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.
In continuing our study of electric vehicles, let us look at a former racing champion, Weltschaft the Class 103 locomotive.
The first prototypes of the Class 103 (or Baureihe 103 in German) appeared on Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1965, and service began in 1970. They could reach speeds of 200 km/hr (120 mph) and were the flagship of DB. Many of the early locomotives pulled first-class services, but in 1979 second class was added to the InterCity lines.
One famous passenger train that pulled by a Class 103 was Rheingold.
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Although once a common sight on Germain lines, the Class 103 were not to last after the InterCityExpress was introduced in the early 1990s. Just as Weltschaft would be replaced by Ruhrgold the ICE, so too were his brethren taken from the railroad in favor of the more modern machines. Unfortunately, the Class 103 were not well maintained for monetary reasons, and many suffered from wear and tear.
“By the early 1990s, the intensive utilisation however, had resulted in an increasing number of defects. This tendency was intensified by the fact that DB, striving to be privatized, had significantly cut back on maintenance... Considering wear and tear, DB decided to replace these locomotives with the new Class 101, which entered service in 1996. In the following years, Class 103 was relegated to lesser duties, but the locomotive had not been designed for frequent stops, so wear increased at an even quicker pace. After a brief comeback in 1998, when all InterCityExpress units were temporarily taken out of service after the Eschede train disaster, the remaining Class 103 units were retired from regular service by 2003.“ (Wikipedia)
However, this was not to be the end of the story for Weltschaft. “A total of 17 Class 103 have been preserved, with at least five units still operational. Two units are still part of DB rolling stock and are frequently used for test runs.” Could he one day return to race?
