Geml Class 90

[Latrina Mosely]

Afterprivatisation of BR in 1996, half of the Class 90 fleet were transferred to freight traffic, reclassified and modified to operate at a lower speed. The remainder of the fleet was transferred to private operators, including DB Schenker, Virgin Trains and Greater Anglia. The latter company now operates 15 Class 90s on services between London Liverpool Street, Ipswich and Norwich.

The Class 90 for Train Simulator is available in two liveries, blue/white striped and grey/white. Features of the locomotive include advanced and HUD versions, accurate performance physics, prototypical braking system, cold start option, independent guard and driver wipers, LED headlights, a MK3 coach consist and driveable Class 82 Mk3 DVT.

Do you have an interest in the history of the Class 90? Our friends over at Train Testing have an excellent archive of images and information regarding the test programme undertaken before the train entered service. Click here to take a look. Images used with the kind permission of Dave Coxon.

Do you have an interest in the history of the Mk3 DVT that is included with this Class 90 pack? Our friends over at Train Testing have an excellent archive of images and information regarding the test programme undertaken before the train entered service. Click here to take a look. Images used with the kind permission of Dave Coxon.

The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a 114.5-mile (184.3 km) major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and the East of England, including Shenfield, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich. Its numerous branches also connect the main line to Southminster, Braintree, Sudbury, Harwich and a number of coastal towns including Southend-on-Sea, Clacton-on-Sea, Walton-on-the-Naze and Lowestoft.[1]

Its main users are commuters travelling to and from London, particularly the City of London, which is served by Liverpool Street, and areas in east London, including the Docklands financial district via the London Underground and Docklands Light Railway connections at Stratford. The line is also heavily used by leisure travellers, as it and its branches serve a number of seaside resorts, shopping areas and countryside destinations. The route also provides the main artery for substantial freight traffic to and from Felixstowe and Harwich, via their respective branch lines. Trains from Southend Airport also run into London via the GEML.[2]

The Elizabeth line, which fully opened in November 2022, operates services from Shenfield to London Paddington via Liverpool Street, connecting Essex with Central London and West London. Additionally, it provides a direct rail link between the GEML and the Great Western Main Line.

The section of line between Colchester and Ipswich was built by the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) to standard gauge and opened to passenger traffic in June 1846. Its sister company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway, built a line to Bury St Edmunds and this was completed in November 1846. Both companies shared the same office, many directors and key staff, and started operating as a unified company with the EUR name from 1 January 1847. An extension from a new junction at Haughley to Norwich Victoria opened in December 1849, although the position of the latter station was poor and a spur to allow some trains to operate into Norwich (Thorpe) station was opened to regular traffic in November 1851.[4]

In the late 19th century, the double-track main line was expanded with additional tracks being added to cope with more traffic. In 1854, a third track was added between Bow Junction and Stratford to help accommodate London, Tilbury and Southend Railway services which at that time were operating via Stratford.

The ECR had leased the EUR from 1854 but by the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed out of the consolidation.[5]

From November 1872, Bishopsgate (Low Level) became a temporary terminus to relieve the main high level Bishopsgate station while the GER was building its new permanent terminus at Liverpool Street. The latter opened in stages from February 1874, beginning with the first four platforms, until it was fully open from November 1875. At that time the original 1840 Bishopsgate station closed to passengers and was converted into a goods yard.

By the 1870s, suburbia in the Forest Gate area was developing quickly and in 1872 suburban trains (this was the first distinctive suburban service on the main line as previously main line trains had performed this duty) terminated at a bay platform at Forest Gate. These were followed by trains from Fenchurch Street in 1877.[Note 1] By 1882, these services had been extended and were terminating at Ilford, Romford or Brentwood.

In 1877, a fourth track was added between Bow Junction and Stratford and two goods-only tracks were added between Stratford and Maryland Point. The four-track Bow Junction to Stratford section was extended back to James Street Junction (near Globe Road station which opened the same year) in 1884, but Bethnal Green to James Street did not follow until 1891. It was also in this year that two extra tracks were added between Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street which were for the use of West Anglia Main Line services. These tracks were built through the basement warehousing associated with Bishopsgate station located above.

In 1902, the quadruple track was extended from Seven Kings to Romford, but it wasn't until 1913 that four-tracking out to Shenfield was suggested and the First World War caused delay to this plan.[6] In 1903, the Fairlop Loop opened and a number of services that had previously terminated at Ilford were extended onto it. These services generally looped round and back to the GEML at Stratford (on the Cambridge line platforms).

In the 1930s, a flyover was constructed just west of Ilford to switch the main and electric lines over, to enable main line trains to utilise Liverpool Street's longer west side platforms without having to cross east side suburban traffic in the station throat. The new arrangement also facilitated cross-platform interchange with the Central line at Stratford, with services commencing in 1946. Either side of the Ilford flyover there are single-track connections between each pair of lines, with the westbound track extending to Manor Park and just beyond. The eastbound track extends as far as Ilford station. It was also envisaged that a flyover would be built at the country-end of the carriage sidings at Gidea Park to allow trains bound for the Southend line to change from the main line to the electric line, instead of at the London-end of Shenfield as they do now.

Plans were drawn up in the 1930s to electrify the suburban lines from Liverpool Street to Shenfield at 1,500 V DC and work was started on implementing this. However, the outbreak of the Second World War brought the project to a temporary halt and it was not until 1949 that the scheme was completed with electrification being extended to Chelmsford in 1956.[7]

The Summer 1950 timetable saw the introduction of a regular interval service between Liverpool Street and Clacton, which left Liverpool Street on the half-hour and Clacton on the hour. Summer Saturdays in 1950 also saw the introduction of the Holiday Camps Express workings to Gorleston, near Lowestoft. The latter half of 1950 and early 1951 saw the testing of new EM1 electric locomotives for use over the Woodhead Line between Manchester and Sheffield.[9]

January 1951 saw the introduction of the Britannia class 4-6-2 express locomotives and a speeding up of services on the GEML. However, not everyone was a fan; British Railways' chairman Sir Michael Barrington Ward exclaimed "What? Send the first British Railways standard engines to that tramline? No!"[citation needed][10]

The British Railways 1955 Modernisation Plan called for overhead line systems in Great Britain to be standardised at 25 kV AC. However, due to low clearances under bridges, the route was electrified at 6.25 kV AC. The section between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria was completed in November 1960. Extensive testing showed that smaller electrical clearances could be tolerated for the 25 kV system than originally thought necessary. As a result, it was now possible to increase the voltage without having to either raise bridges or lower the tracks along the route to obtain larger clearances. The route between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria was converted to 25 kV AC between 1976 and 1980.[13]

By the late 1970s, the costs of running the dated mechanical signalling systems north of Colchester was recognised and, in 1978, a scheme for track rationalisation and re-signalling was duly submitted to the Department of Transport. This was followed by a proposal, in 1980, to electrify the remainder of the Great Eastern Main Line.[14]

The early 1980s saw track rationalisation and signalling work carried out in the Ipswich area and, on 9 April 1985, the first electric train consisting of two Class 305 electric multiple units (EMUs) worked into Ipswich station. The previous year, another member of the class had been dragged to Ipswich by a diesel locomotive and was used for crew training. The first passenger carrying train was formed of Class 309 EMUs, which ran on 17 April 1985.

InterCity electric-hauled trains commenced on the route on 1 May 1985. Class 86 locomotives initially only powered services between Liverpool Street and Ipswich; after a switchover, Class 47s would complete the journey between Ipswich and Norwich. This last section was finally energised in May 1987, when through electric services commenced.[15]

In 1986, the line as far as Manningtree became part of Network SouthEast, although some NSE services actually terminated at Ipswich, whilst longer-distance Norwich services were operated by InterCity. Local services operating from the Ipswich and Norwich areas were operated by Regional Railways.

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