The Northern City Line was a London railway opened by the Great Northern Railway in 1904. The line originally stretched from
Finsbury Park to
Moorgate and was underground though the tunnels were built larger than contemporary "tube" tunnels and were able to operate full sized trains. The first batch of motor cars and trailers was built by the Electric Railway & Tramway Carriage Works (a.k.a. Dick, Kerr) with teak and mahogany bodies on a steel underframe. In 1906 Brush built a second batch of cars with steel bodies. All the motor cars used British Thomson-Houston electrical equipment.
 |
| Wooden bodied motor car, all images [1] |
| Information |
| Number built: |
76 (31 motor cars 45 trailers) |
| Built: |
1901-06 |
| Builder: |
Electric Railway & Tramway Carriage Works, Preston
Brush Electrical Engineering |
| Motor: |
2 British Thomson-Houston electric motors per motor car (550v DC fourth rail) |
| Power: |
250 hp (186 kW) per motor car |
The railway was bought by the Metropolitan Railway in 1913 and became part of the London Underground, eventually becoming part of the Northern Line. In 1976 it was returned back to British Rail and is currently operated by Great Northern using
Class 717s. As for the original rolling stock it was replaced by
Standard Stock in 1939.
 |
| Motor bogie |
 |
| Trailer |
[1] "The Great Northern & City Railway", The Street Railway Journal Vol. XXIV No. 10 (March 5 1904) p. 340
