The Railway Magazine – August 2019

August2019 •TheRailway Magazine•105

LNER Class 91 No.91108catches the finalrays of thesun on July 22 as it propels

the16.30 Edinburgh-London King’s Cross pastSandy,Bedfordshire. This working

wasmeanttohavebeen its last passenger train, but the locowas back in traffic

less thanaweek later.FRASER PITHIE

FirstClass91withdrawn to become spares donor

LNERClass 91 No.91108 became

the first of the 31-strong class

to be taken out of serviceon

July 22.

Withdrawal of Class 91s

wasanticipatedfollowing the

introduction of theHitachi

‘Azuma’trains on LNER services,

and is in line with LNER’s plans

to hand locos backto the leasing

company.

Theoperatormade no secret of

the withdrawal,and used social

mediato advise its intention and

publish the loco’sfinal di agram

forthe day, whichwasthe 05.40

Edinburgh-King’s Cross (Up

‘FlyingScotsman’), 11.00King’s

Cross-Edinburgh and 16.30

Edinburgh-King’s Cross

Partsavailabilityisb ecoming

moredifficult,sot he decision

has been madeto strip

No.91108 in order thatthe

components can be usedto ke ep

Class 91s in traffic.

Thelocowas expectedto

be stripped downat Wabtec

Doncaster,with asecond loco

withdrawal imminent.

During its 30years on the East

Coast Main Line,the locohas

carried the liveryofsix different

operators,was namedCityof

LeedsandThomasCook,and

covered 7.6 million miles.

Thelocowas temporarily back

in serviceonJuly 28, because of

other Class 91s needing more

repairs than usual.

TheClass 802s arebeing tested over awidearea, and set No.802215workedatest run

from HeatononJuly 17,markin gthe first visit of the classto Scarborough–and the

firstEMU,too.ANDYMASON

TRANSPENNINE Express has
accepted the firstHitachi Class 802
bi-mode train into its fleet.
Dubbed‘Nova 1’,TPE received
the setfollowing approval from
the Office of Rail and Road.
TPE has ordered 19 five-carriage
‘Nova 1’trains,each containing 342
seats ,ane xtra 161 comparedto its
currentClass 185trains.

They will be used between

Manchester,Leeds,York,

Newcastle andEdinburgh, and the

plan isto phase them into service

beforethe end of theyear.

In respectoft he‘Nova 2’and

‘Nova 3’fleets,these arestill

undergoing rigoroustesting.

The‘Nova 2’is aCAF-built,

five-car Class 397 EMU (12

ordered) which willwork be tween

Manchester Airportand Glasgow

or Edinburgh, while the‘Nova 3’

is aClass 68-hauled set of five

carriages,with adriving trailerat

one end.TPE sa ys it has accepted

three‘Nova 3’sets (alsoknownas

Mk5a carriages), but asaresult of

further faults thathaveemerged,

the first‘Nova 3’will enterservice

towardsthe end of summer.

Theproblem swith the sets are

seeingCAFandTPEwork closely

to resolvethem, but the delay

has hadasignificantimpacton

staff training,and moretime will

nowberequiredto co mpletethis

beforeentry to traffic.

Thereisapool of 66 carriages,

which will beformed into 13

five-car setsforuse between

Liverpool LimeStreet and

Scarbo rough viaManchester

Victoria, plusManchester Airport

to Middlesbrough.

When all three fleets areint raffic,

the new trains should provide

vastly increased capacitytor outes

in the north which have suffered

from chronicovercr owding.

TPE Class 802 No.802206 passes through Eastleigh on June 26 witha08.10

Eastleigh-NorthPole IEP Depottest run.MARK PIKE

TransPennine acceptsfirst Hitachi-built ‘Nova1’s et

Surplus UK EMUs forSouthAfrica?

EMUSmaderedundantint he UKby new

rollin gstock could findanew home in

South Africa.

ThemanagementofS outhAfrica ’s

Gautrain operation, an 80kmroutelinking

Pretoria, JohannesburgandTambo

International Airport, is lookingfor

second-handrolling stock afterafailed

tender bid in 2016for12new four-car

EMUs.

Gautrain operates afleet of 24 EMUs

based onBombardier’s ‘Electrostar’design.

Thefirst fewtrainswerebuilt inDerby,

with theremainder assembled inSouth

Africa.Thegauge andoverheadvoltage are

the same as the UK.

Gautrain is understoodto be lookingfor

30 carriages,and one possiblecontender

could be theStansted Express Class 379s.

Likethe Gautrain EMUs, they arepartof

the‘Electrostar’family with manycommon

components.The fleet of 30‘379s’are due

to be maderedundantbyt he newStadler

Class 745/1 EMUs.

DB CargotosellmoreClass60s

THE latest tender list from DBCarg ohas

afurther fiveClass 60s upforsale.

Thefivelisted areNos.60006, 60050,

60060, 60081 and 60086, all of which

areatToton.

No.60006waswithd rawn in

November 2004, so has spent15years

in store, marginally longer than its

working life.

No.60081 becameacelebritymember

of the class when itwasrepaintedin

GWRgreen in 2000, and the original

BleaklowHillnamereplaced with

IsambardKingdom Brunel.

However, the locosuffered a

catastrophic engine failureand was

withdrawn.

Threeofthe locos–Nos.60006, 60050

and60081–had previously been

offeredforsale in 2010.

Four Class 60s on anotherrecent

tender list–Nos.60028/038/046/055

–weresold to DCRail’s owners,the

Cappagh Group.

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