DB Class 90s up for sale Class 150 LNR comeback fast approaches

FOLLOWING its decision to withdraw its last remaining operational Class 90, No. 90039, from service in July, DB Cargo put 12 members of the class up for sale.

Nos. 90017/018/022/023/025 /027/030/031/032/033/038 and 90040, all in storage at Crewe, were offered on a ‘sold as seen’ basis in a bidding process that closed on September 29.

The locomotives make up half of the DB Cargo Class 90 fleet.

In July, DB Cargo UK chief executive Andrea Rossi said that the “continuing high cost of energy” meant there was no sense in incurring additional costs in running and maintaining Class 90s when the company had Class 66 diesel locomotives available.

ELEVEN months after the temporary suspension of trains serving the

Marston Vale route, London Northwestern Railway (LNR) is preparing to restart a peak-time service using former Northern Class 150/1 ‘Sprinters’ Nos. 150137,

150139 and 150141.

On a test run under the control of a driver instructor, No. 150137 became the first of the units, all transferred from Newton Heath depot, to complete a journey along the line (from Bletchley to Bedford and return) on September 22.

Network Rail, which has been working in partnership with LNR to ensure the line is ready for the return of passenger services, began running Rail Head Treatment

Trains (RHTTs) in preparation for the more frequent traffic.

Crew training has been underway for the past month and began with a cohort of drivers with previous experience of operating Class 150/1s (which were used on the route until 2019 when services were taken over by Class 230s). However, three quarters of the drivers who will work trains on the route have no previous experience of the class.

The Class 230s were withdrawn and the service suspended when Vivarail, which supplied and maintained the trains, went into administration last December.

A full timetable is expected to be restored early next year.

LNR Class 150/1 No. 150137 was the first of the LNR’s three ‘Sprinters’ transferred from Northern for Marston Vale services to make a return trip along the line. It is pictured at Bedford during that test run on September 22.