History

The sole Class 89 locomotive was built at BREL Crewe Works, under sub contract from Brush Traction at  Loughborough. The locomotive was originally intended to be the pioneer of a fleet of locomotives that would replace the old motive power on the East Coast Main Line. Leaving Crewe Works in 1986, the loco was first taken to Brush at Loughborough for testing. Then moved to the Railway Technical Centre at Derby a year later for type testing and acceptance procedures which, once completed, saw it taken to Crewe Electric Depot to start testing on the Southern part of the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

While allocated to Crewe, the locomotive made a number of test trips, both with and without security in the form of another locomotive in tow. No. 89001 was accepted into traffic in March 1988, but included in the safety case was a clause allowing operation only on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Becoming the first electric locomotive to haul a passenger train into Leeds station, 89001 was also a regular performer on the evening Kings Cross-Peterborough commuter trains.

While this testing and limited operation was taking place, BR had decided not to opt for the Class 89 design and instead signed an order for the design and build of 31 mixed traffic locomotives capable of 140mph from BREL, later designated the Class 91. This, effectively, killed the Class 89 project with any further orders extremely unlikely and on suffering a major fault, saw 89001 taken out of traffic and dumped at Bounds Green depot. Repairs were not authorised and the locomotive was offered for sale and was sold to a group of Brush Traction employees whose main aim was to prevent it from being scrapped.

On winning the East Coast Main Line franchise, new operators GNER planned to increase train frequency between London and Leeds and, given the reliability of the Class 91 fleet was not high enough to allow an extra locomotive in traffic, another solution was needed. The owners of 89001 approached the operator and a deal was concluded that would see GNER's parent company Sea Containers take ownership of 89001 and return it to main line service.

After release from Brush Traction, the loco operated services between London and Leeds without any problems, but following an incident in which its traction motors became waterlogged, it spent a long period out of service at Loughborough awaiting the spare parts to become available to effect the repair.  GNER decided that hiring an EWS Class 90 was a more cost effective option as 89001 was non standard and any major faults would require large periods out of service and cost large sums to rectify, while also hiring in cover.

The embarkation on a major refurbishment programme for the 91s was the final straw for 89001 and the loco was sent for storage at Doncaster Works. In early 2002, the loco was taken by rail back to Bounds Green depot in London for use as a static train supply unit, a move which was reversed in late 2002 when the loco was taken back to Doncaster.

Current Status

On approaching owners Sea Containers regarding the locomotives future, the AC Loco Group were given custodianship of 89001 which saw the locomotive make the move to the groups Barrow Hill HQ in December 2004. Work by the group to make the locomotive fit for main line travel was completed, and, in September 2005 it visited both the Bombardier Crewe Works Open Days and also the ACORP 'Community Rail Festival' in Norwich.

There is, unfortunately, no realistic future for 89001 on the main line, or indeed, anything other than a static exhibit due to the costs involved in such a project costs such as On Train Monitoring Recorders (OTMR), along with repairs to its traction motors which was the initial reason for storage.

Visit the AC Loco Group website for more information on 89001.