From Class 86s, 87s and 90s to the Class 390 Pendolinos, All Change on the WCML

Three Decades of Change on the West Coast Mainline. From the Class 86s, Class 87s and Class 90s to the Class 390 Pendolino tilting EMU.

The WCML was the first of the UKs major main lines to be electrified along it’s entire length.

By the early 1990s long distance passenger trains on the route were being operated by Class 86, 87 and 90 electric locomotives. They operated in push pull formations with driving van trailers or DVTs for short and Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaching stock.

These trains were part of the British Rail Intercity network and carried the Intercity branding and livery.

The privatisation of BR saw Virgin Trains awarded the 15 year franchise in 1996 for the running of long-distance express services on the line. The fleet was repainted into Virgin colours with several locomotives receiving retro or one off colour schemes.

Virgin soon announced a modernisation plan in collaboration with the new infrastructure owner Railtrack which involved the upgrade and renewal of the infrastructure of the wcml.

This upgrade plan along with the introduction of a new fleet of Class 390 Pendolino electric multiple units would increase the maximum line speed of the WCML to140 mph.

These new trains would also use tilting technology to increase the speed the trains could travel around curves.

But in the meantime the reliability of the existing fleet of locomotives plummeted and the use of class 47 thunderbird locomotives to rescue failed trains became a regular occurrence.

The upgrade plan for the WCML meant that sections of the line would be closed over multiple weekends with service often diverted via non electrified routes.

During these diversions trains would be dragged by Class 47 and later Class 57 locomotives.

Railtrack estimated that this upgrade would cost £2 billion and be ready by 2005.

These plans however proved to be far too ambitious and a scaled back plan to allow for 125 mph running was eventually implemented by Railtracks successor, Network Rail.

The Class 390 Pendolinos began to enter service in 2002.

With the Class 390 Pendolinos needing modification in 2006, a First GBRf Class 87 was hired to haul a Mark 3 set on Birmingham New Street services.

Following the loss of a Pendolino in the Grayrigg derailment in 2007 a set of Mark 3 coaches and a DVT was leased by Virgin.

In 2009 this set of coaches was refurbished and repainted into a similar livery to the Class 390s and gained the nicknamed Pretendolino. Virgin used this set with a Class 90 locomotive hired from Freightliner on a Euston to Crewe via Birmingham service on Fridays only until December 2012. From 9 December 2013 it was utilised to operate a London Euston-Birmingham New Street train on Thursdays and Fridays only.

The set also found use on weekend diversions via the Chiltern Line when it was top and tailed by class 57s. The set was eventually withdrawal from the Virgin fleet in October 2014.

On the 8th December 2019 Avanti West Coast replaced Virgin Trains as the operator of the Intercity West Coast Franchise.

The franchise was initially set to run until March 2030, however in December 2020 it was announced that the it will be terminated on 31st March 2026 as part of the abolition of the franchise system.

There is still one loco hauled service train operating on the wcml, the Caledonian sleeper.

The up working operates as the 1M16 Edinburgh to Euston and can be seen in daylight during the summer months on the southern end of the line.

For many years this operated with Mark 2 and 3 coaches hauled by a DB Cargo Class 90. In 2015 it became a stand alone franchise operated by Serco using GBRf class 92s.

In 2019 a new fleet of mark 5 coaches replaced the existing rolling stock.