London North Eastern Railway (LNER) named one of its Class 91 locomotives. No. 91127. Neville Hill after its maintenance and servicing depot of the same name on the Leeds to Selby line at Osmondthorpe, 2 miles east of Leeds city centre.
The Class 91s were introduced exclusively for use on the East Coast Main Line. 91127 was built in December 1990 and originally numbered 91027. It was the first locomotive to be painted in LNER InterCity livery.
As well as now being named Neville Hill, it has previously been named Edinburgh Castle and Great North Run.
Its current name recognises both Neville Hill depot and the teams who maintain London North Eastern Railway’s InterCity 225 fleet in Leeds, which operates services between Leeds and London King’s Cross and York and London King’s Cross.
Neville Hill depot was built by the North Eastern Railway in 1899, but with the introduction of diesel locomotives, the depot was completely rebuilt in 1969 to service diesel multiple units and carriages as well as diesel locomotives. It has recently received a makeover
The depot is currently owned by Network Rail but uses it for light and heavy maintenance, and train storage, whilst London North Eastern Railway as well as CrossCountry use the site for train storage.
The InterCity 225 sets that London North Eastern Railway maintains at the depot were originally maintained at Bounds Green in north London, but in December 2020, that responsibility was transferred to Neville Hill.
Responses
I too knew Neville Hill in 1961 when I was a Service Engr. for English Electric Co. when four class forties were based there specifically to haul the Queen of Scots Pullman. Fortunately one of the four is now preserved and now certified to run on the main line again, so a bit of Neville Hill of yesteryear is still operating. My Happy Days too !!
When I was a youngster in the 1950s, many years ago, I used to visit Neville hill shed to see the A3 Pacific locos. used for pulling the Queen of Scots Pullman trains to London and Scotland. Also to pull The North Britain to Edinburgh that used to leave Leeds City Station (now the ony one left) at about 9am every morning and returned in the late afternoon / evening from Edinburgh Waverley Station. Happy Days!!