Class 370 APT Profile and Models
370 007 Advanced Passenger Train - © via Hornby
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 25 kV 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 until broken by a Eurostar Class 373 on the newly-completed High Speed 1. |
|
Type of Unit |
Prototype Electric Multiple Unit |
Builder |
British Rail Engineering Limited, Derby Works |
Launch Date |
1979 |
Total Built |
3 Trainsets 1xDTS and 1xTBF cars spare |
Top Speed |
Design Speed: 155 mph |
Wheel Configuration |
2'2'2'2'2'2'2'+Bo'Bo'+Bo'Bo'+2'2'2'2'2'2'2' |
14 Car Set Formation |
A 14 car set is formed of two (usually consecutively numbered sets of 7 vehicles). |
Operated By |
British Rail |
Main Duties |
Express Passenger |
In Service Until |
1986 |
Surviving Examples |
7 Vehicles |