British Rail Class 90
Encyclopedia
The British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 Class 90 electric locomotive
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...

s were built by BREL
BREL
British Rail Engineering Limited , was the railway systems engineering division of British Rail, until the design and building of trains in the UK was privatised in 1993. On 31 October 1969, the company was incorporated as British Rail Engineering Limited.-Main products:The vast majority of BREL's...

 at Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

 from 1987-1990. Each locomotive weighs 84.5 tonnes and has a top speed of 110 mph (177 km/h). They operate from 25 kV AC
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....

 overhead wires and produce 5000 bhp. The class is employed on both express passenger services and heavy freight
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...

 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
British Rail Class 87
The British Rail Class 87 is a type of electric locomotive built from 1973-75 by British Rail Engineering Limited . 36 of these locomotives were built to work passenger services over the West Coast Main Line . They were the flagships of British Rail's electric locomotive fleet until the late 1980s,...

 locomotives, but featured many improvements and new features. The Class 90s were primarily built to replace the ageing fleets of Classes 81
British Rail Class 81
The British Rail Class 81 is an AC electric locomotive that formerly operated on the West Coast Main Line of the London Midland Region of British Rail...

, 82
British Rail Class 82
The British Rail Class 82 electric locomotives were built by Beyer, Peacock and Company between 1960 and 1962 as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification.- History :...

, 83
British Rail Class 83
The British Rail Class 83 electric locomotives were built by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification.- History :...

, 84
British Rail Class 84
The British Rail Class 84 was a 25 kV AC electric locomotive that operated on the West Coast Main Line of the London Midland Region.- History :...

 and 85
British Rail Class 85
The British Rail Class 85 is an electric locomotive built during the early 1960s, as part of BR's policy to develop a standard electric locomotive. Five prototype classes were built and evaluated, which eventually led to the development of the Class 86 locomotive...

 dating from the early-1960s, which were prone to fire damage.

The class is fitted with rheostatic brake
Brake
A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....

s in addition to standard westinghouse air brake
Air brake (rail)
An air brake is a conveyance braking system actuated by compressed air. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on March 5, 1872. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell...

 equipment. A Time-Division Multiplexer
Time-division multiplexing
Time-division multiplexing is a type of digital multiplexing in which two or more bit streams or signals are transferred apparently simultaneously as sub-channels in one communication channel, but are physically taking turns on the channel. The time domain is divided into several recurrent...

 (TDM) is fitted to enable two or more locomotives to work in multiple. It also allows a Class 90 to work a push-pull
Push-pull train
Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...

 passenger train with a Driving Van Trailer
Driving Van Trailer
A Driving Van Trailer is a purpose-built railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate a locomotive at the opposite end of a train. Trains operating with a DVT therefore do not require the locomotive to be moved around to the other end of the train at terminal stations...

 (DVT), DBSO
Driving Brake Standard Open
A Driving Brake Standard Open or DBSO is a type of railway carriage, converted to operate as a control car. Fourteen such vehicles, numbered 9701 to 9714, were converted from Mk. 2F Brake Standard Open carriages. Modifications included adding a driving cab and TDM equipment to allow a locomotive...

 or Propelling Control Vehicle
Propelling Control Vehicle
A Propelling Control Vehicle is a type of British railway carriage for carrying mail. They were converted from Class 307 driving trailers and have a cab at one end. This allows mail trains to be propelled at low speed, with the locomotive at the rear of the train being driven from the...

.

A Class 90 with a rake of eight British Rail Mark 3
British Rail Mark 3
British Rail's third design of standard carriage was designated 'Mark 3' , and was developed primarily for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train...

 coaches + Driving Van Trailer
Driving Van Trailer
A Driving Van Trailer is a purpose-built railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate a locomotive at the opposite end of a train. Trains operating with a DVT therefore do not require the locomotive to be moved around to the other end of the train at terminal stations...

 (DVT) will reach 60 mph (27 m/s) in just over 1 miles (1.6 km), and 100 mph (45 m/s) in about 1+1/2 mi.

In the early-1990s, with the sectorisation of British Rail, twenty-six locomotives were dedicated for freight traffic; they were reclassified as Class 90/1 and renumbered in the range 90125-150 (with the addition of 100 to the original number). The modifications included lowering the maximum speed to 75 mph (120.7 km/h) and isolating the electric train supply. Many of these locomotives were repainted in the new Railfreight Distribution
Railfreight Distribution
Railfreight Distribution was a subsector of British Rail created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services. In its early years the division was occasionally...

 two-tone grey livery, which was itself replaced by a revised version in 1994. Three locomotives, nos. 90128, 90129 and 90130, received special "continental" liveries (NMBS/SNCB blue, DB
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

 red, SNCF
SNCF
The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...

 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
Rail Express Systems
Upon the sectorisation of British Rail during the 1980s the Parcels Sector was created. In 1991 this was rebranded Rail Express Systems. The Rail Express Systems launch event was held at Crewe Diesel Depot in October 1991. For this event examples of Class 08, 47, 86 & 90 locomotives were painted...

 livery and dedicated to postal trains
Travelling Post Office
A Travelling Post Office was a type of mail train in the UK where the post was sorted en-route. The last Travelling Post Office services were ended on 9 January 2004, with the carriages used now sold for scrap or to preservation societies....

. 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
InterCity (British Rail)
InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services ....

 sector on express passenger services. Locomotives nos. 90021-024 were operated by Railfreight Distribution
Railfreight Distribution
Railfreight Distribution was a subsector of British Rail created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services. In its early years the division was occasionally...

 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. The Class 90 was the first new locomotive to carry InterCity Swallow livery.

Current operations

Upon the privatisation of British Rail
Privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was set in motion when the Conservative government enacted, on 19 January 1993, the British Coal and British Rail Act 1993 . This enabled the relevant Secretary of State to issue directions to the relevant Board...

 in 1996, the Class 90 fleet was divided between several operators
Train operating company
The term train operating company is used in the United Kingdom to describe the various businesses operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand...

.

DB Schenker

DB Schenker
DB Schenker Rail (UK)
DB Schenker Rail , before 2009 known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway is a British rail freight company. EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation in 1996 by acquisition of five of the six freight companies created by the privatisation of British...

 acquired the largest fleet with 20 locomotives from the Railfreight Distribution
Railfreight Distribution
Railfreight Distribution was a subsector of British Rail created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services. In its early years the division was occasionally...

 business and five from Rail Express Systems
Rail Express Systems
Upon the sectorisation of British Rail during the 1980s the Parcels Sector was created. In 1991 this was rebranded Rail Express Systems. The Rail Express Systems launch event was held at Crewe Diesel Depot in October 1991. For this event examples of Class 08, 47, 86 & 90 locomotives were painted...

. EWS are contracted to provide locomotives for First ScotRail
First ScotRail
ScotRail Railways Ltd. is the FirstGroup-owned train operating company running domestic passenger trains within Scotland, northern England and the cross-border Caledonian Sleeper service to London using the brand ScotRail which is the property of the Scottish Government...

's Caledonian Sleeper
Caledonian Sleeper
The Caledonian Sleeper is a sleeper train service operated by First ScotRail and one of only two remaining sleeper services running on the railways of Great Britain, the other being the Night Riviera....

 services between Scotland and London Euston, and the Class 90s are frequently used for this purpose as well as on freight duties. An agreement was reached in 2006 to livery a number of Class 90s for First ScotRail, for their exclusive use hauling the Caledonian Sleeper.

11th January 2011 DB Schenker Rail (UK) have put twelve redundant Class 90s up for sale. 90017, 90022, 90023, 90025, 90030, 90031, 90032, 90033, 90037, 90038, 90040, 90050.

Freightliner

Freightliner
Freightliner (UK)
Freightliner Group Limited is a rail freight and logistics company, founded in 1995 and now operating in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. It is the second largest rail freight operator in the UK, after DB Schenker Rail .- History :...

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

National Express East Anglia

In early 2004 'one' (now National Express East Anglia) needed a replacement for the ageing Class 86
British Rail Class 86
The British Rail Class 86 was the standard electric locomotive built during the 1960s, developed as a result of testing with the earlier Classes 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85. One hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965-1966 by either English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows, or...

 locomotives on the Great Eastern Main Line
Great Eastern Main Line
The Great Eastern Main Line is a 212 Kilometre major railway line of the British railway system, which connects Liverpool Street in the City of London with destinations in east London and the East of England, including Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich and several coastal resorts such as...

. At the same time Virgin Trains
Virgin Trains
Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland...

 was starting to retire its fleet of Class 90 locomotives as Class 390
British Rail Class 390
The Class 390 Pendolino is a type of train used in Great Britain. They are electric multiple units using Fiat's tilting train pendolino technology and built by Alstom. Fifty-three 9-car units were originally built for Virgin Trains from 2001 to 2004 for operation on the West Coast Main Line , with...

 units were introduced.

A deal was struck and progressively 90001-015 were delivered to Norwich Crown Point
Norwich Crown Point
Crown Point was originally the name given to an area within the city of Norwich in the United Kingdom.The name is now more commonly associated with the Crown Point Traction Maintenance Depot operated by National Express East Anglia. Intercity and Diesel Multiple Unit trains are serviced and...

 to replace the Class 86s, but their reliability wasn't good and the last few Class 86s were kept in service, and Class 47
British Rail Class 47
The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...

s hired from Cotswold Rail
Cotswold Rail
thumb|right|[[British Rail Class 47|Class 47]], no. 47316 'Cam Peak', at [[Doncaster railway works|Doncaster Works]] open day on 27th July 2003. This locomotive had recently been returned to traffic after a period in store...

 were sometimes used also. 'one' then borrowed Class 90s from EWS and Freightliner
Freightliner (UK)
Freightliner Group Limited is a rail freight and logistics company, founded in 1995 and now operating in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. It is the second largest rail freight operator in the UK, after DB Schenker Rail .- History :...

 to retire the remaining Class 86s. The Class 90s' reliability improved and the borrowed locos were returned to their owners.

Through 2006 and 2007 reliability has improved greatly: in 2007 the whole fleet won the 'Silver Spanner' from Modern Railways for the most improved main line fleet reliability in the UK.

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains inherited a fleet of 15 locomotives to work passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

 (WCML). The locomotives, nos. 90001-015, were based at Willesden depot
Willesden TMD
Willesden TMD is a railway locomotive Traction Maintenance Depot situated in Willesden, north London. The depot is visible from the West Coast Main Line, to the south-east of Willesden Junction, on the way into London's Euston Station...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The fleet was used on services from London Euston
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...

 to Birmingham New Street, , , Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly station
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. It serves intercity routes to London Euston, Birmingham New Street, South Wales, the south coast of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central, and routes throughout northern England...

, , and .

In 1998, no. 90002 became the first locomotive to be repainted in Virgin Trains red and black livery. It was named "Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...

" 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
British Rail Class 390
The Class 390 Pendolino is a type of train used in Great Britain. They are electric multiple units using Fiat's tilting train pendolino technology and built by Alstom. Fifty-three 9-car units were originally built for Virgin Trains from 2001 to 2004 for operation on the West Coast Main Line , with...

 Pendolino
Pendolino
Pendolino is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Switzerland, China and shortly in Romania and Poland...

 electric multiple unit
Electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...

s 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' (now National Express East Anglia) franchise.

The final service operated by a Virgin-liveried Class 90 was on 27 August 2004, when 90015 worked a London Euston
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...

-Glasgow Central
Glasgow Central station
Glasgow Central is the larger of the two present main-line railway terminals in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The station was opened by the Caledonian Railway on 31 July 1879 and is currently managed by Network Rail...

 and return service.

However, following the derailment of 390033 at Grayrigg derailment
Grayrigg derailment
The Grayrigg derailment was a fatal railway accident that occurred at approximately 20:15 GMT on 23 February 2007, just to the south of Grayrigg, Cumbria, in North West England. The initial conclusion of the accident investigation is that the derailment was caused by a faulty set of points ,...

 in 2007, Virgin Trains has had the need for an additional set. As a result, Virgin has been using Class 90 locomotives hired from DB Schenker, but more recently Freightliner, along with a rake of Mark 3
British Rail Mark 3
British Rail's third design of standard carriage was designated 'Mark 3' , and was developed primarily for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train...

 coaching stock and a DVT. The rake of MK3 and the DVT has now been repainted into the new livery.

East Coast

In 2011 it was announced that two 90's would be hired by East coast, in order to compensate for 91 reliability re-engineering. This re-engineering would take one 91 out of service, until the re-engineering of the class is complete. Where as the other 90 would be used as a spare. The 90 will most likely be using the Mark 4 set of the 91 that is out of service.
One problem that exists with the 90 entering service on the East Coast is the maximum speed. The 90 can possibly slow down all East Coast services behind it, this is due to the 90s only being able to run at 110 mph instead of 125 like the 91s.

This service was due to start on the 5th of September 2011.

Fleet

Subclass Number built (year) TOPS
TOPS
Total Operations Processing System, or TOPS, is a computer system for managing the locomotives and rolling stock owned by a rail system...

 number range
Operators Comments
90/0 50 (1987-1990) 90001-90015 National Express East Anglia
90017-90040, 90050 DB Schenker
DB Schenker Rail (UK)
DB Schenker Rail , before 2009 known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway is a British rail freight company. EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation in 1996 by acquisition of five of the six freight companies created by the privatisation of British...

90019, 90021 and 90024 liveried as First ScotRail
First ScotRail
ScotRail Railways Ltd. is the FirstGroup-owned train operating company running domestic passenger trains within Scotland, northern England and the cross-border Caledonian Sleeper service to London using the brand ScotRail which is the property of the Scottish Government...

 traffic.
90050 thought to be unserviceable, after catching fire in 2004, this loco may never return to traffic.
90016, 90041-90049 Freightliner
Freightliner (UK)
Freightliner Group Limited is a rail freight and logistics company, founded in 1995 and now operating in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. It is the second largest rail freight operator in the UK, after DB Schenker Rail .- History :...

90042 suffered fire damage on 30 August 2011
90044 sufferd fire damage on 17 October 2011

External links

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