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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ต.ค. 2024
- LNER continue to hire-in Class 90 locomotives to haul and propel services in place of the usual Class 91's due to a shortage of serviceable Class 91's. Here we have a good chance to record the performance of 90019 on the 1B84 service from Kings Cross to Newark on Trent on a sunny November morning. Despite good sunny weather, the locomotive struggled to put its 5,000hp down at the start from Stevenage - suffering terrible wheelslip. Therefore the driver had to nurse the power in very slowly - meaning the train took 1 minute to reach a measly 18mph (30km/h), and almost 2.5 minutes to reach 60mph (95km/h). A 90 can normally reach 60mph in good conditions in around 70 seconds!!
By now the locomotive seemed to be a little more sure footed reaching 100mph (161km/h) in 4 mins and 20 seconds.
In good conditions, a '90' can haul a train to 100mph in just over 3 mins. 110mph (177 km/h) comes up in around 5 mins 17 seconds. The 90's lose around 3 to 4 minutes between Stevenage and Peterborough due to being limited to 110mph instead of 125mph (200km/h).
The Class 90's light weight and difficulty in applying power on wet rails is a known issue, making them one of the least popular locomotive for LNER drivers to drive. For passengers, the use of Class 90's doesn't present a huge issue, as the schedules are not too difficult to maintain. In the worst cases the train is usually only between 3 to 5 minutes late regarding the schedule due to its restriction to 110mph.
More than a minute to reach 20mph...? I think the driver had the power at less than 50% for most of that run. They can go much, much quicker than that.
Why is wheelslip worse for the 90 given it is heavier than the 91?
Most of it is likely based on acceleration rates if its too heavy and tried to go off the mark too quick, it may just slip Instead. But I have no idea. These trains look REALLLLYYY HEAVY!!!!