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The British Rail Class 91 is a class of , electric locomotives ordered as a component of the East Coast Main Line modernisation and electrification programme of the late 1980s. The Class 91s were given the auxiliary name of InterCity 225 to indicate their envisaged top speed of . The other end of the InterCity 225 train set is formed of a Mark 4 Driving Van Trailer, built with a similar body shell to the Class 91 locomotives. The locomotive body shells are of all-steel construction. Unusually, the motors are body mounted and drive bogie mounted gearboxes via cardan shafts. This reduces the unsprung mass and hence track wear at high speeds. The locomotive also features an under-slung transformer so that the body is relatively empty compared to contemporary electric locomotives. Much of the engineering was derived from the research and operational experience of the APT-P.〔〔"The Design and Development of the Class 91 Locomotive", P J Donnison and G R West, Main Line Railway Electrification Conference 1989 - Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1989.〕〔"The design, manufacture and assembly of the British Rail Class 91, 25 kV 225km/h locomotive", M L Broom and G W Smart, Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers Vol. 205, 1990.〕 == History == In 1985, ASEA, Brush and GEC tendered for the design and construction of the Class 91s. GEC subsequently won the bid and the fleet was built by sub-contractors BREL in Crewe between 1988 and 1991. The Class 91s began passenger service on 3 March 1989 when 91001 worked 1P26 17.36 London Kings Cross to Peterborough train. This train was formed of InterCity 125 Mark 3 coaches and a Class 43 power car converted for use as a DVT as the Mark 4 coaches were not yet ready. The Class 91s then began service on King's Cross to Leeds trains on 11 March 1989 when 91008 with a rake of Intercity 125 Mark 3 coaches and power car 43068 worked the 1D32 06:50 Kings Cross to Leeds service. The set then worked 1A12, the 10:00 Leeds to London Kings Cross service. In the early 1990s, after the cancellation of InterCity 250, British Rail examined the option of ordering a further set of ten Class 91s to operate on the West Coast Main Line with UK Treasury support, however the business case for these failed to prove sufficiently worthwhile.〔 〕 Limited funding meant that the procurement of the Class 365, Class 465 and Class 466 EMU Networker stock was taken forward instead of these. The asymmetric body style is streamlined at one end to allow high-speed operation with the fixed sets of Mark 4 coaches in normal push-pull passenger operation. An additional requirement of the design was that they could operate as normal locomotives. This led to a second cab being incorporated into the unstreamlined 'blunt end'; operating with the blunt end first limits the maximum speed of the locomotive to due to aerodynamic forces affecting the uplift of the pantograph. The fleet, previously operated by InterCity and then GNER, National Express East Coast and East Coast, it is currently run by Virgin Trains East Coast. Since privatisation, the fleet has been owned by Eversholt Rail Group who lease it to the operators. Between 2000 and 2003, the whole fleet underwent a refit (Project Delta) to improve reliability. This has resulted in the renumbering of the fleet from 910xx to 911xx. During this time, GNER hired in Class 90 locomotives to provide cover.〔 〕 A Class 91, 91010 (now 91110) holds the British locomotive speed record at , set on 17 September 1989, just south of Little Bytham on a test run down Stoke Bank with the DVT leading. Although both Class 370s and Class 373s have run faster, both types are EMUs, which means that the ''Electra'' is officially the fastest locomotive in Britain. Another loco (91031, now 91131), hauling five Mk4s and a DVT on a test run, once ran between London King's Cross and in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds, still the current record. The set covered the route in an average speed of , and reached the full several times during the run. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Rail Class 91」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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