British Rail Class 86


The British Rail Class 86 is the standard electric locomotive built during the 1960s. One hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965 to 1966, either by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows or British Rail at their Doncaster works. The class was built to haul trains on the then newly electrified West Coast Main Line; from London Euston to Birmingham,, Liverpool, Manchester and later Glasgow and. The class assisted in replacing steam locomotives, which were finally withdrawn by British Rail in 1968.
Under the earlier BR classification system, the type was given the designation AL6 and locomotives were numbered E3101-E3200. In 1968, this was changed to Class 86 when British Rai introduced the TOPS classification system.

Development

The class was developed as a result of experience with the earlier prototype classes 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85, which had been produced by different manufacturers, in the early days of the WCML electrification, as testbeds for locomotive development.
The AL6 featured design elements pioneered on the earlier classes, such as the general construction of the bodies and bogies, and control systems. However, some design features were unique, such as the squarer front ends, as opposed to the raked back noses of the earlier designs. Another difference was the lack of a second pantograph. The cooling fans on the AL6 were also specially designed to produce less noise than the earlier locos.

British Rail service

The class was officially introduced into service in August 1965. The entire fleet was delivered into service within 24 months of that date. In the early years, the locomotives became notorious for track damage, being fitted with axle-hung traction motors in place of the bogie-frame-mounted motors of the earlier designs. This additional unsprung mass was causing damage at high speeds. In 1969, E3173 was fitted experimentally with the large helical 'flexicoil' springs which can be seen on present day versions, giving it the nickname "Zebedee". Trials carried out under the direction of the British Rail Research Division proved successful and the modification was applied gradually to the whole fleet.
As a result, a batch of locomotives was modified with improved suspension and modified wheels and, from 1971 onwards, locomotives were progressively renumbered into the 86 001-048 and 86 204-252 series. Within a short time, a further batch was modified to the new specification: 86 040-048 were renumbered 86 253-261.
At the same time, three locomotives were converted into test-bed locomotives for development of the Class 87, initially numbered 86 201-86 203, refitted with BP9 bogies and quickly renumbered 86 101-86 103. These locomotives are capable of running. The most obvious visual difference between the classes is that the Class 86 has a windscreen with three windows, whereas the Class 87 only has two; likewise Class 86 was fitted with headcode boxes while Class 87 was built without them.
Throughout the 1970s, the class saw use on both express passenger and freight services. Locomotives in the 860xx series had their maximum speed reduced to 80 mph in 1979, due to the excessive rough riding and were then used mainly on freight, whilst the higher-speed 861xx and 862xx series tended to be used primarily for passenger trains. In 1980, a number of class 86/0s were modified to class 86/3s by the use of SAB resilient wheels - a new design of wheel in two sections separated by a rubber bearing which enabled a return to 100 mph operations.
In 1974, demand for electric locomotives grew due to the extension of electrification north from to Carlisle and Glasgow. From 1978 onwards, BR started to name some of their Class 86 fleet; many of them after cities or counties along the lines that they worked.
From 1985, electrification from London Liverpool Street to, Harwich, and saw the class employed on passenger trains to these towns. 86259 was the first electric locomotive to reach Ipswich under its own power. In addition, many of the freightliner trains to were also hauled as far as Ipswich by Class 86 locomotives working in multiple.
By the end of the 1980s, the need for a standard fleet saw all remaining Class 86/0 and Class 86/3 locomotives fitted with improved suspension and converted to Class 86/4. These locomotives were now inter-operable with Class 86/2 and thus gave greater operational flexibility.
A later development saw Class 86/2 and 86/4 locomotives fitted with TDM to enable them to operate push-pull passenger trains, to avoid having to run the locomotive round a train at a terminus. The 86/4s were already fitted with an older multiple-working system and this was gradually phased out after TDM was fitted across the fleet.
In the late-1980s and early-1990s, the majority of the Class 86/4 subclass were dedicated to freight traffic. As a result, they had their electric train heating isolated and their maximum speed reduced to. These locomotives were reclassified as Class 86/6 and were renumbered by adding 200 to their number. Eight Class 86/2 locomotives were also dedicated to freight work and were reclassified as Class 86/5, being renumbered into the range 86 501-508. However, the InterCity sector of BR decided that it wanted these locomotives back, so they were soon renumbered back as Class 86/2 locomotives. For a period of 1 year starting on 10 May 1992, 6 Class 86/6s were returned to Parcels use. These were renumbered back to class 86/4, as follows: 86 405, 86 411, 86 414, 86 415, 86 428 and 86 431. All six remained in Railfreight Triple Grey.
The late-1980s also saw the introduction of many new liveries. The class had previously only worn electric blue when built, replaced by the standard BR Blue livery from 1967. The first new livery was introduced by the InterCity sector in 1984 with the unveiling of a 'InterCity Executive' livery, with dark grey upper body, tan lower body separated by red and white stripes, with wrap around yellow cabsides and yellow cab roofs.
InterCity undertook a rebranding of InterCity Swallow livery in 1987 on InterCity 125s, Class 90s and Class 91s, which were in the final stages of construction. Class 86/4s were still used on a mixed traffic basis on InterCity express trains, parcels, Speedlink and Freightliner traffic, so a modernised version of InterCity livery was used, commonly known as 'Mainline' livery. The red and white stripes and tan bands covered the whole bodyside, and the roof was dark grey. The whole of the ends were painted yellow, although some were repainted dark grey around the front windows.
It wasn't until 1990 that the first Class 86 received InterCity Swallow livery, when a full sector ownership was established.
The Railfreight sector introduced its new two tone grey livery in 1987, initially without sub-sector logos due to shared operations on speedlink and Freightliner duties. Four Class 86s received Railfreight General logos from June 1988, but all Class 86/6 locomotives carried Railfreight Distribution livery beginning in January 1990. Finally, the parcels sector introduced a new red and grey livery with repaints from July 1990 to July 1991, which was replaced with Rail Express Systems livery applied between December 1991 to February 1995.

Former operators

In the mid-1990s, British Rail was privatised and the Class 86 fleet was divided among several operators. These are dealt with separately below.

Anglia Railways / 'one'

Anglia Railways was one of three passenger franchises to inherit the class. A fleet of 15 locomotives were inherited, which were used to exclusively haul London Liverpool Street- express services. The locomotives were used in push-pull mode with Mk.2E/Mk.2F coaching stock and a DBSO, which removed the need for the locomotive to swap ends at the termini. Generally, the locomotive was at the south, or London, end of a formation, with the DBSO at the north, or country, end of the train - this was to aid simple switchover of locomotives by their home at Norwich Crown Point depot.
In 1998, Anglia Railways introduced a new livery of turquoise, with a central white stripe. The first locomotive to be treated was no. 86 223 Norwich Union, followed quickly by no. 86 218 NHS 50. Over the next few years the whole fleet was treated as they received works overhauls at Springburn Works, Glasgow.
Over the years, several of the Anglia fleet were withdrawn following mishaps. For example, nos. 86 220, 86 221 and 86 237, were withdrawn in 2002, 2003 and 2004 respectively, following transformer failures. Another machine, no. 86 252, was written off in 2002 after catching fire near Colchester on 1 December 2001 whilst no. 86 257 was withdrawn in 2003 due to its general bad condition. These locomotives were replaced by locomotives made redundant from Virgin CrossCountry or West Coast franchises. Another locomotive, no. 86 227, was reinstated to traffic in 2002 after being stored for many years. It was repainted in a variation of Anglia's turquoise livery, with a large Union Flag painted on the side and named Golden Jubilee to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's 50th anniversary of her reign.
The first major changes to the fleet occurred in late 2002, when Anglia started to hire Class 90 locomotives from Freightliner. This was because, at the time, the Class 86 fleet was suffering from reliability problems. In late 2003, Anglia swapped to using English Welsh & Scottish owned Class 90 locomotives, hiring up to five at any one time. Consequently, the use of the Class 86 fleet was decreased, which subsequently allowed reliability to improve.
In early 2004, two locomotives suffered from serious transformer failures. One locomotive, no. 86 246, was subsequently repaired, but the other, no. 86 237, was withdrawn and later scrapped. This prompted the suggestion that the Anglia Class 86 fleet be replaced by the 15 Class 90 locomotives from Virgin Trains, which were soon to be made redundant by the introduction of new Class 390 "Pendolino" units.
On 1 April 2004, the Anglia Railways franchise ended and the franchise was merged with the other operators in East Anglia to form the new Greater Anglia franchise operated by One. With this came the news that the Class 86 fleet would progressively be replaced by Class 90 locomotives, cascaded from Virgin Trains. The first day of the new franchise saw two Class 90 locomotives unveiled in the new franchisee's 'one' livery. However, despite this announcement, one Class 86 locomotive, no. 86 235, was authorised a complete overhaul, somewhat surprising considering its bleak future. As such, this locomotive became the last to receive classified repairs.
For the first few months of the new franchise, all of the Class 86 fleet was retained, to insure against reliability issues with the new Class 90 locomotives. However, in October 2004, the fleet was reduced to just six examples, these being nos. 86 218/232/234/235/246/260. The rest were withdrawn but three were subsequently sold to Fragonset Railways. By December, the fleet stood at just two operational locomotives, these being nos. 86 235 Crown Point and 86 246 Royal Anglian Regiment. These were the last two locomotives to receive classified repairs and consequently were the most reliable, in theory at least.
It was originally planned to withdraw these final two locomotives on 31 December 2004. However, all did not go to plan, as the replacement Class 90 locomotives did not prove to be as reliable as hoped. Therefore, two locomotives were reprieved until at least March 2005. A final twist saw no. 86 232 repaired, replacing no. 86 246, which had again suffered from a serious failure. A third locomotive, no. 86 234, was also repaired and briefly returned to traffic in April 2005, but was later stored again after failing. The last two locomotives saw occasional use, when insufficient Class 90 locomotives were available. By mid-2005, no. 86 232 was out of use and no. 86 235 was operational but not used. The final use of the class came on 17 September 2005, when no. 86 235 was used on several Norwich-London return trips to mark its retirement from service. This brought an end to 40 years of Class 86-hauled passenger trains.

Colas Rail

86 701 joined the Colas Rail fleet and was painted into the Colas Rail yellow and orange livery in October 2012. This, however, was short lived, as it was withdrawn from mainline use in January 2013. In 2015, it was used for contractual work at Ilford depot. In March 2016, it was transferred to Europhoenix, where it was subsequently exported to Bulgaria for further use.

Caledonian Sleeper

On 31 March 2015, the new Caledonian Sleeper contract started, following takeover of the contract from DB Schenker. In February 2015, 86 101 was repainted into the new Caledonian Blue livery. From 31 March 2015, 86 101 was used to convey the empty sleeper coaching stock between Wembley and London Euston, along with 87 002. After a lengthy refurbishment, 86 401 joined the Caledonian Sleeper fleet on 8 August 2015. In October 2019, the class 86s were withdrawn, primarily due to coupler incompatibility, and returned to the AC Locomotive Group.

English, Welsh & Scottish Railway

English Welsh & Scottish inherited a small fleet of 15 locomotives, when it bought the Rail Express Systems parcels business. The locomotives were employed on mail trains from London King's Cross to and Birmingham to Glasgow. One of the locomotives, no. 86 239 "LS Lowry", was destroyed in an accident at Stafford in 1996.
EWS soon diversified the use of its fleet, hiring its locomotives to charter train operators and also to Virgin Trains, to supplement their unreliable fleet. Three locomotives were repainted into EWS's red and gold livery.
The rundown of the fleet started in 2001, when the locomotives were replaced on charter and mail trains by Class 67 or Class 90 locomotives. They saw continued use with Virgin Trains, however, but were gradually withdrawn as new Class 390 Pendolino units entered service, reducing the need for hired locomotives. By the end of their working careers, most of the EWS locomotives were in an appalling state and suffered from numerous failures. The final locomotives, nos. 86 210/401/424 were withdrawn from traffic in late 2002.
Following withdrawal from traffic, two locomotives were subsequently reinstated and hired to Freightliner, on a long-term contract. This was due to a Class 90 locomotive, no. 90 150, being written off due to fire damage, resulting in a shortage of electric traction. The two locomotives were repainted into Freightliner's racing green livery and employed on intermodal traffic, with the rest of Freightliner's Class 86 fleet. The contract ended in mid-2004, following deliveries of new Class 66 locomotives, meaning that the two electric locomotives were surplus to requirements and they were withdrawn from traffic.
In late 2003, with the exception of the two locomotives on hire to Freightliner, EWS advertised all of its remaining locomotives for sale. Most were subsequently sold for scrap, but one locomotive was preserved, whilst two others were sold for further use with Network Rail and reclassified class 86/9. The former Freightliner pair were sold to C F Booth in late 2005.

FM Rail

FM Rail briefly leased several locomotives from HSBC Rail. These locomotives were previously used by Anglia Railways, Virgin Cross-Country and Virgin West Coast. One locomotive, ex-Virgin 86 212, was hauled to East Ham Depot in London to be used for carriage power duties for the new Blue Pullman train. However, it did not operate services on the mainline.
FM Rail entered administration in December 2006, without having returned any of their Class 86 locomotives to traffic and they were returned to the lease company.

Hull Trains

The open-access passenger operator Hull Trains obtained the use of 86 101, between January and April 2008, to provide cover in the short term for its badly damaged Class 222 Pioneer DMU. The locomotive, together with a rake of Mark 3 coaches, was introduced to public services between London and Doncaster on 11 January 2008, following several months of tests and training, and ran until 20 April 2008 when Class 180 Adelante DMUs were introduced to the service.

Vintage Trains

In 2008, privately owned and preserved 86 259 was returned to service on the main line, regaining the name of its owner "Les Ross". It was operated on occasional charters by Vintage Trains, from their base at Tyseley, and, from 2011, was based at Willesden and available for ad-hoc charters. By August 2011, it had covered 5.7 million miles in service. It is currently cleared for operation at up to.
86 259 is no longer connected to Vintage Trains.

Virgin Trains

The Virgin Trains group was formed of two franchises: CrossCountry and InterCity West Coast.

CrossCountry

The CrossCountry franchise inherited a fleet of 19 locomotives. These were employed on various services, such as Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool, Edinburgh or. Other services continued south to Birmingham International, whilst others originated from Preston. At Birmingham New Street and Preston, in particular, it was common for the Class 86 locomotive to be removed and replaced with a Class 47 diesel locomotive, before the service continued south to destinations such as Bristol,,,, and.
From 1998 onwards, locomotives began to be outshopped in the new Virgin Trains red and black livery. However, a few locomotives, namely nos. 86 207/214/224/234/249/253 retained the old InterCity livery.
In mid-2001, Virgin CrossCountry started to introduce new Class 220 "Voyager" and Class 221 "Super-Voyager" units. These new trains enabled Virgin to start to retire its older traction. Several of the early withdrawals were transferred to other operators, such as nos. 86 234 and 86 242. However, the majority of locomotives were retained in service until September 2002, when virtually the entire fleet was withdrawn en masse. Prior to this, Virgin had specially repainted no. 86 253 in InterCity livery to commemorate its final few months in traffic. The final Cross-Country operated service was actually operated by no. 86 233, from the West-Coast fleet, which had been repainted in original electric blue livery a few weeks earlier.
Since withdrawal from traffic, several locomotives have been scrapped at Immingham Railfreight Terminal. A few locomotives were sold to other operators, for further use, such as no. 86 253 to Network Rail and nos. 86 231/251 to Fragonset Railways. One locomotive, no. 86 249, was retained by Virgin until late-2004, as a driver-training locomotive at Polmadie depot in Glasgow.

West Coast

The InterCity West Coast franchise inherited a small fleet of thirteen locomotives, which were employed on West Coast Main Line express trains from London Euston to Birmingham,, Manchester,, Carlisle and. By 2001, the fleet had been cut to nine locomotives, with 86 209 being transferred to Anglia Railways and three more withdrawn from traffic.
In 1998, no. 86 229 became the first of the class to be repainted in Virgin's red and black livery. By 2001, all except one locomotive had been repainted in this livery.
The West Coast fleet contained several 'celebrity' locomotives, including no. 86 245 "Caledonian", which was repainted into a variant of the Virgin livery using Caledonian Railway blue in place of the standard red, to celebrate the company's 150th Anniversary. In 2002, no. 86 233 was specially repainted into original electric blue to commemorate the last few months in traffic for the fleet. One locomotive, no. 86 228, also retained in the old InterCity livery.
In mid-2003, the rundown of the fleet started as new Class 390 Pendolino electrical multiple units entered service. The final three locomotives were removed from traffic in September 2003; the final service being operated by electric blue locomotive no. 86 233. Several of the fleet were later transferred to other operators, including Anglia Railways and Fragonset Railways. One former West Coast locomotive has been preserved.

Network Rail

In 2004, Network Rail acquired three locomotives, of which the first two were converted to mobile load-bank testing locomotives, with the third used for spares. The two operational locomotives were reclassified as Class 86/9 and renumbered as 86 901/902. They were formerly based at Rugby, but were moved and stored at Derby and carried the Network Rail all-over yellow livery. Their primary use was to test the overhead line supply of electrified lines by simulating various loads. Both locomotives were capable of running under their own power for positioning purposes, but could not haul any significant loads. Therefore, when being used to test the overhead supply, they had to be hauled by a diesel locomotive.
As of 8 January 2014, they were removed from service and extracted from Derby by low-loader and taken to Long Marston. 86 901 was subsequently taken to Sandbach Car and Commercial Dismantlers, where it was broken up, whilst 86 902 suffered the same fate at CF Booth's scrapyard in Rotherham. 86 424, the erstwhile source of spares, was exported to Hungary, where it is used as a source of spares for the Class 86s that were purchased by Floyd Zrt for freight usage. 86424 was returned to service with Floyd in late 2018, due to Floyd's need for an additional Class 86.

Current operators

Freightliner

Freightliner inherited a large fleet of thirty Class 86/6 freight-dedicated locomotives, most of which had previously been operated by Railfreight Distribution, but some came from Rail Express Systems. The fleet therefore consisted of locomotives in many different obsolete liveries so, from 1995, Freightliner started to apply its newly introduced livery. This was based on the previous Trainload two-tone grey, with the addition of Freightliner's red triangle logo.
The Freightliner fleet were originally employed on intermodal traffic along the northern half of the WCML from Crewe to Coatbridge. The steep gradients along this route meant that trains were hauled by pairs of locomotives working in multiple. The class also worked services south from Crewe to Tilbury and Ipswich, and some services to Trafford Park in Manchester. The class have occasionally been used on the East Coast Main Line, particularly when services are diverted due to engineering works.
In 1998, following the introduction of the rebuilt Class 57 diesel locomotives, Freightliner introduced a new livery of racing green with yellow cabsides. The first Class 86 to appear in this livery was no. 86 631, which was hurriedly repainted for display at an open day at Toton. The majority of the fleet have slowly been treated over the years, such that by the end of 2004, only a handful remained in the original two-tone grey livery.
In 2000, locomotive no. 86 608 was experimentally regeared to allow it to work trains single-handedly. It was reclassified as Class 86/5 and renumbered to 86 501. This was the second time this classification and number had been used; the first occasion being former 86/2s dedicated to freight work in the late 1980s. Despite the apparent success of 86 501's conversion, no further locomotives have been similar regeared. In mid-2004, the locomotive suffered fire-damage, but was subsequently repaired and returned to service, thereby demonstrating Freightliner's faith in its ability. 86 501 again suffered fire-damage in August 2008 near Bletchley. It was subsequently repaired in December 2008 and returned to service shortly after.
Due to a locomotive shortage in 2002, two further locomotives, nos. 86 426/430, were hired from English Welsh & Scottish, which has just withdrawn its last examples. Since the hire contract was long-term, both locomotives were repainted in Freightliner green livery. They were used in a common pool with the rest of the fleet. By 2004, the need for the extra locomotives was reduced, so both were returned to EWS and subsequently withdrawn.
Two other locomotives, nos. 86 101/102, formerly used by Virgin Trains, were also briefly hired by Freightliner in 2001/2002. Neither of these locomotives were repainted and they both retained obsolete InterCity livery. Due to their non-standard nature, both locomotives had been withdrawn by early 2002.
Following the withdrawal of the Anglia Railways, Virgin Trains and EWS fleets, Freightliner is now the only operator of the class. In January 2005, it had an operational fleet of twenty-two locomotives, with several more in "warm-storage", capable of being returned to traffic. In the last few years, however, several locomotives have been withdrawn from service, mainly due to the influx of new Class 66 diesel locomotives, although two locomotives were written off following the Norton Bridge rail crash and another three have been withdrawn following fire damage and subsequently scrapped. In addition, Freightliner's Class 90 fleet, which were previously hired to passenger operators Virgin Trains and Anglia Railways, have now all returned to the company, thus reducing the requirement for the Class 86 fleet. However, Freightliner has retained a core fleet of sixteen locomotives in service, as of 2019, ensuring the class has been in service well over 55 years after first being introduced. Two locomotives have been repainted in Freightliner Powerhaul Livery. These are to be replaced in the next 12 months by Class 90s, sent off lease by Greater Anglia, making it the end of regular use for the class after 55 years of service.

West Coast Railways

Privately owned class 86, no 86259, was transferred over from operating with Vintage Trains in around 2012 and is presently used by West Coast Railways hauling excursion trains from London. These have, so far, included the popular "Cumbrian Mountain Express" excursion trains and, in recent times, its first-ever visit to Blackpool along the newly electrified line to Blackpool North while working the "Pennine Blackpool Express".
In February 2020, West Coast Railway acquired its first class 86, 86401 Mons Meg, which had previously been owned by AC Locomotive Group and used on the Caledonian Sleeper services from London to Scotland. Following the replacement of the sleeper's Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaches with new Mark 5 coaches 86401 was taken off lease.

Bulgaria export

86 233 was sent to Bulgaria, in October 2012, for use by open access freight operator Bulmarket, as a spares donor for previously exported class 87s nos. 87 009, 87 017, 87 023 and 87 025. In March 2016, nos. 86 213, 86 231, 86 234, 86 235, 86 701 and 86 702 were also exported for use with open-access operator Bulmarket.

Hungary export

In 2008, Europhoenix completed a deal to purchase the remaining Class 86/2 fleet from HSBC Rail Leasing, numbering 23 locomotives, with the intention of overhauling some of them for use in Europe and the UK. 86 248 and 86 250 were sold to Hungarian private open access freight operator Floyd Zrt and were delivered in February and May 2009, becoming Hungarian Class 450. As of July 2013, Floyd Zrt owns 9 Class 86s: 86 215, 86 217, 86 218, 86 228, 86 232, 86 242, 86 248, 86 250 and 86 424.

Preservation

Currently three locomotives have been preserved:
A further locomotive, 86213, was initially preserved by the AC Locomotive Group, but has since been sold to Bulmarket and exported to Bulgaria.

Fleet details

N.B. All locomotives numbered 86 253-61, 86 3xx, 86 4xx and 86 6xx were previously numbered in the 86 0xx series.

Accidents

Over the years, several Class 86 locomotives have been involved in accidents. The most serious of these was the Watford Junction rail crash on 23 January 1975, between Bushey and Watford Junction, when no. 86 209 collided head-on with Class 83 no. 83 003. The Class 86 was seriously damaged after falling down an embankment, coming to rest in a field. It was eventually recovered, several weeks later, by road. Surprisingly, given the seriousness of the incident, it was authorised for repairs and later returned to service.
Also, in 1975, nos. 86 006 and 86 242 were involved in the Nuneaton rail crash. Both were later repaired.
Another serious accident was the Colwich rail crash in 1986, when nos. 86 211 and 86 429 were involved in a head-on collision. Both locomotives were written-off and subsequently scrapped at Crewe Works in the following year.
In 1996, a Travelling Post Office train hauled by no. 86 239 collided with the rear of a freight train at Stafford, writing-off the locomotive and killing two of the Royal Mail employees on board the train, John Thomson and Tommy Poynts.
The Norton Bridge rail crash, in 2003, saw an intermodal train, hauled by nos. 86 631 and 86 611, collide with the rear of another stationary freight train. The force of the impact broke the leading locomotive in half, although the driver survived. 86631 was written-off due to severe damage, while 86611 became a source of spares for Freightliner.

Model railways

In 1986, Hornby Railways launched its first version of the BR Class 86 in OO gauge in BR Blue. Further examples, in a variety of liveries, have since been released by several manufacturers.