SpecialLiveries
SEVERAmL embersof the Class91 fleet have becomewell known for their distinctive appearancewith a non-standard livery.
No.91110 holds the record as being Britain's fastest locomotive, attaining a speed of 161.7mph in 1989.The locomotive receiveda new and unique livery featuring the insignia of the RoyalAir ForceBattle of Britain Memorial Flight and its three famous SecondWorld War aircraft the Spitfire, Hurricaneand Lancaster.
TV personality CarolVorderman named the locomotive as part of a nine-day'Railfest' event at the National RailwayMusuemat Yorkin June2012.
No.91111first appearedin its unique livery in October 2014,the centenary year of the outbreak of the FirstWorld War.It was launched by then TransportSecretaryof PatrickMcloughlin along with Network RailCEOMark Carne,Michael Holden, of Directly Operated Railways,Karen Boswell,managing director of EastCoastTrains, and TV rail traveller Michael Portillo.
The locomotive was named on October 14,2014,at Newcastle,the livery depicting stories,images,facts and history behind five regiments along the EastCoast route that fought in the GreatWar,including the HonourableArtillery Company.
No.91119becameanother celebrity locomotive when it was repainted into the original lnterCitystyle livery at BoundsGreen,and is a popular performer on the ECML.
No.91007was renumberedfrom 91107, and along with a Mk4 set was given a special promotional livery for Skyfall,the 23rd film in the JamesBondfranchise.Thetrain was unveiled at King'sCrosson February16,2013, by one of the film's stars,NaomieHarris.
At Christmas2015,Virgin TrainsEastCoast vinyled No.91128and a DVTin a Christmaslivery.
The special festive livery on No.91128
Right: With purple branding, No. 91101 Scotsmanapproaches Retford.
Flying
No. 9111 0 Battle of Britain Memorial Flight 2012. was first unveiled featuring the aircraft at Railfest at the NRMYorkin
Aside on view of the superb and highly praised graphics of No.91111 at Newcastle.
Promoting the James Bond film Skyfall, No. 91107 became 91007 and was 'wrapped' with a set of Mk4 carriages.
tests until we were reassured that, to the best of our combined scientificknowledge, the configuration was safe".
As if this was not enough to contend with, the project then received a request for confirmation the '91s' would be used overnight on parcels services. It fell to the Inter-City manager at York to reply to the parcels manager stating "it would be an unacceptable risk to my business to allow the use of the Class 9 ls on overnight trunk postal trains".
To round off a febrile November, the '9l's' windscreen wipers caused Highton to raise the issue with GEC stating, "the wiper arrangement is not fit for purpose".
A month later, in January 1989, Prideaux briefed BR's director of operations Ivor Warburton about the '9l's', saying "good progress is being made towards initial entry into service".
Prideaux went on to report that one of the significant modifications made to the first 10 locomotives built had been the remounting of the traction motors onto flexiblesupports to reduce an annoying vibration in the driving cab. This had been one of two elements that were contributing to high cab noise levels.
Refit
It's now more than 30 years since the
'91s' entered service, and on average each locomotive has done around 7.9 million miles, the equivalent of travelling around the world 317 times. During that time, the '91s' have operated every day, except Christmas and Boxing Days, clocking up average daily mileage of 699 miles or around 254,000 miles a year.
The classhad one major refit, taking place between 2000 and 2003, and leading to the locomotives being renumbered from 91/0 to 91/1, which included No. 91023, involved in both the Hatfield and Great Heck accidents, being renumbered to 91132.
LNER's fleet engineer Nick Dudley has a wealth of experience from working at Bounds Green since 1978, a veteran of maintaining a front-line fleet that has served the ECML for more than 40 years.It's clearjust by talking to Nick, he is the mechanical and electrical equivalent of a medical cardiologist when it comes to his knowledge ofIC125's and the
Class 91s, which he affectionately describes as "a unique beast".
He says:"With the levelof power availableat the wheelsets, one of the most critical systems of the locomotive is the transmission system and its associated parts."
Throughout the 30 and more years since the introduction of the '91s', Nick and the team at Bounds Green have been a central part of ensuring the locomotives perform to a standard expected to sustain ECML premier long-distance passenger services. It's been a challenge that has become increasingly more difficult as the locomotives have got older.
Nick recalls the '9ls" traction trials and the noise issue. "This was reduced by several modifications to the locomotive, the re-design of the traction motor mounting arrangement to have the traction motor not directly mounted to the underframe of the locomotive, and the insertion of a rubber bellows in the traction blower motor air ducting arrangement.
Noise
"The overall noise of the locomotive was also reduced by re-wiring the cooling fan control system to only operate when a direction was selected."
One of the earliest events affecting services recalled by Nick was the early-1990s when dry powdery snow entered into the traction motor smoothing chokes and cubicles, thus causing earth faults and flash overs.
After 10 years in operation, the performance of the '91s' started to deteriorate, affecting train service performance. As a result, a major overhaul and life extension programme on the Class 91 fleet began.
The fleet was now part of GNER, which under Privatisation had been awarded the ECML franchise. The upgrade replaced a significant amount of electrical and electronic equipment, and newer and more modern applications were installed with several other reliability upgrades also taking place.
Refurbished
The Mk4 coaches had the unused tilt mechanism from the SIG BT41 bogies removed, while internally the coaches were refurbished and received new lighting.
An indicator of the power the Class 91s have is they can and do sometimes operate with three rather than four traction motors if one has failed. It's a method of operation that is applied, but cruciallywith joined-up thinking across the LNERteam.
Nick saysthat with power only available via three wheelsets rather than the four it can be difficult coming out of Leeds unless the signallers can ensure a straight run.
"We avoid using a '91' on three TMs on the Leeds route ifwe can. The '9l's' power at the rail is impressive when you consider that the contact patch between the wheel and rail is
approximately the size of a 20 pence piece, that's 2.35MW's (315lhp) of power via the size of four 20 pence pieces per bogie."
Today the biggest challenge is the supply chain for spare parts. With at least a further three years of9ls operating on the ECML the need to keep suppliers and third parties engaged and prepared to supply parts for future maintenance of the fleet is imperative.
Nick adds: "Operating just 12 '91s' and approximately six Mk4 sets means even less time for turnaround and potentially less interest from suppliers because the volume of work is too small for some of them to be interested."
It was fascinating to catch up with Nick, not least because he remarked: "I have had the good fortune to work as part of the team at Bounds Green maintaining the '91s' since they first arrived. Everyone who has worked on this locomotive have their favourite and the ones they would rather not work on, as they all have their own idiosyncrasies."
IfNick Dudley's maintenance of the '91' fleet is to be matched in terms of experience, knowledge and expertise, then when it comes to driving one need look no further than Mick Ingledew, based at Newcastle.
'Canny'
With a footplate experience that spans the 'Deltics', IC125's, '91s' and now the 'Azumas', Mick has a 'canny' knack, to use a well-known phrase from the North East, of succinctly explaining the footplate experience of'9ls'.
Mick joined BR in 1979, and is still driving today for LNER. After more than four decades on the footplate, The RM plans to feature Mick's career and his experiences in a forthcoming issue.
In terms of the Class 91 and as a driver, Mick couldn't be clearer. "When these locomotives arrived on the ECML, they were a step change. The IC125 had been a massive change following the 'Deltics', but the '91s' took things a further step.
"I remember ECML steam driver John Kennedy summing it up to me. He said: "'The '91s' just waltz up Stoke Bank'."
Mick says the '91 's' are somewhat understated because "they simply do what it sayson the tin, they don't ask for much, and are dependable, powerful, and for long-distance high-speed running they take it in their stride".
The comparisons drawn by Mick are fascinating. "There is more power availableon one axle of a Class 91 than pretty much that of a complete Class 37 diesel locomotive.
"Sometimes the '91s' can be down to three traction motors, but a Class 91 on three traction motors generally performs to the equivalent of an IC125 on full power.
'Fantastic'
"IC125's were completely different from the '91s'; everything was much slower. Brakes were slow to apply and release of the brake as you came to stand at a station needed considerable skill.The brakes on a '91' respond a lot better." As for the 'Azuma', LNER's new train that is increasingly taken over ECML front-line express passenger services and eventually replace the '91s', Micksays:"The 'Azuma' is another step change - a world of difference. The power is immediate and so too are the brakes. The 'Azuma' surpasses everything I have ever experienced from a driving point of view. It's fantastic, you could stop on a cross wire of a gunshot."
The pedigree of the locomotive in terms of its performance speaks for itsel£
In the early days of proving trials in September 1989, No. 91010 reached 161.7mph down Stoke Bank (without passengers) at Essendine. On September 20, 1989, BR ran a 'press special' to showcase the new lnterCity 225. The RM,sformer Practice & Performance writer Peter Semmens was invited. He noted that the Class 91 reached 132mph at milepost 91 ¼, precisely the point where Mallard had managed its 126mph record in 1938 with the benefit of 10 miles of down gradients. The speed made the Class 91 the fastest locomotive in Britain.
'Waltzing'
Mick Ingledew's recollection of John Kennedy's comment about 91s 'waltzing up Stoke Bank' more than 30 years later corroborates the early days, and is a testament to the sustainability of Class 91 performance.
In 1991, No. 91131 completed London King's Cross to Edinburgh in 3 hours 29 minutes and 30 seconds - with a shortened formation of five Mk 4 coaches and DVT - which remains the record for the fastest journey time. Reaching 140mph severaltimes during the journey, the locomotive and its train recorded an average speed between London and Edinburgh of 112.5mph.
Peter Semmens stated June 1-2, 1995, would go down as the most exhilarating days he had spent timing trains. Over the mornings of the two days, No. 91031 Sir Henry Roycereached speeds ofl50mph on no fewer than six separate occasions, culminating in a new British record of 154mph for a train carrying passengers.
Record
Peter reported on June 2 he had observed a new record for a start-to-stop average of 117.6mph from Darlington to York, "in the course of which we averaged 153mph for no less for 14 miles on end".
The '9l's' had proved themselves, but their full potential was never to be realised because of the inability (for severalreasons) to upgrade the ECML, which would have permitted them to operate up to their 225kph (140mph) maximum. The introduction of the new 'Azuma's' and their impressiveperformance had provided an opportunity for LNER to improve passenger service frequency.
While LNER has pursued additional 'Azuma's' through the procurement process, and with all of the HST125's withdrawn last year, there was a need for some of the '9 ls' to soldier
LocoNo. 91101 91102 91103 91104 91105 91106 91107 91108 91109 91110 91111 91112 91113 91114 91115 91116 91117 91118 91119 91120 91121 91122 91124 91125 91126 91127 91128 91129 91130 91131 91132
on. However, as a result of uncertainty of Covid-19 and altered timetables and service frequency, things have changed.
Consequently, there now be fewer of these electric titans left operating. The latest indication is just six sets ofMkIV's with up to 10 Class 91s to provide traction.
Interest undoubtedly grow in the last passenger locomotive to be built for British Rail, the last locomotive built by BREL, and the fastest locomotive that has operated in Britain.
David Rollin's only regret was that the design of the Mk4 body shell was not an improvement on the Mk3 ... but that's another story.
Nevertheless, in today's world, Mr Rollin can be proud he delivered the IC225 Project on time and on budget with Class9ls and their Mk4s being hugely successful, clocking up a total mileage by August 2020 of more than 244 million, almost 10,000 times around the world.
A final trip along the ECML in one of Metro-Cammell's MkN coaches hauled by a Class 91 beckons...
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