Grand Central Railway - Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock

Grand Central's application to the Office of Rail Regulation in February 2005 had proposed using Class 67 locomotives hauling five Mark 3 carriages and a Driving Van Trailer. However as the paths were only granted on the basis of 125 mph stock being used, other stock had to be sourced. It was then proposed to use a fleet of Bombardier Transportation five-carriage Class 222s, similar to those already in use with Midland Mainline and Hull Trains. However difficulty in securing these lead to Grand Central deciding to use High Speed Trains

In October 2006 sister company Sovereign Trains purchased six Class 43 power cars and 24 Mark 3 trailer vehicles from Porterbrook. The Class 43s, that all had buffers fitted when they were modified in the late 1980s for use with the Class 91 locomotives during the electrification of the East Coast Main Line, were sent for overhaul at DML, Plymouth. The Mark 3s were overhauled at Marcroft Engineering, Stoke-on-Trent. Eighteen of the Mark 3s were former Virgin West Coast loco-hauled carriages that required rewiring in order to work with the power cars due to different electrical requirements.

Due to delays encountered during the overhauls, Grand Central investigated leasing spare High Speed Trains from Midland Mainline. However nothing came of this and it wasn't until December 2007 that enough stock had been delivered for operations to commence. The full fleet was in service by March 2008.

Problems encountered with the rolling stock with at one stage all six power cars out of traffic, saw Grand Central hire Class 67s from EWS, Class 47s from Riviera Trains and Class 57s from Virgin Trains to haul Riviera Trains Mark 2 carriages on shuttles from Sunderland to York in summer 2008 as well as High Speed Train power cars from Midland Mainline.

In March 2010 the High Speed Trains were sold to Angel Trains who funded an overhaul including repowering the Class 43s at Brush Traction with MTU 16V4000R41 engines.

To operate the fourth Sunderland service two Class 180 Zephyrs were leased from Angel Trains in 2009 followed in 2010 by another three to operate the Bradford services. Before entering service 180112 was named James Herriot in July 2009. The remaining two units, 180105 and 180114, are due to enter service later in 2009. Grand Central has secured two extra Class 180 units, 180101 and 180107, bringing the total number of units to five. The Class 180 fleet operate both Sunderland and Bradford services.