THE general story of the 1500V DCEM2 express passenger electrics built for the Manchester-SheffieldWath (MSW) ‘Woodhead’ electrification scheme in the early 1950s is well known. Just seven members strong (preTOPS Nos. 27000-27006), they were declared redundant in 1968 and sold to Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch national railway operator, in 1969 where they gave excellent service until retired for a second time in 1986.
However, it could have been a very different matter had British Railways continued electrification at 1500V DC rather than switching to 25kV AC as the new standard.
Electrification of the former Great Central route over the Pennines, via Woodhead Tunnel, had been mooted for years before the first comprehensive plan was published by the LNER in 1936. Calling for nine express passenger locomotives, plus 69 for mixed traffic and 10 for banking duties, the planned 88-strong fleet would replace 181 steam engines on a more than two for one basis.
Work started on wiring in 1937, and the prototype Bo+Bo EM1 (Class 76) mixed-traffic locomotive, No. 6701, was released into traffic in February 1941. Wearing LNER apple green, it was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and spent some time on test on the 1500V DC Manchester-Altrincham line, which had been electrified in 1931. However, with the Second World War raging, the MSW electrification was shelved and the loco went into store.
The banking locos would be rebuilt from the 10 North Eastern Railway EF1 locomotives constructed for the Shildon scheme in 1914 and 1919. Little is known about what was envisioned for the nine express passenger machines, although a proposal was made by the Swiss Locomotive & Machine Works (SLM) of Winterthur in 1939 for a 55ft-long 4-6-4 design, suggesting an arrangement similar to the NER’s EE1.
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Denne historien er fra November 2019-utgaven av Rail Express.
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LNER puts remaining ‘91s' into warm store
The ongoing pandemic restrictions and major engineering works have resulted in the complete withdrawal of the last remaining ‘Electras’ from passenger service, although the plan is to resurrect them in the summer.
Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet (RBR) cars
A SURPRISING number of Mk.1catering cars have survived to see service on the privatised railway, in private operator and charter trains. They may turn up on anything from an enthusiast special to higher-end dining trains and have been formed in trains as prestigious as the locomotive-hauledBlue Pullman’ set, the ‘Great Britain’ tours operated by West Coast Railways and the ‘Northern Belle’ tour train.
Powerscene
Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.
End for Freightliner Class 86/6s
The company’s Class 86/6 fleet down to just two examples as seven locos are stored.
Service reductions as Covid cases increase
An increase in Covid-19 cases in early January saw the governments in Ireland and Northern Ireland impose stricter lockdown measures that impacted on public transport.
East West Rail funding go-ahead
Although it was expected, £760 million of funding has now been confirmed to build the Western Section of the East West Railway scheme.
Travellers-Fare with Hornby's Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet car
Hornby expands its range of retooled ‘OO’ gauge Mk.1 coaches with a brand new tooling for the Diagram 24 Restaurant-Buffet car (RB) and the Diagram 33 refurbished version (RBR). It models the vehicles in both original form, finished in BR maroon and Southern Region green, together with the RBR refurbished coaches. They remained in frontline service well into the 1990s, including Cross-Country workings.
Class 92 revolution
Despite its complex shape and high detail ratio compared to other modern six-axle locomotives, Revolution Trains chose the Class 92 to be its first 'N' gauge locomotive model.
Bottling it!
A dig into the Rail Express archive has revealed some rarely-seen photographs of the former rail-connected Express Dairy bottling plant in South West London, which today is the site of a large mosque.
1990s ‘N' gauge Class 950
Work on the ‘N’ gauge Class 950 Track Recording Unit project, a conversion based on a standard Graham Farish Class 150/1 model, is concluded by finishing the model in 1990s condition.
