Description

The British Rail Class 489 (or GLV) is a type of electrical multiple unit, specially converted for use on Gatwick Express trains, from London Victoria to Gatwick Airport.

The units were converted from Class 414 driving motors cars, by Eastleigh works in 1983-84, for use on the new Gatwick Express service. They were used to allow push-pull operations, on the London-end of the rakes of Class 488 stock, with a Class 73 locomotive used for propulsion. The units were used as baggage cars.

Units were given unit numbers in the range 489101-489110, with individual carriages numbered 68500-68509. However, the set numbers on the end were applied in typical Southern style, showing only the last four digits (i.e. 9101-9110) in both top corners.

The units were originally painted in BR Blue/Grey livery, which was quickly replaced by InterCity livery. The final livery carried by these units is a variation of the InterCity livery, with a claret stripe and Gatwick Express lettering.

Current Operations

Upon privatisation of British Rail, the Gatwick Express franchise was won by the National Express Group.

Gatwick Express

Immediately after privatisation, the Class 489 fleet was exclusively used by Gatwick Express on all their London Victoria-Gatwick Airport shuttles. However, new units, in the form of Class 460 'Juniper' units were built from 2000, with the aim of completely replacing the old stock. By 2002, sufficient new trains were in service to allow six Class 489 units to be removed from traffic, leaving four units retained as cover in case of failure of one of the new trains. Two of these have since been withdrawn, and at the end of 2004, two units (nos. 9104/10) were still in use, as reliability of the 'Juniper' units has not improved sufficiently to totally replace all the old trains. They are expected to be retained for a while yet whilst the 'Juniper' units undergo overhaul.

Other Operators

Since finishing with Gatwick Express, several units have been sold to other operators, although none have returned to traffic.

• GB Railfreight have purchased units 9105 and 9106. These were part of a bulk purchase that included six Class 73 locomotives and numerous stock. The locomotives have now been returned to service, but the units have been stored at various locations, including Shoeburyness (Pig's Bay), Norwich Crown Point and Peterborough.
• Network Rail have purchased two units, 9102 and 9109. It is not known if they will be returned to use, and are currently in storage.

Preservation

So far, two units have been preserved on heritage railways. Two of the units in question were donated by Porterbrook Leasing in 2003 to the embryonic Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire. A third has been bought privately for use on the Great Central Railway (Northern).

• 9101 (68500) - Ecclesbourne Valley Railway
• 9107 (68506) - Ecclesbourne Valley Railway
• 9108 (68507) - Great Central Railway (Northern)

Fleet Status

Only two units now remain in service. Both of these units (nos. 9104/10) had been withdrawn in 2000 and 2001 respectively, but were overhauled and returned to use in 2002. They replaced units 9103/08, which were withdrawn from traffic as they were due overhaul.

The current status of the fleet is shown below.