Leading the way for electric traction and an evolution from first generation prototypes, veteran AL6 86251 joins our fleet after more then twenty years in storage.

 

 

Pre History & Production:

1. Electrification of the WCML

In the British Railways Modernisation Plan of 1955, proposals were developed to deliver an electrification scheme across the mainlines. The West Coast Mainline was the first to be selected.

The work would take place in stages from 1959 finishing in 1974. This modernisation plan would upgrade track and signalling to allow for higher line speed, electrification of the route with the installation of 25KV overhead line equipment and the rebuilding of several stations along the route.

The first phase was completed in September 1960 from Manchester to Crewe, before Crewe to Liverpool followed in January 1962. Three years later in 1965 electrification reached London Euston, the next year electric services commenced between London to Liverpool & Manchester.

Electrification of the routes to Birmingham and Manchester via Stoke On Trent was finished in 1967. With electrification reaching Glasgow via Weaver Junction in May 1974.

2. The Prototypes

With electrification, came the requirement for one hundred AC Electric locomotives for both passenger and freight services. The testing for AC traction equipment was completed by modifying gas turbine loco 18100. Testing took place on the section between Crewe and Manchester in 1959, with the locomotive being redesignated as E1000.

During this time British Railways had subcontracted various manufacturers to deliver a fleet of new AC Electric Locomotives for the newly electrified mainline with five being shortlisted. The companies selected were The Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Ltd, Metropolitan Vickers, English Electric and the North British Locomotive Company.

The first locos to emerge was a fleet of twenty five AL1s (Class 81) built by The Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Ltd with twenty type A mixed traffic locos, and five type B heavy freight locos.

Next up was the order for ten AL2s (Class 82) built by Metropolitan Vickers, which was the heaviest and most powerful design due to their underframe and body being built separately compared to the integral / semi integral construction of previous trains.

English Electric was third with fifteen AL3s (Class 83) with twelve being classified as type A, and three classified type B. These locos were built with a smaller body and a lightweight design. Despite them being the lowest powered out of the prototypes, they had no issue reaching the 100mph requirements for the WCML.

The final order was for AL4s (Class 84) which ten locomotives were produced by GEC in partnership with North British Locomotive Company. These locomotives were fitted with rectifiers which converted the AC current into DC.

This fleet of various prototypes were tested along the Manchester – Crewe leg from 1959 to 1960.

The first public service ran by the AC Electrics was ran by AL4 E3040 on September 12th 1960 as the 12:15 service from Manchester to Plymouth.

As the electrification programme continued from 1960 onwards, the fleet of locomotives were extensively tested for research which would help with the design and production of future models.

The AL3 was the first to be withdrawn and put into storage as the water cooled rectifiers proved to be heavily unreliable. The AL4s had suffered a notably poor ride quality as well as similar issues to the AL3 with their rectifiers which were exacerbated due to differences in their design which had them withdrawn in 1963 for modifications.

Out of the prototypes the AL2 and AL2 had come out on top due to their high availability and efficiency and was used as a testbed with the production of a fifth prototype designated as the AL5 or Class 85. Forty locomotives were built from 1961 to 1964. E3056 was the first loco built.

The impact on the new AC Electric services can’t be understated, with the success being reflected by the introduction of a new and grey livery and the birth of the Inter-City sector.

3. The Introduction of the 86s.

Through the knowledge and experience gained on the AL1-5 range a new standard for AC traction was born. An order for one hundred new locomotives was placed in 1963, with construction starting in 1965 to 1966. British Rail at Doncaster Works, along with English Electric at their Vulcan Foundry works would produce a standard production AC Locomotive which would be called the AL6.

The AL6 was very similar to the prototype locomotives taking design elements such as the general construction of the bodies and bogies and control systems. These locomotives would differ with their flat front ends, single pantographs and quieter cooling fans. The biggest noticeable different in construction was their traction motors now being axel hung instead of frame mounted like previous designs.

The new AL6s entered service in August 1965, however it wasn’t long until the Class had experienced a few troubles early into their career. They became infamous for their rough ride quality which caused track damage. The traction motors being axel hung also caused damage at speeds over 90mph due to the addition unsprung mass. Modifications occurred after E3173 was trialled with flexicoil springs which improved suspension and modifications were made to the first batch of locomotives.

in the very early eighties, British Railways started to use the TOPs classification system which saw the AL6s being reclassified as the Class 86s.

The locos were separated into two subclasses from 1971 onwards with 86001-86048 remaining in as built condition with top speed reduced to 80mph and restricted to slower passenger runs and freight services.  The second subclass would be the Class 86/2 (86204 – 86252) which was fitted with the improved suspension and retained 100mph top speed. A further batch of 86 040 to 86 048 was modified shortly after into the /2 subclass and became 86253 to 86261. Of the newly reclassified fleet was Class 86 251 which was given the nameplate “The Birmingham Post” named after the newspaper.

In 1970 three Class 86s were modified into a test bed for the development of the Class 87. Being numbered 86201 to 203 and being fitted with BP9 bogies however they were quickly renumbered to 86/1s. These locomotives were capable of reaching 110mph.

4. Further Modifications & Standardisation

By the late 1970s there was a requirement for more locomotives capable of reaching 100mph which paved the way for the Class 86/3s. This meant the modification of nineteen Class 86/0s by adding SAB resilient wheels which was a new design of wheel which allowed their top speed to be raised. 86011 to 86029 were renumbered to to 86311 to 86329. The SAB wheels were found to be insufficient at protecting track damage and a decision was made to standardise the rest of the fleet.

in 1984 British Rail decided to refit all of their remaining 86/0s and 86/3s with flexicoil suspension. All of the modified Class 86/0s and /3s were reclassified again as 86/4s to allow a standardised fleet capable of 100mph operations.

In the mid to late 1980s, the Great Eastern Mainline was further electrified from Colchester through to Ipswich and Norwich, express services employed several Class 86s coupled with MK2s for these routes.

Also in the late 1980s, Class 86/2s and 86/4s were fitted with time-division multiplexing to allow them to operate push pull services with newly introduced Driving Van Trailers from 1988 on the WCML. DBSOs were transferred from the railways in Scotland to the Great Eastern Mainline to run with their 86s.

5. Sectorisation and into the 90s.

In the 1980s British Rail saw sectorisation which saw the fleet of Class 86s split up to multiple divisions. The Class 86/2s were allocated to the InterCity sector, whilst the majority of Class 86/4s were allocated to parcel and freight duties. As a result, these reallocated locomotives had their electric train heating isolated and were regeared for a lower max speed of 75mph. These Class 86/4s were reclassified again to Class 86/6s, they most recently saw service on Freightliner and was withdrawn in 2021 and exported.

Eight Class 86/2s somehow found their way on freight duties and were reclassified as Class 86/5s being renumbered to 86501 to 86508. This was before the InterCity sector decided at some point they may want them back at some stage, and was then turned back into 86/2s. In 1992 six Class 86/6s were returned to parcel use. 86405, 86411, 86414, 86415, 86428 and 86431 were renumbered back into their /4 variants.

The 1990s was where sectorisation become privatisation and the wide fleet of Class 86s was split across multiple ROSCOs and routes. The Class 86/1s and /2s were sold to Eversholt Leasing Company and hired to InterCity West Coast and Cross Country. A fleet of seven Class 86/2s passed to Rail Express Systems, later EWS. Eight 86/4s and ten 86/6s moved to Freightliner with the remainder being sold to Porterbrook and leased back to Freightliner.

During the late 1990s, use of the Class 86s began to slowly trickle. With several write offs and units being placed into storage.

6. Privatisation, withdrawals and the end of 86 251.

In the late 1990s a number of locomotives began being put into storage as “Christmas Tree” locomotives for spare parts. In 1997 86239 L S Lowry was written off in a crash at Stafford.

Also in 1997, one of the most iconic and longest running TOCs took over the West Coast Mainline. Virgin Trains entered the industry inheriting the West Coast Fleet of Class 86s, 87s and 90s. One of Virgin’s franchise commitments was to replace the aging BR era locos and rolling stock with state of the art tilting express trains capable at running up to 140mph. In 1999 Virgin had signed a deal to lease forty-four eight and nine car express multiple units designated as the Class 390, to be built by Alstom. This new lease deal had confirmed the time of West Coast Class 86s was starting to come to an end.

In 2002, several Class 86/2s were withdrawn and placed into storage at Long Marston being displaced by new Class 220, 221 and Class 390 units. Other Class 86s would operate way past 2002 including the Anglia Class 86s, and Freightliner Class 86s.

Amongst those sent for storage was 86 251 “The Birmingham Post” which we’ll now follow from this point.

Class 86 251 was one of several Class 86s, along with 87s moved to Long Marston for cold storage in 2002. It is during this time she lost her nameplate. It is currently unknown what has happened to it.

86 251 was purchased by Europhoenix for possible reactivation with operators in Bulgaria and Hungary however this locomotive was not selected and was further sold to Freightliner as a spares donor for their fleet of Class 86/6s and was moved to Crewe Basford Hall Yard. 251 was sold along with 86229 and 86247.

86 251 spent a considerable amount of time at Basford Hall Yard being left virtually untouched in terms of components before being hauled by road to CF Booth in Rotherham for disposal in late 2022, over twenty years after last seeing service. 86251 was stripped in December 2022 to support Europhoneix’s Class 86s in service overseas before being finally scrapped in January 2023.

In March 2023 after the release of the Class 442 tags. We received delivery of a large section of bodyside from 86 251 which was originally scheduled to be our Edition Three released before we realised that more time was needed spent on the Class 86 before release.

Despite 86251 being relatively unloved throughout the last 20 years, she holds significance being the first Electric Loco and the thickest tag we have produced being nearly 1cm thick. We are sure you are going to love these tags as much as we have seeing them come together.

The first batch of Class 86 tags are out now, with the full release out by mid August due to a planned holiday at the beginning of the month.

It has taken us a little while, but we are proud to introduce Class 86 251 “The Birmingham Post” to the Rail Tags fleet.

 

We will be back soon with Rail Tags Edition Six.