Skin for the Sniper Rifle, based on the Lined Black variant of the British Railways steam locomotive livery. Features normal maps, and phong/envmap tinting.
You know what might be interesting? Imagine if the now retired Nationals (as in trains who are now retired from real-life service) got together for a vintage-vehicle race.
So, there would be Flying Hamburger (in service from 1932—1957), Espresso (1953—1984), City of Milton Keynes (APT-P lasted 1980—1986), Weltschaft (Class 103 were in service 1970—2003), plus Poppa and whoever else that qualifies (*coughGreaseballcough*).
Anybody got an OC who would be featured in that race, haha?
For our next electric train, Class, let’s turn our attention to a prototype who used to race for Great Britain, City of Milton Keynes.
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The Advanced Passenger Train was a pioneer in tilting-train technology, a project for the West Coast Mainline of British Rail. This was developed into three planned phases, but only the first two ever came into being.
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Before Milton and his siblings were manufactured, the single trainset of the gas-turbined APT-E (Advanced Passenger Train Experimental) was in service 1972—1976 (see below).
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Milton and his family are the second phase, the APT-P (Advanced Passenger Train Prototype). There were 3 trainsets built, and each had 14 cars. “A full train was made up of two units running back-to-back, with the two motor cars adjoining. The motor cars had no seating accommodation or through-gangway, so the two halves of the train were unconnected for passengers.” (Wikipedia)
Basically, a train set had a driving trailer on each end, where the engineers worked (this would be Milton and his identical brother), and the two center cars were motor/power vehicles, which connected to the electric lines.
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The motor-car siblings had no way to allow humans to go from one half of the train to the other. Each half of the train (7 cars + 7 cars) were mirror images of the other half. The sibling layout was as follows:
“48101-48107 - Driving Trailer Second
48201-48206 - Trailer Second
48401-48406 - Trailer Restaurant Second Buffet
48301-48306 - Trailer Unclassified
48501-48506 - Trailer First
48601-48607 - Trailer Brake First
49001-49006 - Non-Driving Motor“ (Wikipedia)
How the interior of Milton’s cab/helmet would look like. Link
The interior view of Milton’s first-class sibling. Link
It is of little wonder that Milton used to compete in the train races here in the yard. The APT-P “...set the UK speed record at 162.2 miles per hour (261.0 km/h) in December 1979, a record that stood for 23 years.“ However, Milton and his family were not without their share of difficulties. The APT-P trains faced delays in development, and when they were finally utilized, they faced a blow to their already sinking reputation.
On 7 December 1981 the press was invited aboard APT for its first official run from Glasgow to London, during which it set a schedule record at 4 hours 15 minutes. The press proved uninterested in this success. Instead, they focused on a distinct sickening sensation from the tilt system, and nicknamed APT the "queasy rider". They also reported that the stewardess, Marie Docherty, suggested the solution was to "just stand with your feet apart." BR engineers did little to address the problem when one publicly suggested that the reporters were simply too drunk on BR's free alcohol. On its return trip from London the next day, one of the coaches became stuck in a rotated position when the tilt system failed, and this was heavily reported in the press. Two days later, the temperature dipped and the water in the hydrokinetic brakes froze, forcing the train to end service in Crewe
The APT-P could never quite garner enough positive feedback, even earning the nickname “Accident Prone Train” by the press. Eventually, the APT-P was removed from service altogether in favor of the diesel-powered High Speed Train (HST). Two of the trainsets were scrapped, and the surviving third is now a museum piece.
Despite its disasters, the APT-P had its place in the advancement in tilting trains. One such train is the Pendolino from Italy who used to race here in the yard alongside Espresso the Settebello.
For further research, do check out the following videos.
