| I took this one at Peterborough in 1998, having never seen an Intercity 225 high speed train before, and being quite impressed when I did. Intercity 225s, like 125s, have a locomotive or cab control car (the British call them driving van trailers, or DVTs) at each end, and conventional passenger cars in the middle. "225" indicates a 225 Km/h operating speed (see below). The only reason they're considered trainsets is that the coaches and the locomotives were designed to complement each other, even if they would occassionally be used seperately. The locomotive on an Intercity 225 is always on the north end, and the DVT on the south end. Since 225s are only used on the East Coast Mainline from London King's Cross to Edinburgh, this isn't as odd as it sounds. The locomotive is almost always a Class 91, as here, although it is sometimes possible to see an older Class 90 substituting, and during the development of the 225 in the late 1980s, BR also experimented with a one-of-a-kind electric locomotive called the Class 89, named "Avocet." With privatisation of the East Coast Mainline in 1996, Great North Eastern Railway acquired the Avocet, along with the Intercity 225 fleet. Last I heard, it was being used as a stationary power supply at Doncaster Works, although it may have been reassigned by now. I HAVE seen it in service on an Intercity 225, though, in 1999. In any case, the Class 91s develop 6000 horsepower, and top out at about 156 m.p.h. (250Km/h), but they were designed to operate at 140 m.p.h. (225Km/h), this follows the British principle of 10% overspeed capability. In any case, they haven't officially run at more than 125 m.p.h. since the testing period, due to inadequate signalling on the East Coast Mainline. In any case, getting back to my story, this run was still very, very fast, and we got to our destination in York five minutes early. |