HAS EUROPHOENIX'S CLASS 91 DREAM REACHED THE END OF THE ROAD?

By Jonathan Webb

Back in 2019 Europhoenix acquired two former LNER (London North Eastern Railway) class 91s locos – with a view to exporting them to Hungary, where they would be employed on freight work. It had been envisaged that up to 20 other class 91s could have followed in the same footsteps.

The two locomotives – 91117 and 91120 –were bought from Eversholt Rail Group, after coming off lease from LNER, as the Hitachibuilt Azumas started to take over more and more diagrams along the East Coast Main Line that links London with Edinburgh.

However, the Coronavirus pandemic saw these well laid out plans cast asunder – both locomotives were in the process of being prepared for export when the outbreak saw proceedings grind to a halt. Any suggestion that they could be used in the UK was refuted by Europhoenix who said that it was very “unlikely” as “there just isn't anything for them to do”. It is envisaged that the locomotives will work as a permanent pair – blunt ends coupled together. Having spent a lifetime hauling expresses at high-speed, the class 91s have had to be regeared to a lower rating so that they are suitable for heavy freight haulage duties.

It's not the first time Europhoenix has pur- chased redundant British locomotives with a view to exporting them. Hungary was the destination for a number of class 56s and 86s, with the company also supplying Bulgaria with class 86s and 87s.

The delay in exporting the two class 91s corresponded with a challenging economic climate – resulting in a reduced requirement for their use oversees. Europhoenix is still confident, however, that an operator can be found for the class 91s. In the meantime 91120 has gone on an initial 12 month loan to Crewe Heritage Centre – just a short distance from where it rolled off the production line at Crewe Works. The agreement may be extended if Europhoenix still has no requirement for it after that period. 91117 remains stored at Barrow Hill, where it has donated a number of parts to preserved 89001, a fellow East Coast Main Line regular. While a number of class 91s are still in service with LNER, some have already been broken up for scrap. As the years pass, it becomes increasingly unlikely that the class will find work once LNER has finished with them.

Relatively expensive

Open air storage is never good news for any redundant stock – even more so if that stock happens to be electric. Even if the two Europhoenix locomotives do find use oversees, there is still the inherent problem of operating a fleet of two – something that can make operation difficult in terms of spares and general maintenance.

This in turn can make a small fleet relatively expensive to operate, and with one of the two already having been partially stripped, even an optimist would have to conclude that maybe the best chance of them being exported is in a shipping container of scrap to China. Not all gambles pay off and the shock ways of the Ukraine war coupled with a general recession due to the pandemic were two things that no one would ever have thought about factoring into any future business plan.