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 The last two Class 81s were withdrawn in 1991.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
