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British Rail Class 87
The British Rail Class 87 is a type of electric locomotive designed and built by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) between 1973 and 1975. A total of thirty-six locomotives were constructed, to work passenger and freight services over the West Coast Main Line (WCML). The type was developed in response to the need to add extra capacity to the electric traction fleet operated by British Rail (BR), in addition to the desire to introduce a higher performance electric locomotive than the existing Class 86, numerous aspects of which being incorporated into its design. The Class 87 fleet was operated as the flagships of British Rail's electric locomotive fleet until the late 1980s, at which point the Class 90, an improved derivative of the Class 87, started to come on stream. As a consequence of the privatisation of British Rail during the mid 1990s, all but one of the Class 87s were transferred to Virgin Trains. Under this operator, the type continued their passenger duties un ...
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Kenton, London
Kenton is a district in north-west London, England, to the east of Harrow and historically in Middlesex. As with surroundings in Harrow, Wembley and Kingsbury, the area was a product of Metroland suburbia of the early 20th century. Both the London and North Western Railway and Metropolitan Railway reached the area by the 1920s. The main road through Kenton, the east-west Kenton Road, is a busy and important road that links Harrow to the major Edgware Road. The road now forms the boundary between the London boroughs of Harrow and Brent. History The hamlet was recorded as "Keninton" in 1232. The name derives from the personal name of the Saxon "Coena" and the Old English "tun", a farm – and means "the farm of Coena" and his family who once lived on a site near here. Before the 20th century, the tiny settlement was concentrated around in what was Kenton Lane (the easternmost part of which remains as Old Kenton Lane to the east of Kingsbury station) and is now part of the p ...
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British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies, and was privatised in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board. The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the railway. A process of dieselisation and electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway (a narrow-gauge tourist line). Passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and one-third of the network was closed by the Beeching cuts of the 1960s in an effort to reduce rail subsidies. On privatis ...
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AC Locomotive Group
The AC Locomotive Group is a dedicated AC electric locomotive preservation society in England. It has five locomotives in its care; 81002, 82008, 83012, 85101 and 89001. History Locomotives In 1996, Pete Waterman, who had purchased the sole surviving examples of AC electric classes 81, 82, 83 and 85, put his entire fleet of locomotives for sale. The AC Locomotive Group (ACLG) was formed with the intention of purchasing all four machines. This was accomplished in June 1997, and three of the four locomotives were moved to Barrow Hill Engine Shed in December 1998, with the fourth joining them in early 2000. Also between 2000 and 2008, the group had 84001 on loan from the National Railway Museum, and this was given a major cosmetic overhaul following a long period stored in the open. In 2002, leasing company HSBC Rail UK placed 86213 on loan to the group while in 2004, 86401 was purchased. The same year, GNER placed 89001 into the group's care following closure of p ...
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British Rail Class 390
The British Rail Class 390 ''Pendolino'' is a type of electric high-speed passenger train operated by Avanti West Coast in the United Kingdom, leased from Angel Trains. They are electric multiple units using Fiat Ferroviaria's tilting train Pendolino technology and built by Alstom. Fifty-three units were originally built between 2001 and 2004 for operation on the West Coast Main Line (WCML). They were ordered as eight-car units, later extended to nine cars, of which some were then lengthened further to 11 cars. These new 11-car trains were renumbered as the subclass 390/1. The trains of the original batch were the last to be assembled at Alstom's Washwood Heath plant, before its closure in 2005. The remaining trains in the fleet were built in Italy. The Class 390 ''Pendolino'' is one of the fastest domestic electric multiple units operating in Britain, with a design speed of ; however, limitations to track signalling systems restrict the trains to a maximum speed of in servi ...
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Privatisation Of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industry was initiated by EU Directive 91/440 in 1991, which aimed to create a more efficient rail network by creating greater competition. British Railways (BR) had been in state ownership since 1948, under the control of the British Railways Board (BRB). Under the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher elected in 1979, various state-owned businesses were sold off, including various functions related to the railways – Sealink ferries and British Transport Hotels by 1984, Travellers Fare catering by 1988 and British Rail Engineering Limited (train building) by 1989. It was under Thatcher's successor John Major that the railways themselves were privatised, using the Railways Act 1993. The operations of the BRB were broken up and sold o ...
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British Rail Class 90
The British Rail Class 90 electric locomotives were built for mixed-traffic duties, operating from overhead lines and produce . They weigh 84.5tonnes and can typically achieve a top speed of . The Class 90 is a modernised derivative of the preceding Class 87 locomotive, having been originally designated as the ''Class 87/2''. During the 1980s, British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) had submitted an offer to build 25 examples to replace various aging electric locomotives, including the Class 81, Class 82, Class 83, Class 84 and Class 85. It was selected over numerous rival proposals, including the InterCity 225 and the Class 89; the type was manufactured by BREL at Crewe Works between 1987 and 1990. The Class 90 was introduced to service during the closing years of British Rail, being used for both passenger services and freight trains alike. Following the privatisation of British Rail, the type has served with various operators, including Greater Anglia, Virgin Tra ...
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British Rail Class 86
The British Rail Class 86 is a class of electric locomotives built during the 1960s. Developed as a 'standard' electric locomotive from earlier prototype models, one hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965 to 1966 to haul trains on the then newly electrified West Coast Main Line (WCML) from London Euston to Birmingham, , Liverpool, Manchester and later Glasgow and . Introduction of the class enabled the replacement of many steam locomotives, which were finally withdrawn by British Rail in 1968. Under the earlier BR classification system, the type was given the designation AL6 (meaning the sixth design of AC locomotive) and locomotives were numbered E3101-E3200. In 1968, this was changed to Class 86 when British Rail introduced the TOPS classification system. The class was built to haul passenger and freight trains alike on the West Coast Main Line, however some members of the class also saw use on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) between and , after that line was ...
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Electric Locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas turbines, are classed as diesel-electric or gas turbine-electric and not as electric locomotives, because the electric generator/motor combination serves only as a power transmission system. Electric locomotives benefit from the high efficiency of electric motors, often above 90% (not including the inefficiency of generating the electricity). Additional efficiency can be gained from regenerative braking, which allows kinetic energy to be recovered during braking to put power back on the line. Newer electric locomotives use AC motor-inverter drive systems that provide for regenerative braking. Electric locomotives are quiet compared to diesel locomotives since there is no engine and exhaust noise and less mechanical noise. The lack of re ...
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West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, commuter rail and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for and was opened from 1837 to 1869. With additional lines deviating to Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of . The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh, however the main London–Edinburgh route is the East Coast Main Line. Several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London, Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing links to more rural towns. It is one of the ...
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Virgin Trains
Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 9 March 1997 to 7 December 2019. The franchise covered long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland, consequently connecting six of the UK's largest cities: London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, which have a combined metropolitan population of over 18 million. Virgin Trains had around 3,400 employees in 2015. The Virgin Trains brand was also used on the legally and operationally separate Virgin Trains East Coast from 2015 until 2018, and previously on Virgin CrossCountry, which operated between 1997 and 2007, as well as from 2018 to 2020 by Virgin Trains USA in Florida. The contract expired on 7 December 2019 (havin ...
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GB Railfreight
GB Railfreight (GBRf) is a rail freight company in the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is owned by the global investment company Infracapital. GB Railfreight was established in April 1999 as the rail freight operating subsidiary of the train operating company GB Railways. It was granted an operator's licence in June 2000, and started running Intermodal container trains in February 2002; the haulage of other freight traffic commenced later that year. GBRf acquired numerous Class 66 locomotives to haul its trains; another early type would be the Class 20 and Class 73 locomotives. In August 2003, GBRf, via its parent company GB Railways, was acquired by FirstGroup; it was later rebranded as ''First GBRf''. In 2005, it began running services for Royal Mail and Metronet; two years later, First GBRf ran its first coal trains. In 2009, it was granted a passenger license, after which it operated such services under contract to First Great Western. In June 2010, the company was acqui ...
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