APT

Just to get back to the APT, here is the full set at Crewe in 2017.....as described by 2392 in post #17 above.

 

Something just occurred to me. The APT had passenger accomodation in the driving coaches. Yet the Mk4 DVTs for use with Class 91s, which came after, do not have passenger accomodation, apparently due to crash safety concerns. How come they were different?

 

In a word - Polmont

Longer answer, the Polmont derailment in 1984 introduced major concerns over the safety of leading vehicles at over 100 mph. That led to a moratorium on having leading passenger carrying vehicles capable of over 100mph from the mid 1980s until the engineers came up with ways to demonstrate reasonable safety (which included limited capacity and mostly rear facing seats) in leading vehicles that allowed the Voyagers, Adelantes and Pendolinos to be introduced.

 

I had forgotten the seasickness .... Just like the class 74's working liner trains!
The one at Millbrook next to the motor vehicle workshops has been removed.
As long as the NRM keep theirs as a "lesson from history" I'm not concerned that the Millbrook one has gone.

Cheers, Neil

 

I may have asked this before on another thread, but certainly never received an answer.
In the 80s spotting at Warrington Bank Quay one of the APTs rolled in on test.
Whilst stationary I observed a plume of diesel smoke being emitted from a port in the roof of one of the coaches. Was I dreaming this or was a small generator set fitted for providing auxiliary power?
No one has ever been able to give an answer.



Sent from my SM-J330FN using Tapatalk

 

From wikipedia:

"Although all auxiliary equipment such as lighting, air conditioning and air compressors was powered by motor alternators driven from the 25 kV overhead line, it was recognised that if there were a power failure, conditions in the passenger vehicles would quickly become unbearable and even unsafe. Each driving van trailer i.e. the leading and trailing vehicles, was equipped with a diesel-alternator generator capable of supplying the minimum requirement of auxiliary power. The diesel-alternators were started using air motors powered from the train's air system, since the APT carried few batteries."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Passenger_Train#APT-P

 

Last week an attempt at "Trying to beat the 3hrs, 52m, 45s set by the APT in 1984"..........and it failed by 21 seconds.
Obviously the APT was allowed to (slightly) exceed the 125 mph speed limit that exists on today's railway, but there have been track alignment and station improvements since 1984.
It highlights how revolutionary the APT was back in the 70's and 80's.

 

Many thanks for that. B*gger me never thought to check Wikipedia
I knew I wasn't imagining what I had seen but could find no mention of auxiliary generators. Even had people telling me I was "going soft".
Obviously didn't dig deep enough in my research

 

Having scanned the Wikipedia article tends to indicate managerial and political inertia. What a shame. Could have been a world beater and just think of the spin offs from the research done!
Having spent some time, as a student, at the Derby Research Centre there were some very dedicated and innovative people there, working within limited budgets.