British Rail Class 89

British Rail Class 89

89001 in GNER livery at Doncaster Works in July 2003

Type and origin Power type Electric Builder British Rail Engineering Limited Crewe Works Serial number 875 Build date 1986 Total produced 1

Specifications UIC class Co'Co' Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Wheel diameter 1.080 m (3 ft 6 1⁄2 in) Minimum curve 80 m (4 chains) Wheelbase 49 ft 6 1⁄2 in (15.100 m)  • Bogie 14 ft 5 in (4.39 m) Pivot centres 35 ft 9 1⁄4 in (10.903 m) Wheel spacing (Asymmetrical) 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) (bogie outer axles) 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) (bogie inner axles) Length 64 ft 11 in (19.79 m) Width 2.731 m (8 ft 11 1⁄2 in) Height: ​  • Pantograph 3.975 m (13 ft 0 1⁄2 in)  • Body height 3.810 m (12 ft 6 in) Axle load 17 long tons 7 cwt (17.6 t) Loco weight 105 tonnes (103 long tons; 116 short tons) Electric system(s) 25 kV AC catenary Current collection Brecknell Willis HS Pantograph Traction motors 6 × Brush Traction TM 2201A  • Continuous 808 Amps per motor MU working TDM Train heating Electric Train Heating 510kVA at 893V AC, index: 95 Loco brake Air & Rheostatic Train brakes Air Safety systems AWS Couplers Buckeye

Performance figures Maximum speed 125 mph (201 km/h) (design) 110 mph (180 km/h) (in service) Power output: ​  • Continuous 5,850 hp (4,360 kW) Tractive effort 46,100 lb (20,900 kg) (maximum) Loco brakeforce 50 tf (490 kN) (Rheostatic)

Career Operators InterCity GNER Class 89 Numbers 89001 Nicknames Aardvark The Badger Axle load class Route availability 6 Locale WCML ECML Delivered 2 October 1986 First run 9 February 1987 Withdrawn July 1992 (BR) 2001 (GNER) Preserved 89001 Current owner AC Locomotive Group Disposition 1 preserved

The Class 89 was a prototype design for an electric locomotive. Only one was built in 1986, by British Rail Engineering Limited's Crewe Works. It was used on test-trains on both the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines. It was fitted with advanced power control systems and developed over 6,000 bhp (4,500 kW). It was given the nickname Aardvark although railfans used to call it The Badger owing to its slanted front ends.

The Class 89 locomotive was designed by Brush Traction, Loughborough to meet a specification issued by British Rail, which subsequently changed the requirements, but not before Brush had already committed to build the prototype locomotive.

The locomotive had six DC traction motors. The main armature current for all the motors is fed from a common thyristor drive, whilst each motor has an independent field current controller. The field current controllers comprised a two quadrant chopper inside a thyristor bridge. The bipolar transistor based choppers provides a fast fine control of motor torque for electric braking and slip control, whilst the thyristor bridge is used to invert the field current polarity.