotive has fleet has seen its size decreased by a ¼ much before their time. Regrettably much of the reduced utilisation is down to DBS who have stored many of its 90s due to a shortfall in workloads and the unwillingness to pay out money to maintain them, so it is easier to switch them off in accounting terms.

 

The 50 strong fleet is facing a difficult future particularly those used by DBS, but I suspect the Anglia ones will be around for a while to come. However, if the future electrification schemes come on stream, then we could see a potential resurgence and hence safeguarding the 90s future. For more information on what is happening take a look at the Forums page, Online Blog or the Archived News and Gen section. If you have any questions, then get in touch by email.