LNER’s remaining Class 91s in warm storage ahead of overhaul

All of LNER’s Class 91s and Mk 4s have been placed in warm storage until the summer.

The fleet has largely been replaced by Hitachi Azumas on the East Coast Main Line, although some have been retained for use on certain services.

The seven remaining rakes of stock and 12 locomotives were being moved to various locations for storage as this issue of RAIL went to press, with most at either Neville Hill (Leeds) or Doncaster Belmont Yard.

LNER and Eversholt Rail Group (which owns the fleet) aims to refurbish and overhaul much of the stock to keep them in traffic until 2023. The period of warm storage has been planned to coincide with a reduced service introduced in response to the Werrington dive-under engineering work and London King’s Cross remodelling blockades.

An LNER spokesman told RAIL: “The plan is for them to return to service in June to coincide with the completion of the King’s Cross remodelling.

“We will, of course, keep this under review in case there is any need to further amend the service in light of Coronavirus.”

For the first time since their introduction in 1988, the ‘91s’ and Mk 4s are no longer maintained at Bounds Green, which is now a Hitachi facility. They have transferred to Neville Hill and will be used on the Leeds/York-London King’s Cross routes.

The ‘91s’ in warm storage are 91101/105-107/109-111/114/ 119/124/127/130.

Of the other ‘91s’, all are currently out of traffic with 91117/120 owned by Europhoenix Ltd and due for export to eastern Europe, while 91103/108 have been stripped of components at Wabtec Rail, Doncaster, where they currently remain but are likely to be scrapped.

This leaves 91102/104/112/113/ 115/116/118/121/122/125/126/ 128/129/131/132 stored at Doncaster Belmont Yard awaiting developments.