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 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
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.
In the wake of the early 1970s oil crisis, British Rail had a need for a new generation of more powerful diesel locomotives in the Type 5 classification (rated for over 3, 000 hp) for what was expected to be a much greater demand for heavy coal haulage. The Class 56 was the first of these new locomotives and when the first arrived in 1976 it was the new class of diesel locomotive for nearly a decade [1].
Colas 56 096 and 302 at Stafford
It was based on the successful Class 47 but with a more powerful engine (a development of the successful English Electric CSVT engines used in many classes of diesel like the Class 50) and was fitted with slow speed control for Merry-Go-Round coal trains when they were loaded and unloaded [2].
Information
Number built:
135
Built:
1976-84
Builder:
Brush Traction/Electroputere (first 30)
Brush Traction/BREL Doncaster and Crewe
Engine:
Ruston Paxman 16RK3CT diesel
Power:
3, 250 hp (2, 424 kW)
Wheel arrangement:
Co-Co
Because of a lack of manufacturing capacity at the time at Brush Traction, who had designed the Class 56, the first thirty were built by Electroputere in Romania with the rest being built at BR Doncaster and Crewe. The Romanian examples unfortunately suffered from a number of problems said to be due to poor workmanship which delayed their entry into service for over a year [3]. The decision to build the first batch in Romania and the urgency with which the locomotives were needed saw the locomotive have bogies of a Swiss design as these were widely used in Romania at the time and were easily available.
The Class 56 worked on heavy freights throughout the 1980s and into the privatisation era but most were withdrawn in the early 2000s. Some were later reinstated into traffic and undertook heavy refurbishment as the Class 56/3 [4].
Many have been scrapped, some sold for use on the continent and three have been preserved. Today around thirty remain in service. A project is ungoing to re-engine at least ten Class 56s with an EMD 12N-710G3B-T2 diesel (as fitted to some Class 66s) along with some other new equipment. The re-built locomotives are known as the Class 69.
56 078 at Kidderminster Town
DCR 56 103 and 191 at Derby
Colas 56 302 at Derby
56 302 again, this time at York
DCR 56 303 at Derby
[1] Chris Heaps, BR Diary 1968-1977 (Ian Allan, 1988) p. 104 [2] Brian Haresnape, Production Diesel-Electrics Types 4 and 5 (2nd Edition) (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 75 [3] Ibid p. 75 [4] Colin J Marsden, Traction Recognition (2nd Edition) (Ian Allan, 2011) p. 51
Cardiff Corporation Tramways took over the operation of trams in the city in 1902 buying a fleet of single decker trams and double decker trams which had either double bogies or a single truck. The double bogie double deckers used Brill 22E maximum traction trucks and could up to sixty eight passengers, though those on top were exposed to the elements!
Cardiff Corporation Tram [1]
Information
Number built:
20
Built:
1902
Builder:
Dick, Kerr of Preston
Motor:
2 Dick Kerr DK25A motors (550v DC OHLE)
Power:
50 hp (37 kW)
The network was becoming worn by the 1930s though continued in operation until 1950 when the take over by trolleybuses was complete. The trolleybuses themselves remained in service until 1970.
[1] "The Cardiff Corporation Tramways", Street Railway Journal (Vol. XX No. 1 July 5 1903) p. 43
The Class 315 was built in the early 1980s for the modernisation of the Great Eastern suburban lines out of London Liverpool Street replacing the Class 306 [1]. They remain in service on services to Shenfield though the end of their time is fast approaching. They were the last EMUs built of the 1972 PEP standard design and share a lot of similarities with the likes of the Class 313 and 507.
TfL Rail 315 843 at Stratford
Information
Number built:
244 (61 4-car sets)
Built:
1980-81
Builder:
BREL York
Engine:
8 Brush TM61-53 or 8 GEC G310AZ traction motors (25kV AC OHLE)
Power:
880 hp (657 kW)
Formation:
Driving Motor Standard Open (DMSO)+Trailer Standard Open (TSO)+ Pantograph Trailer Standard Open (PTSO)+DMSO
Twenty of the Class 315s had GEC traction motors and the rest Brush from new, however the traction motors are pretty interchangeable and nowadays a mixture can be found on a given unit. The Class 315s began life in British Rail blue and grey before being repainted in Network South East livery.
Following privatisation they have worn Greater Anglia and NXEA liveries but currently are operated by London Overground and TFL Rail. They will be replaced on these services by Class 345s and will be likely scrapped despite being refurbished in the mid-2000s [2].
In Greater Anglia days 315 822 at Cambridge Heath
315 828 and three friends at London Liverpool Street
315 859 at Stratford
[1] Alec Swain, Overhead Line Electric Multiple Units (Ian Allan, 1990) p. 66 [2] Colin J. Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 240
