British Rail Class 370

Infobox EMU
name = British Rail Class 370
"Advanced Passenger Train"

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imagesize = 300px
caption = Class 370 no. 370004 leaving London Euston on 13th February 1980
background = #002366
Manufacturer = BREL
Family = APT
Operator = InterCity
Formation = 14 cars per trainset
Built = 3 trainsets
Weight = 434 t
CarHeight = 3.5 m
MaxSpeed = 155mph (249 km/h) (Design)
125mph (200 km/h) (service)
LinesServed = West Coast Main Line
InService = 1980-1986
Voltage = 25 kV AC Overhead

British Rail's Class 370 tilting trains, also referred to as APT-P (meaning Advanced Passenger Train Prototype), were the pre-production Advanced Passenger Train units. Unlike the earlier experimental gas-turbine APT-E unit, these units were powered by 25kV AC overhead electrification and were used on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Glasgow Central. The APT-P is the most powerful domestic train to have operated in Britain, the eight traction motors fitted to the two central Motor Cars giving a total output of 8,000 hp. This enabled the train to set the UK rail speed record of 162.2mph in December 1979, a record that stood for 23 years [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3108973.stm] .

Due to ongoing technical problems with these pre-production units, and a lack of cash or political will to take the project forward, the planned APT-S production-series units were never built, but did influence the design of the later InterCity 225 sets designed for the East Coast Main Line electrification. The technology was later sold to Fiat and used as the basis for their Pendolino trains which have been used world wide including the West Coast Main Line.

Numbering

Units were numbered 370001-370006 (plus a spare driving car labelled 370007) and were formed 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
*48601-48606 - Trailer Brake First
*49001-49006 - Non-Driving Motor

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.

Withdrawal

All six units were withdrawn during 1985-1986, and most cars were quickly scrapped. Only a handful of cars have survived;
*49006 is a Non-Driving Motor Car, and is at the National Railway Museum's Locomotion annexe in Shildon
*The Railway Age, a museum located next to Crewe station, has a rake of six cars formed into a single train:
**48103 - Driving Trailer Second
**48404 - Trailer Restaurant Second Buffet
**48603 - Trailer Brake First
**49002 - Non-Driving Motor
**48602 - Trailer Brake First
**48106 - Driving Trailer Second

ee also

*Advanced Passenger Train
*British Rail APT-E
*British Rail Class 390
*InterCity 225

References

External links

* [http://www.traintesting.com/APT-P.htm Testing the APT-P]
* [http://www.apt-p.com/ APT-P.com]