History
In 1985, ASEA, Brush and GEC tendered for the design and construction of the Class 91s. GEC subsequently won the bid and the fleet was built by sub-contractors BREL in Crewe between 1988 and 1991.
The Class 91s began passenger service on 3 March 1989 when 91001 worked 1P26 17.36 London Kings Cross to Peterborough train. This train was formed of InterCity 125 Mark 3 coaches and a Class 43 power car converted for use as a DVT as the Mark 4 coaches were not yet ready. The Class 91s then began service on King's Cross to Leeds trains on 11 March 1989 when 91008 with a rake of Intercity 125 Mark 3 coaches and power car 43068 worked the 1D32 06:50 Kings Cross to Leeds service. The set then worked 1A12, the 10:00 Leeds to London Kings Cross service.
In the early 1990s, after the Treasury failed to provide funding for the InterCity 250, British Rail examined the option of ordering a further set of ten Class 91s to operate on the West Coast Main Line. Limited funding meant that the procurement of the Class 365, Class 465 and Class 466 EMU Networker stock was taken forward instead of these.
The asymmetric body style is streamlined at one end to allow high speed operation with the fixed sets of Mark 4 coaches in normal push-pull passenger operation. An additional requirement of the design was that they could operate as normal locomotives. This led to a second cab being incorporated into the unstreamlined 'blunt end'; operating with the blunt end first limits the maximum speed of the locomotive to 110 mph (180 km/h) due to aerodynamic stability.
The fleet, previously operated by InterCity and then GNER (Great North Eastern Railway), and National Express East Coast, it is currently run by the nationalised operator East Coast. Since privatisation, the fleet has been owned by HSBC Rail who lease it the operators. Between 2000 and 2003, the whole fleet underwent a refit to improve reliability. This has resulted in the renumbering of the fleet from 910xx to 911xx. During this time, GNER hired in Class 90 locomotives to provide cover.
A Class 91, 91010 (now 91110) holds the British locomotive speed record at 162 mph (261 km/h), set on September 17, 1989, just south of Little Bytham on a test run down Stoke Bank with the DVT leading. Although both Class 370s and Class 373s have run faster, both types are EMUs, which means that the Electra is officially the fastest locomotive in Britain. Another loco, hauling five Mk4s and a DVT on a test run, once ran between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds, still the current record. The set covered the route in an average speed of 112.5 mph (181.1 km/h), and reached the full 140 mph (225 km/h) several times during the run.
Read more about this topic: British Rail Class 91
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