Sunderland District Electric Tramways

The earliest trams were horse drawn, operated by the Sunderland Tramways Company since 1879. This company was bought by the Sunderland Corporation in 1900 and converted to electric. The Sunderland District Electric Tramways Company was formed in 1902 and from 1905 operated an electric tramway service from Grangetown to Easington Lane. The tram network was closed in 1925 and the routes converted to bus operation.

Sunderland District tram [1]

Information for Brush cars
Number built:	15
Built:	1905
Builder:	Brush
Motor:	2 Peebles Type S electric motors (500v DC OHLE)
Power:	70 hp (52 kW)

The initial batch of trams were built by Brush with electric equipment by the Bruce Peebles company (who were the main electrical contractor for the tram network). The company also bought fifteen trams built by the French Arbel company to form it's initial fleet of thirty trams. Eight more Brush built trams were added to the fleet in the early 1920s. When the tram network was shut down some of the trams were sold to the Bolton, Grimsby and Manchester Corporations.

Car shed [1]

Tram entrance and controller [1]

[1] "The Sunderland District Tramways", Street Railway Journal Vol. XXVI No. 3 (July 15 1905) p. 96

Class 378 Capitalstar

The Class 378 Capitalstar was the centre piece of the modernisation of Transport for London's commuter rail network, which was reorganised as London Overground. The Class 378 is part of Bombardier's highly successful Electrostar family. However, there were a number of differences which were specified for London Overground use [1] including "tube style" longitudinal seating, wide gangways and London Underground tripcocks for train protection. Originally they were built as 3-car sets but were soon augmented with a 4th car. Later on increasing demand saw them further strengthened to 5-car sets.

378 206 departs North Wembley

Information
Number built:	285 (57 5-car sets)
Built:	2009-15
Builder:	Bombardier
Engine:	3 Bombardier traction motors per motor car (750c DC third rail or 25kV AC OLHE)
Power:	3, 200 hp (2, 400 kW)
Formation:	378/1: Driving Motor Open Standard (DMSO)+Motor Open Standard (MOS)+Trailer Open Standard (TSO)+MOS+DMSO 378/2: DMSO+MOS+Pantograph Trailer Standard Open (PTSO) +MOS+DMSO

The Class 378s operate on most lines in the London Overground network with the 378/1s only able to operate on 750v DC third rail equipped lines and the 378/2s being dual voltage able to use 25kv AC overhead line electric collection as well [2]. Strengthening of the fleet to 5-car sets was completed [3] but overcrowding continued to be a problem on the Overground. The arrival of the Class 710 to augment the London Overground fleet has allowed for the 378 fleet to be more heavily concentrated on a a set of routes.

378 214 at Kenton

378 143 at New Cross

Seating aboard a 378

378 216 at Shadwell

378 232 at Blackhorse Road

[1] John Glover, London's Overground (Ian Allan, 2012) p. 106
[2] Colin J. Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 290
[3] Underground News No. 654 (June 2016) p. 348

Class 13 (BR/English Electric 0-6-0+0-6-0 Diesel-Electric)

Tinsley goods yard was an example of what was known as a "hump yard". Wagons were pushed over the hump or high point in the yard and then gravity (and a complicated control system) could do the rest. The yard needed a more powerful locomotive than the standard Class 08 shunter [1] and so with typical British Rail ingenuity a "new" locomotive was created out of two Class 08s! The two shunters were connected in a master and slave arrangement, with the cab of one locomotive controlling both. The shunter was known as the Class 13, three such conversions were made in the mid-1960s.

13 001 at Tinsley yard (KD Collection)

Information
Number built:	3
Built:	1965 (Conversions from Class 08)
Builder:	BR Darlington
Motor:	2 English Electric 6KT diesels
Power:	700 hp (522 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	0-6-0+0-6-0

At first the two locomotives were connected with the cabs together in the middle but later on the cab from the master locomotive was placed outmost to aid visibility. The cab from the slave unit was removed. Extra weights were added in the bufferbeams to aid tractive effort (the weight of a Class 13 was 120 tons [2], 20 tons more than two Class 08s would be). The locomotives were withdrawn in the early 1980s as the practice of hump shunting ended. None of the Class 13s were preserved.

[1] Colin J Marsden, Diesel & Electric Locomotive Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2011) p. 95
[2] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Shunters (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 75

Class 317 (BREL Derby/York LMR and ER London Suburban Services 4-car)

The Class 317 EMU is a class of electric multiple unit based on the Mark 3 coach design, similar to the Classes 313 and 455 amongst others. Built in the early 1980s, they are hard working veterans still carrying passengers daily into London though their days are now numbered with final withdrawal due later this year.

The Class 317 was the first British Rail multiple unit designed for driver only operation though this did result in a delay in their introduction into service because of a dispute with the unions [1][2]. Most of the Class 317's service life to date has been on suburban services to London from the likes of Bedford and Luton though for a time in the late 1980s they did venture as far afield as Birmingham New Street.

Greater Anglia 317 510 at London Liverpool Street

Information
Number built:	288 (72 4-car sets)
Built:	1981-82, 1985-86
Builder:	BREL York
Engine:	4 GEC G315BZ traction motors (25kV AC OLHE)
Power:	1, 328 hp (990 kW)
Formation:	Driving Trailer Standard Open (DTSO)+Motor Standard Open (MSO)+Trailer Composite Open (TCO)+DTSO

The Class 317 was built in two batches, the first batch 317/1 was built for London St Pancras to Bedford services. A second batch 317/2 was built a little later for services out of London Kings Cross. In the late 1990s some units were refurbished and upgraded, including fitting a new pantograph, as the 317/6. In the mid-2000s some 317s were refurbished as 317/7 for the Stansted Express, 317/5 for Greater Anglia services while others were refurbished and updated as 317/8.

They now operated only by Greater Anglia. There was a plan to re-traction the Class 317 which could have given them another twenty years of service however these plans have now been cancelled. The Class 317 is now being replaced by new Class 720 Aventras.

317 341 at Finsbury Park

Greater Anglia 317 652 passes through Cambridge Heath

The other end of 652!

[1] Alec Swain, Overhead Line Electric Multiple-Units (Ian Allan, 1990) p. 71
[2] John Glover, BR Diary 1978-1985 (Ian Allan, 1985) p. 81

Glasgow Corporation Transport Kilmarnock Bogie Car

These trams were built in the late 1920s for the Glasgow Corporation as part of the modernisation of the fleet. They were designed for passenger comfort and ride quality at a time when the tramway was, like most networks, beginning to feel the competition from motor buses. The trams had eight wheels on two bogies, known as Maximum Traction Bogies, designed by the Kilmarnock Engineering Company (hence the name given to the trams) - though the bogies were actually built by English Electric in Preston. The trams also had steel strengthening to the main pillars which allowed for slimmer sides of the tram body. The tram could have double transverse seating in the lower saloon.

1115 preserved at Crich

Information
Number built:	50
Built:	1927-29
Builder:	Hurst Nelson
Motor:	2 MV101DR electric motors (500v DC OHLE)
Power:	120 hp (89 kW)

Unfortunately the trams were prone to derailing on tight radius curves thus they had to be restricted to a small number of routes. The transverse seating was later removed from the lower saloon in favour of longitudinal seating and more for more standing passengers. The trams remained in service until the early 1960s, two have been preserved.

Passenger entrance

1115 at Crich

Glasgow Corporation Tramways crest

Another view of the entrance, notice the twin bogies

LYR Liverpool-Southport Electric Multiple Units

The route between Liverpool Exchange and Southport was one of the earliest to be electrified. In conjunction with Dick Kerr of Preston, the Liverpool & Yorkshire Railway built these electric multiple units which operated on tracks converted for 625v DC fourth rail. A live rail was placed at the side of the running rails, a return rail between the running rails. The line opened in March 1904 [3]. Fifty six cars were built which were marshalled as four car sets with 270 seats [2] in a mixture of first and third class, two trailers were marshalled in-between two motor cars at each end. The cars had a clerestory roof and, at the time of construction, were the widest passenger carriages built in Britain (304.8 cm) [4].

An EMU not longer after the entry into service [1]

Information
Number built:	92 (4-car sets)
Built:	1904-10
Builder:	L&Y Newton Heath
Motor:	4 Dick Kerr 4-A electric motors per motor car (625v DC fourth rail)
Power:	600 hp (468 kW)
Formation:	DM (Driving Motor)+TF (Trailer First)+TT (Trailer)+DM

Extra cars were built to strengthen services in the following years. Longer trains were operated during times of peak demand. Two special baggage cars were also built in order to reduce dwell times for normal services. Similar EMUs were built in 1913 for the line to Ormskirk. The units were replaced by the Class 502 in the early 1940s.

Side view of a Driving Motor [4]

Side view of first class trailer [4]

Inside a First Class Trailer [4]

Close-up of the connection between two cars [1]

[1] "The electrical equipment of the Liverpool & Southport division of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway", Street Railway Journal (Vol. XXIII No. 14) April 1904, p. 496
[2] H.M. Hobart, Electric Trains (D Van Norstrand, 1910) p. 87
[3] Colin J Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 188
[4] "Electrical equipment of the Liverpool, Southport & Crossens section of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway", Street Railway Journal (Vol. XXIII No. 5) January 1904, p. 172

Class 68 (Stadler/Vossloh 3,800hp Type 5 Diesel-Electric)

The latest diesel locomotives built for the UK mainline, the Class 68 is designed for mixed traffic work being capable of 100mp/h. The Class 68 is a UK version of the Stadler / Vossloh Eurolight family (known as the UKLight) built to fit within the UK loading gauge.

Chiltern 68 010 at Banbury

Information
Number built:	34
Built:	2013-17
Builder:	Vossloh / Stadler Rail
Engine:	Caterpillar C175-16 diesel
Power:	3, 800 hp (2, 800 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	Bo-Bo

The initial order by Direct Rail Services was for fifteen locomotives with deliveries beginning in 2014. Since then there have been follow-on orders to take the total up to thirty four.


The Class 68 spends a lot of its time on passenger services with the Chiltern Main Line express being a major task for the type. Some have been painted in Chiltern colours, with others in DRS livery. The Class 68 also haul (and pushes) passenger trains for Trans Pennine Express. The Class 68 is a true mixed-traffic locomotive and can also be found on freight trains and engineering trains.

The Class 68 has been joined by an electro-diesel bi-mode version of the UKLight known as the Class 88.

TPE 68 023 heads through Winsford

DRS 68 009 at Birmingham Moor Street

Chiltern 68 015 at Marylebone

DRS 68 009 propelling a Chiltern express at Leamington Spa

Cab view

The Cheltenham and District Light Railway

The Cheltenham and District Light Railway was an electric tramway company which operated between 1901 and 1930. The tramway, which was to 1, 067mm gauge, eventually operated a network of nearly seventeen kilometres in Cheltenham with routes operating from Cheltenham Spa railway station. The tramway was replaced by buses in the late 1920s with the last tram operating on December 21 1930.

One of the original trams [1]

Information for original cars
Number built:	18
Built:	1901
Builder:	John Stephenson Company

The company's initial fleet were built by the American manufacturer John Stephenson. The trams used Peckham 9AX trucks and had a capacity of fifty seated passengers [1]. Later trams for the company were built by English Electric in the 1920s, one of these has been preserved.

[1] "An interesting Stephenson car", Street Railway Review Vol. XI No. 8 (Aug 15, 1901) p. 517