I had the 89 on the day it finally burst, 27 July 1999. I had an all-day meeting in Doncaster,so I was very pleased when I saw 89001 on the 07:05 Kings Cross - Leeds (the train I had to take regardless of the traction in order to get to Doncaster on time). I alighted at Doncaster, returning for more of the same later that evening.
Word reached me that 89001 was now on the 15:40 Kings Cross - Leeds. It rolled in to Doncaster 25' late, only running on half power. It staggered slowly on to Leeds. There the driver refused to work back with it in that state, fearing it wouldn't make it up the bank to Wakefield. They extracted 47784 from Doncaster light engine to Leeds and plonked that on the front to work the 19:05 Leeds - Kings Cross. Cheers. The duff struggled just as badly with load 10 and a dead electric, plus the time taken to attach it. Once we reached Doncaster it was decided to take the 47 off again and run the 89 on half power unassisted to Kings Cross. We left Donny 25' late and were 40' late into Kings Cross.
Subsequently 89001 spent a long period under repair, and did one test run piloting a 91 as far as Doncaster. After that it retired to Bounds Green to live on as a carriage heating unit.
I had previously had it on a run to Bradford, when it achieved 125 mph without too much effort. I'm looking forward to it returning to traffic.