Mersey Railway Electric Multiple Units

The Mersey Railway operated trains between Liverpool and the Wirral via a tunnel underneath the river Mersey. The use of steam locomotives in the tunnel was proving a turn off for passengers, who preferred the ferries. By the early 1900s the railway company was in serious financial trouble [1]. The railway was rescued by Westinghouse Electric, who were looking to break into the British market. They electrified the line and built a fleet of electric multiple units. Twenty four Driving Motors and thirty three Trailers [2] were built in the initial batch. They entered service in 1903 between Liverpool Central, Rock Ferry and Birkenhead Park. Services were later extended to West Kirby and New Brighton.

Original stock [2]

Information
Number built:	78 (4, 5 and 6-car sets)
Built:	1903, 1908, 1923, 1925, 1936
Builder:	Westinghouse Electric, Cravens, Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company
Motor:	4 Westinghouse electric motors (650v DC fourth rail)
Power:	460 hp (344 kW)

The initial batch of trains was built at the British Westinghouse works in Trafford Park but with bogies made by Baldwin in America. The new trains were an immediate success and in the following decades the Mersey Railway looks to strengthen it's fleet. Four more trailers were built in 1908 which had British bogies. In the early 1920s extra cars were ordered from Cravens, these having Metropolitan Vickers motors. In the 1930s more trailers were built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company. Whereas earlier cars had had wooden bodies the later batches had steel bodies.

The Mersey Railway became part of British Railways and the units were converted to use third rail [3], the Mersey Railway EMUs were replaced by the Class 503 in the mid-1950s. None have been preserved, one car was reserved for preservation but was lost in a fire [4].

Later style EMU [5]

(Left) motor bogie (Right) rear view of car [2]

[1] Colin J Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 187
[2] "The Electrification of the Mersey Railway", Practical Engineer (May 13 1904), p. 529
[3] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 59
[4] Ibid. p. 61

[5] R.D. Gauld, "The Three Electric Railways of Liverpool II: The Mersey Railway, Meccano Magazine (May 1930) p. 372

Birmingham Corporation Tramways 732 and 762 Classes

Also known as the EMB Air Brake Cars, these were two classes of trams built for the Birmingham Corporation in the late 1920s as the Corporation's network grew such as the takeover of the route from Dudley to Oldbury [1]. The 732 Class were built by Brush and had EMB trucks. The trams were more powerful than earlier trams in the fleet and were the first trams operated by the Corporation to have air brakes [2].

762 Class 804 in Birmingham [4]

Information for 762 Class
Number built:	50
Built:	1928-29
Builder:	Brush Traction
Motor:	2 DK30/1L electric motors (550v DC OHLE)
Power:	126 hp (94 kW)

The 762 Class were fifty very similar trams with the same electrical equipment as the 732 Class, though one difference was the use of a Fischer bow collector instead of a trolley [3]. The 762 Class also had modifications to the brake system which had caused problems on the 732 Class especially in cold weather. However, the complicated brake system led to them becoming unpopular with depot staff.

Both 732 and 762 Classes survived in service until 1952, a year before the final closure of the once extensive Birmingham tram network.

[1] P.W. Lawson, Birmingham Corporation Tramway Rolling Stock (BTHG, 1983) p. 141

[2] Ibid. p. 140

[3] Ibid. p. 142

[4] Stockholm Transport Museum image, no copyright restrictions

Class 365 Networker Express

The Class 365 is part of the Networker family and the last to be built for British Rail. They were also the last units to be built at the former BR York works before it closed. The Class 365 was based on the Class 465 being modified for longer-distance services. They were designed with a dual voltage capability (750v DC third rail and 25kV AC overhead line) though in practice have been fitted for and used on either one or the other. Due to the nature of their electrical systems the collected AC is converted to DC for onboard system and inverted back to AC for the traction motors!

365 536 at Peterborough

Information
Number built:	161 (41 4-car sets)
Built:	1994-95
Builder:	ABB Holgate Road
Engine:	4 GEC G354CX traction motors per motor car (750v DC third rail / 25kV AC OHLE)
Power:	1, 680 hp (1, 256 kW)
Formation:	Driving Motor Composite Open (DMCO)+Trailer Standard Open (TSO)+Pantograph Trailer Standard Open Lavatory (PTSOL)+ DMCO

When delivered the Class 365s operated for Network South East. Upon privatisation they were operated by Connex South Eastern and Great Northern. As new they looked very similar to the Class 465 [1] though later on have had in-cab air conditioning fitted which has given them the "smile" on the cab ends.

One set is out of action after being involved in the Potters Bar rail crash in 2002 [2]. Great Northern withdrew their final 365s, which had been used to bolster peak time services, in 2021. A number are currently in use with ScotRail to provide cover while new Class 385s are modified but the majority of the fleet is now in storage and has an uncertain future [3].

365 503 at Kings Cross

365 510 passes through Finsbury Park

365 530 at Kings Cross

Two 365s at Kings Cross

[1] Colin J Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 276
[2] John Glover, Eastern Electric (Ian Allan, 2001) p. 103

[3] "GTR to stand down 365s", Modern Railways (April 2021) p. 83

Port of London Authority Shunters

The London docks, later the Port of London Authority, maintained an extensive railway network with a fleet of steam industrial locomotives. In the early 1960s the remaining steam locomotives were replaced by six new diesel-electric shunters built by the Yorkshire Engine Company [1]. 

Four of the PLA YEC diesels [1]

Information
Number built:	6
Built:	1961
Builder:	Yorkshire Engine Company
Motor:	Rolls Royce C6 diesel
Power:	220 hp (164 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	0-4-0DE

The locomotives remained in service until declining traffic, largely due to containerisation of maritime cargo, led to the closure of the PLA railway network in 1970.

[1] "Steamers pass from the scene", Meccano Magazine (January 1962) p. 12

Kearsley / Heysham Electric Locomotives

It is an interesting, though these days often forgotten fact, that industrial railways were among the pioneers of electric traction in the UK, with some industrial electric locomotives predating those designed for the main line networks [1]. Coal mines and power stations were the most typical users of these early electric locomotives including at Kearsley Power Station which had this fleet of four electric locomotives built over an extended period as dictated by demand. The Kearsley locomotives operated off 500v DC overhead supply [2] and were owned by the Lancashire Electric Power Company [3].

Heysham Electric Locomotive 1

Information
Number built:	4
Built:	1928, 1936, 1944, 1946
Builder:	Hawthorn & Leslie / Robert Stevenson & Hawthorn
Motor:	4 BTH traction motors (500v DC OHLE / battery)
Power:	(First 2) 180 hp (134 kW) (Last 2) 260 hp (193 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	Bo-Bo

Following the closure of Kearsley Power Station in 1982 two locomotives were converted to battery operation [4] with the pantograph removed and batteries fitted in the cab. These worked at Heysham Nuclear Power Station until 2009. Three of the four (locomotives 1 to 3 in fact) locomotives have been preserved.

Heysham No. 1 seen at the now defunct Electric Railway Museum

Kearsley Electric Locomotive 1

Another view of Heysham No. 1

[1] R.L. Vickers, DC Electric Locomotives in the British Isles (David & Charles, 1986) p. 95
[2] Electric Railway Museum - Full Stocklist <http://www.electricrailwaymuseum.co.uk/old/collect.htm>
[3] Michael Poulter, Industrial Railways in Colour (North West) (Irwell Press, 2009) p. 51
[4] Industrial Locomotives Handbook 13EL (Industrial Railway Society, 2003) p. 114

London Underground 1920 Tube Stock

The 1920 Tube Stock is notable for being the first tube stock with air operated doors. Forty cars (half control trailers, half trailers) was built for the Piccadilly Railway just after the First World War. They were marshalled into six-car sets along with twenty cars of Gate Stock which had been modified with air operated doors. The driving cabs had oval windows like contemporary F Stock.

1920 Tube Stock trailer, notice the central door post [3]

Information
Number built:	60 (40 new build, 20 conversions) (6-car sets)
Built:	1920-22
Builder:	Cammell Laird (conversions Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company)
Motor:	2 British Thomson-Houston electric motors per motor car
Power:	400 hp (298 kW) per motor car

Unlike standard practice in later trains, the air operated doors on the 1920 Tube Stock closed against a central post [1]. The doors were remotely controlled from a guard's panel at each end of the train [2], powered by compressed air [3]. To enable interoperability between the new and rebuilt stock, the new control trailers used the same BTH equipment as Gate Stock, and this was re-used from Gate Stock which had been converted to trailers.

The tube stock entered service in the early 1920s, they were considered to have drab interiors, especially compared to later stock, with mock leather seating. They had all longitudinal seating from new but gained some transverse seating during refurbishment as well as an improved interior. The 1920 Tube Stock was transferred to the Bakerloo Line in 1932 and withdrawn from passenger service in 1938. 

Although there were plans to re-use them on other lines most cars were scrapped after the Second World War. Five cars survived as an engineering instruction train until final withdrawal and scrapping in 1968.

Interior view [3]

[1] Brian Hardy, Underground Train File Tube Stock 1933-1959 (Capital Transport, 2001) p. 16

[2] Piers Connor, The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood Press, 2015) p. 83

[3] "New Piccadilly Railway Rolling Stock", The Electrical Review Vol. 87 No. 2, 247 (December 17 1920) p. 771