British Rail Class 89
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| British Rail Class 89 | |
 Class 89, no. 89001, at Doncaster Works open day on July 27, 2003. This locomotive has now been bought by the AC Locomotive Group. |
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| Builder: | BREL |
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| Years built: | 1989 |
| Introduced: | 1989 |
| Voltage: | 25 kV AC |
| Wheel layout: | Co-Co |
| Brakes: | Air & Rheostatic |
| Brake force: | 50 t (Rheostatic) |
| Length: | 19,800 mm (65 ft) |
| Weight: | 105 ton |
| Maximum speed: | 125 mph (200 km/h) |
| Operators: | GNER (Now preserved by the AC Locomotive Group) |
The Class 89 is a prototype design for an electric locomotive. Only one unit was built, no. 89001, which was officially named Avocet by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on January 16, 1989 at Sandy, Bedfordshire - the home of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It was built in 1986, by BREL at their Crewe Works, and was used on test-trains on both the West Coast Main Line and East Coast Main Line. It was fitted with advanced power control systems and develops over 6,000 bhp (4,500 kW). It was given the nickname "Aardvark" although the railfans used to call it "The Badger" owing to its sloping front ends.
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[edit] Design
It was designed by Brush Traction of Loughborough to meet a specification issued by British Rail, which subsequently changed the requirements, but not before Brush had already committed to build the prototype locomotive. It was initially delivered in the old-style InterCity livery, with no British Rail double arrows, but these were added later when British Rail bought the locomotive from Brush. As the development of the ECML Electrification continued the engine was painted into the new style "InterCity Swallow" livery and named Avocet.
The locomotive uses six DC traction motors. The main armature current for all the motors is fed from a common thyristor drive, whilst each motor has an independent field current controller. The field current controllers comprised a two quadrant chopper inside a thyristor bridge. The bipolar transistor based choppers provides a fast fine control of motor torque for electric braking and slip control, whilst the thyristor bridge is used to invert the field current polarity.
During the early summer of 1988 the International Traffic and Transport Exhibition (IVA88) was held in Hamburg, Germany. British Rail was asked to participate and sent a representative train of rolling stock to the exhibition. On May 22, 1988 Avocet along with a class 90, class 91 and a two car class 150/2 unit left England in a special train for Hamburg, returning on June 17, 1988. See links below for more pictures and information.
After being used as a test bed, the locomotive was used on passenger trains from London King's Cross to Leeds. It was hoped that the class 89 design would be used for electric locomotives for the Channel Tunnel, and some investigation was undertaken. It was also hoped the class 89 would be a viable class 86 replacement, which ultimately went to the class 90. All hope and opportunity ended, however, when 89001 suffered a serious failure and was withdrawn from traffic. It was saved for preservation at the Midland Railway Centre by a group of Brush Traction employees. During this time the locomotive appeared at every major British Rail depot open day, in a slowly deteriorating Intercity Swallow livery.
Ultimately only technology and ideas from 89001’s internal design were used in the Class 9 Eurotunnel locomotives and some similarity in electronics lives on today in the class 92 locomotive design. When 89001 failed, it was still owned by British Rail, and Brush had no contractual obligation with regard to it. Additionally, having no orders from BR for their design investment, there was little incentive for Brush to construct spare parts for it. BR had written off the locomotive as part of the ECML development and thus it was seen as a surplus and nil value asset. As such the locomotive was sidelined.
Brush did eventually win the contracts to build Channel Tunnel locomotives, and the similarities between these and 89001 enabled suitable spares to be constructed.
[edit] GNER
In 1996, the InterCity East Coast franchise was won by the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER). Suffering from a motive power shortage, it purchased 89001 and repaired it for use on London to Leeds and Bradford passenger trains, investing £100 000 in an overhaul. It was also re-painted in the GNER blue and red livery. However, in 2001, the locomotive again suffered a major failure and was withdrawn from traffic. Its future was again in doubt, and it was laid up for a period at Doncaster Works.
In December 2004, the locomotive was moved into the care of The AC Locomotive Group at Barrow Hill Engine Shed for secure storage. With the overhaul of the Class 91 fleet complete, plus the availability of "White Rose" Class 373 trains for lease, 89001 was seen as a one-off asset with little economic value.
The AC Loco Group undertook some remedial repairs to allow the loco to be hauled on the main line, but it was unable to work trains. After visiting the Crewe Great Gathering in September 2005, it then went to Norwich for the Association of Community Rail Partnerships festival. This was the last public outing of the Badger to date.
[edit] Future
It is unlikely that 89001 will make a third comeback on scheduled mainline services. Newer Class 92 heavy freight locomotives have been available and unused since 1997. Eurostar sets also remain unused. With 86s retired and the entire fleet of 87s unused, the age of loco-hauled electric passenger locomotive trains appears to have nearly ended. However, National Express East Coast continues to use the Class 91 trainsets. Also, National Express East Anglia use class 90 trainsets, although a similar plan for National Express East Coast has been dropped in favour of acquiring Alstom Class 180 "Adelante" DMU's. Other operators though, are keen to get these units too and if National express East Coast is unsuccessful in getting Class 180's ,the Class 90 trainsets may have to be resurrected. Hull Trains also use a Class 86 for their London- Hull services whilst a damaged 222 is being repaired.
The locomotive was a well-designed engine, delivered to meet the needs of a 1980s electrified railway. It was delivered too late, and by the time of delivery designs had moved on. Its future opportunities were suppressed by the privatisation of the railways. It was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, a similar predicament to 71000 Duke of Gloucester in the 1950s. It also pushed the technology boat ahead at the same time as the industry made a shift. It could be argued that 89001 was a failure, but without its construction Brush may not have been able to convince the Channel Tunnel team of the feasibility of its ideas for their locomotives, and the contracts may have been given to Siemens instead. In that sense, in its role of a demonstrator it was a success.
In October 2006, the GNER put 89001 up for sale with a six-week deadline for bids. The AC Locomotive Group launched an appeal and fundraising effort to save the locomotive which was ultimately successful, purchasing the locomotive in December 2006. Plans for future restoration and use, along with further fundraising, are expected to be announced soon.
Currently the AC Locomotive Group have repainted Class 89 in its former InterCity Executive livery which can be viewed on the AC Locomotive Group's Website.
[edit] Principal data
- Weight: 105 tonnes
- Minimum radius curve negotiable: 80 metres
- Max. speed: 200 km/h (125 mph)
- Route availability: RA 6
- Brake force: 50
- ETH Index: 95
- Length over buffers: 19,800 mm (65 ft)
The class 89 loco when it first arrived at Bounds Green (Inter City) had a set of hand controls which could be plugged into an external plug and the loco moved by an operator from the ground position.
[edit] Other uses of Class 89
The Class 89 series has also been used for preserved diesel and electric locomotives (excluding shunters) registered to run on the mainline. The numbers are allocated in the following way:
- Third digit: 1-5 representing Types 1-5 (see here for details). Electric locomotives have also been allocated numbers in the 89xxx series, in the appropriate series for their power rating.
- Fourth and fifth digits: The last two digits of the locomotive's original number. If this results in a duplication of an existing number, then the number was increased by 1.
So, as an example, the Type 4 locomotive number D1062 was allocated 89462.
Current List as of June 6, 2006
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[edit] External links
- AC Locomotive Group - Owners of 89001
- Information and pictures of the locomotive in UK and Germany
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