The intercity 225 fleet have been a mainstay of the East Coast Main Line since their introduction by Intercity in the late 1980s, working the top line expresses between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. The Class 91 electric locomotive, working usually at the Northern end of the train, could both pull and push the rake of Mk4 coaches, making use of the Mk4 Driving Van Trailer.

In more recent years the Intercity 225s remain in limited numbers on the ECML, now working only between Leeds, York and London Kings Cross having been superseeded by Class 800 and 801 Azumas. Many of the Mk4 coaches have moved further afield, and now serve Manchester Piccadilly, Holyhead, Cardiff and Swansea across Welsh Marches and the North Wales Coast lines, having been converted to work with diesel locomotives. The few Class 91s which have not seen the scrapheap have been the choice for testing OHLE in recent years, with Europhoenix 91117 most recently testing the electrification on the Midland Main Line.

Virgin Trains East Coast returned 91119 to its original Intercity livery in 2018 to mark 30 years of the Intercity 225 operating on the East Coast Main Line. 91119 was the obvious choice for this occasion, VTEC having named the locomotive 'Bounds Green Intercity Depot' the previous year. Since then it has seen a major overhaul in Doncaster works, where the livery was refreshed by the Wabtec team.

Although Intercity Swallow livery 91119 will not be attending ‘The Greatest Gathering’ in August, operator LNER will be sending maroon, white and red livery 91101 ‘Flying Scotsman’ and Battle of Britain special livery 91110 ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’.

(1) LNER 91107 in it's previous Virgin Trains East Coast livery, in Doncaster goods loop. (2) Europhoenix 91117 in middle of the Powerlines/Romic HST set, performing tests on the East Coast Main Line. (3) 91120 preserved at Crewe heritage centre. (4) LNER 91114 at Grantham. (5) LNER 91130 on the jacks at Neville Hill depot being repaired after a failure.

Additional Information about the Class 91s

225group

https://225group.org.uk/

Motion History: Class 91 - The Electra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxq_nBtYO-g&t