Class 81 (AEI/Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company AL1)

For the electrification of the West Coast Main Line British Railways required one hundred locomotives. In typical BR manner this fleet was to consist of five different types from five different manufacturers! Twenty five of the locomotives built were the Class 81.

Information
Number built:	25
Built:	1959-64
Builder:	Associated Electrical Industries / Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company
Motor:	4 AEI 189 traction motors (25kV AC OHLE)
Power:	3, 300 hp (2, 461 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	Bo-Bo

The locomotives were built by AEI, a company formed by the merger of Metropolitan Vickers and British Thomson Houston, and the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company. Of the five classes built, the Class 81 (or AL1 as it was then known) was the first to arrive. The first was unveiled at a press reception at Sandbach station in November 1959 [1], the first new build British AC electric locomotive.

The AL1 like it's fellow first generation electric locomotives such as the Class 83/AL3 had a similar body shell and appearance, though internally and equipment wise the five classes all differed.

Originally the plan was for two of the AL1s to be of a Type B specification with gearing for freight use and a lower top speed (80 mp/h instead of 100) but in the end all of the locomotives had the standard passenger service gearing.

The Class 81 was used on WCML expresses until the arrival of the Class 86 when they, along with the other early AC electric locomotives, were gradually switched to other duties such as freight and parcel trains. They remained in service until the arrival of the Class 90 meant there was now sufficient electric locomotives available to allow for the final withdrawal of the original locomotives. The last two Class 81s were withdrawn in 1991. One has been preserved.

81 003 (left) preserved at Barrow Hill alongside a Class 83 and 85

[1] Brian Haresnape, Electric Locomotives (Ian Allan, 1983) p. 46

Class 23 (English Electric 1,100hp Type B(2) Diesel-Electric) "Baby Deltic"

The success of the revolutionary Deltic diesel engine and the Deltic prototype saw British Railways explore the possibility of putting a single cut-down version of the engine into a smaller mixed-traffic locomotive in the Type B (later Type 2) power classification. The Class 23 "Baby Deltic" was hence born for services on the Great Northern network [1]. With hindsight the experiment and resulting small fleet of Type 2 locomotives was an unnecessary mistake. There was found to be no real advantage over similar sized locomotives with traditional diesel engines but the Deltic engine also bought with it extra complexity and cost [2]. The Baby Deltics owed little to their larger brethren except for the engine technology and in design and cab terms owed a lot to the Class 40.

Baby Deltic replica under construction at Barrow Hill

Information
Number built:	10
Built:	1959
Builder:	English Electric
Engine:	Napier T9-29 Deltic diesel
Power:	1, 100 hp (820 kW)
Formation:	Bo-Bo

The fleet was refurbished in 1963 and modernised with a 4 character headcode replacing the original headcode discs and gangway doors [3]. They continued to serve British Railways though had high maintenance costs, and passengers and crews found they had excessive noise and fumes in operation. With these disadvantages, and being such a tiny fleet, there was no way the Baby Deltics could survive the fleet rationalisation at the end of the 1960s and all were withdrawn from normal service by 1971. 

One survived with the Railway Technical Centre and hauled test trains until 1975 [4] but was scrapped like the rest of the class. No Baby Deltics now exist though the Baby Deltic Project is building a replica using a Class 37, a surviving T9-29 engine and Class 20 bogies. Work is ongoing at Barrow Hill.

D5901 at Doncaster in 1959 (KD collection)

Another view of the replica

[1] John Vaughan, Diesels on the Eastern (Ian Allan, 1982) p. 31
[2] Brian Haresnape, Early Prototype and Pilot Scheme Diesel-Electrics (Ian Allan, 1981) p. 72
[3] Haresnape p. 75
[4] Colin J. Marsden, 25 Years of Railway Research (OPC, 1989) p. 67

Class 397 Civity

The Class 397 are high-speed electric multiple units (capable of 125 mp/h) operated by Trans Pennine Express (TPE) on services between North West England and Scotland. The units are part of the CAF Civity family like the Class 195 and 331. In TPE service they are known as Nova 2.

TPE 397 005 at Liverpool Lime Street

Information
Number built:	60 (12 5-car sets)
Built:	2017-19
Builder:	CAF
Motor:	Electric motors (25 kV AC OHLE)
Formation:	DMFLW (Driving Motor First Lavatory)+PTS (Pantograph Trailer Standard)+MSL (Motor Standard Lavatory)+PTSL (Pantograph Trailer Standard Lavatory)+DMSL (Driving Motor Standard Lavatory)

The units replaced the Class 350 in TPE service. They entered service in 2019. TPE operate a fleet of twelve Class 397s, an option for twenty-two more was not taken up.

The Class 397 has a streamlined cab end

Profile of 397 005

Another view of 397 005

London Underground S7/S8 Stock

The S Stock fleet is a standard fleet of trains for London Underground's sub-surface lines, the order for just over 1, 400 cars is probably the biggest single order for rolling stock for a British railway [1]. S Stock has replaced A Stock on the Metropolitan Line, C Stock on the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines and finally D Stock on the District Line in early 2017.

A District Line S7 at Eastcote

Information
Number built:	1, 403 (192 7 and 8 car sets)
Built:	2009-17
Builder:	Bombardier Derby
Engine:	Bombardier MITRAC traction system (750v DC fourth rail)
Formation:	(S7) Driving Motor (DM)+Non Driving Motor (NDM) +NDM+NDM+NDM+NDM+DM (S8) DM+NDM+NDM+NDM+NDM+NDM+NDM+DM

There are two variants, the S7 which is a 7-car unit for the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines and the 8-car S8 for the Metropolitan Line. The S8 also has some transverse seating while the S7 is all longitudinal. There are 133 S7 trains and 58 S8s. There is also a single S7+1 train which is an 8-car set but has all longitudinal seating. This could be used on the Metropolitan Line's future extension to Watford Junction if that ever happens. The S Stock has "walk-through" open gangways throughout the train to ease passenger movement, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) traction system [2] and regenerative braking.



The S Stock is capable of Automatic Train Operation and this was phased in from 2018 depending on signalling upgrades which started with the Western end of the Hammersmith & City [4]. The S Stock entered service on the Metropolitan from 2010, the District, Circle and Hammersmith & City from 2013 [3]. All trains were in service by the end of 2017.

A Metropolitan S7 at Chalfont & Latimer

Aboard a Metropolitan Line train

At Chesham terminus of the Metropolitan Line

A District Line train at Ealing Common

A Hammersmith & City S7 at Hammersmith, the C Stock it replaced on the left

[1] Paul Moss, London Underground (Haynes, 2014) p. 174
[2] Piers Connor, The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood Press, 2015) p. 175
[3] Ben Muldoon, London Underground Rolling Stock Guide (Ian Allan, 2014) p. 21
[4] "D Stock bows out", Modern Railways (April 2017) p. 14

Llechwedd Quarry Electric Converted Locomotives

The Llechwedd slate quarry in North West Wales was an early adopter of hydro-electric power with the first generator at the quarry in 1891. In the late 1920s the quarry decided to convert two WG Bagnall built narrow gauge steam locomotives (1890/1278 and 1895/1445) to overhead electric to join a number of battery electric locomotives already in service. A third steam locomotive was also dismantled ready for conversion but this does not seem to have been carried out.

1278 at the Statfold Barn Railway

Information
Number built:	2
Built:	1927, 1930
Builder:	Llechwedd quarry (conversion to electric locomotive) W.G. Bagnall (original steam locomotive)
Motor:	Electric motor (DC OHLE)
Formation:	0-4-0WE

The locomotives were supplied from an overhead wire collected via twin trolley poles on the cab roof. They worked at the quarry until the 1960s and survived into preservation though are in need of a lot of restoration after being outdoors. They have recently transferred to the Statfold Barn Railway.

Side view of 1278

Another view showing the buffer, and a spare!

Side view