British Rail Class 370

British Rail Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train–Prototype
370 003 at Carlisle
In service	1980-1986
Manufacturer	BREL
Family name	APT
Number built	3 trainsets
Formation	14 cars per trainset
Operators	InterCity
Lines served	West Coast Main Line
Specifications
Height	3.5 m (11 ft)
Maximum speed	155 mph (249 km/h) (Design) 125 mph (201 km/h) (service)
Weight	434 tonnes (427 long tons)
Electric system(s)	25 kV AC Overhead
UIC classification	2'2'2'2'2'2'2'+Bo'Bo'+Bo'Bo'+2'2'2'2'2'2'2'

Further information: Advanced Passenger Train

APT-P Driving Trailer Second (DTS) unit, in revised APT branding, with a black "mask" around the driver's window

APT-P Non-Driving Motor (NDM) unit, with Stone Faiveley AMBR pantograph

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 horsepower (6,000 kW). This enabled the train to set the UK rail speed record of 162.2 miles per hour (261.0 km/h) in December 1979, a record that stood for 23 years.

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 (Advanced Passenger Train Squadron Service) 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 influence is strongest with the Class 91 locos which took many features from the APT powercars. The technology was later sold to Fiat and used for improving their second generation Pendolino trains which have been used worldwide, 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

Preserved Class 370 no. 370006 at Crewe Heritage Centre in 2006

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 Electric Railway Museum, Baginton, near Coventry on loan from the National Railway Museum.
• Crewe Heritage Centre, 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

See also

• British Rail Class 390
• List of high speed trains

References

Literature

• APT-P: The Intercity Development Train Publisher: British Railways
• The Shape of Travel to Come Publisher: British Railways
• British Rail's Advanced Passenger Train Publisher: British Railways
• APT Course Notes Publisher: British Railways Scottish Region]

External links

• Testing the APT-P
• APT-P.com
• Wickens, A., (1988) APT - With Hindsight Newsletter of the Friends of the National Railway Museum, No.84, Summer 1988
• The Manufacturer (24, February 2004) The great train robbery
• Electric Railway Museum, Baginton home of 49006,