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British Rail Class 159
The British Rail Class 159 is a class of British diesel multiple unit trains of the Sprinter family, built in 1989–1992 by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL)'s Derby Litchurch Lane Works as Class 158. Before entering traffic, the original 22 units were modified at Rosyth Dockyard to Class 159 to operate services from London Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter St Davids, replacing various locomotive-hauled passenger trains. The units were originally branded by Network SouthEast as South Western Turbo. History and design In the late 1980s, the locomotive-hauled stock on Network SouthEast's ''West of England'' route from London Waterloo to Salisbury, Yeovil Junction and Exeter St Davids was in urgent need of replacement. The Class 50 locomotives were not suited to the stop-start nature of the route, and frequently broke down. Because of the long sections of single track west of Salisbury following the Beeching cuts, a single breakdown could cause chaos. Various options we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Engineering Limited
British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail. Established in 1970, the maintenance arm was split as British Rail Maintenance Limited in 1987, and the design and building of trains was privatised in 1989, purchased by the Swiss-Swedish conglomerate Asea Brown Boveri (40%), Trafalgar House (40%), and a management-employee buy-out (20%). After ABB became the sole shareholder in September 1992, it was subsumed into ABB Transportation. History BREL was established by the British Railways Board on 1 January 1970 to take over the management of its 14 rolling stock maintenance centres, including Ashford, Crewe, Derby Litchurch Lane, Derby Locomotive, Doncaster, Eastleigh, Glasgow, Horwich, Shildon, Swindon, Wolverton, and York. Ashford Works closed in 1981, Shildon in 1984, and Swindon in 1986. In 1987, Doncaster, Eastleigh, Glasgow, and Wolverton were transferred to BR Maintenance. Not all British Rail rolling stock wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Disc Brake
A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hold it stationary. The energy of motion is converted into waste heat which must be dispersed. Hydraulically actuated disc brakes are the most commonly used form of brake for motor vehicles, but the principles of a disc brake are applicable to almost any rotating shaft. The components include the disc, master cylinder, and caliper (which contains a cylinder and two brake pads) on both sides of the disc. Design The development of disc-type brakes began in England in the 1890s. In 1902, the Lanchester Motor Company designed brakes that looked and operated in a similar way to a modern disc-brake system even though the disc was thin and a cable activated the brake pad. Other designs were not practical or widely available in cars for another 6 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beeching Cuts
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes'' (1965), written by Richard Beeching and published by the British Railways Board. The first report identified 2,363 stations and of railway line for closure, amounting to 55% of stations, 30% of route miles, and 67,700 British Rail positions, with an objective of stemming the large losses being incurred during a period of increasing competition from road transport and reducing the rail subsidies necessary to keep the network running. The second report identified a small number of major routes for significant investment. The 1963 report also recommended some less well-publicised changes, including a switch to the now-standard practice of containerisation for rail freight, and the replacement of some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Rail Class 50
The British Rail Class 50 is a class of diesel locomotives designed to haul express passenger trains at . Built by English Electric at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 and 1968, the Class 50s were initially on a 10-year lease from English Electric Leasing, and were employed hauling express passenger trains on the, then non-electrified, section of the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Scotland. Initially numbered D400–D449 and known as English Electric Type 4s, the locomotives were purchased outright by British Rail (BR) at the end of the lease and became Class 50 in the TOPS renumbering of 1973. The class gained the nickname "Hoovers" because of the noise made by the clean air plant at the No. 2 end, prior to refurbishment, which was likened to that of a vacuum cleaner, a name believed given to them by the staff at Paddington Station. Once the electrification from Crewe to Glasgow was completed the locomotives were moved to the Great Western Main Line ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exeter St Davids Railway Station
Exeter St Davids is the principal railway station serving the city of Exeter in Devon, England. It is from the zero point at on the line through Bristol which continues to Plymouth and Penzance. It is also served by an alternative route to London Waterloo via Salisbury and branch lines to Exmouth, Barnstaple, and Okehampton. It is currently managed by Great Western Railway and is served by trains operated by Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and CrossCountry. History The station was opened on 1 May 1844 by the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER). The station was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was one of his single-sided stations which meant that the two platforms were both on the east side of the line. This was the side nearer the town and so very convenient for passengers travelling into Exeter but did mean that a lot of trains had to cross in front of others. This was not too much of a problem while the station was at the end of the line, but on 30 M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yeovil Junction Railway Station
Yeovil Junction railway station is the busier, but less central, of two railway stations serving the town of Yeovil in England. The station is outside the town, in the village of Stoford. Although Yeovil is in Somerset, the station was in Dorset until 1991. It is down the line from . It was opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1860 on its London to Exeter line now known as the West of England Main Line. Today it is managed by South Western Railway and is also the home of the Yeovil Railway Centre. History The Salisbury and Yeovil Railway (S&YR) opened the final part of its line from on 1 June 1860. Near Bradford Abbas it crossed over the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth line of the Great Western Railway (GWR) on a bridge, then ran alongside it and the Yeovil Branch Line of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) to reach that company’s terminus at , on the west side of Yeovil. Just a few weeks later, on 19 July, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salisbury Railway Station
Salisbury railway station serves the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is from on the West of England line to . This is crossed by the Wessex Main Line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. The station is operated and served by South Western Railway (SWR), and is also served by Great Western Railway (GWR). History Three railway station sites have been used in Salisbury, owned by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) from 1847 and the Great Western Railway (GWR) from 1856, as well as two further stations at Wilton, west. London and South Western Railway The LSWR opened their Milford station on the east side of the city on 1 March 1847, with the opening of their branch line from Eastleigh, near Southampton, to passenger traffic. This was the city's only railway until 30 June 1856, when the GWR opened the Salisbury branch from Westbury. On 1 May 1857, the LSWR opened the extended main line from London and Andover, at first to the Milford stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Waterloo Railway Station
Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of the same name and is adjacent to Waterloo East station on the South Eastern Main Line. The station is the terminus of the South West Main Line to via Southampton, the West of England main line to Exeter via , the Portsmouth Direct line to which connects with ferry services to the Isle of Wight, and several commuter services around west and south-west London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. The station was opened in 1848 by the London and South Western Railway, and it replaced the earlier as it was closer to the West End. It was never designed to be a terminus, as the original intention was to continue the line towards the City of London, and consequently the station developed in a haphazard fashion, leading to difficulty finding the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
159 019 DMU
Year 159 (CLIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time in Roman territories, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Quintillus and Priscus (or, less frequently, year 912 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 159 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place India * In India, the reign of Shivashri Satakarni, as King Satavahana of Andhra, begins. Births * December 30 – Lady Bian, wife of Cao Cao (d. 230) * Annia Aurelia Fadilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius * Gordian I, Roman emperor (d. 238) * Lu Zhi, Chinese general (d. 192) Deaths * Liang Ji, Chinese general and regent * Liang Nüying Liang Nüying () (died 159), formally Empress Yixian (懿獻皇后, literally "the meek and wise empress") was an empress during Han Dynasty. She was Emperor Huan of Han, Emper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diesel Multiple Unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also generally classed as DMUs. Diesel-powered units may be further classified by their transmission type: diesel–mechanical DMMU, diesel–hydraulic DHMU, or diesel–electric DEMU. Design The diesel engine may be located above the frame in an engine bay or under the floor. Driving controls can be at both ends, on one end, or in a separate car. Types by transmission DMUs are usually classified by the method of transmitting motive power to their wheels. Diesel–mechanical In a diesel–mechanical multiple unit (DMMU), the rotating energy of the engine is transmitted via a gearbox and driveshaft directly to the wheels of the train, like a car. The transmissions can be shifted manually by the driver, as in the great majority of first-gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sprinter (British Rail)
The Sprinter is a family of diesel multiple unit trains in use on the British railway system. They were built in the 1980s and early-1990s by British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL), Metro-Cammell and Leyland. Most have Cummins engines with Voith hydraulic transmissions, although 47 Class 158 units have Perkins engines instead. Sprinters can be seen operating in almost every part of Great Britain, from rural branch lines to commuter expresses into major cities. Originally British Rail coined the "Sprinter" name for the units, mainly to promote the superior acceleration capabilities of the units compared with the first-generation DMUs they replaced. Advertisements such as "The Sprinters are coming" were locally advertised in newspapers when these trains were scheduled to be introduced. Great play was also made of, in many cases, reduced journey times. Background By the beginning of the 1980s, British Rail (BR) operated a large fleet of first generation DMUs, which had been c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacer (British Rail)
Pacer was the operational name of the British Rail Classes 140, 141, 142, 143 and 144 diesel multiple unit railbuses, built between 1980 and 1987. They were inexpensively developed using a passenger body based on the Leyland National bus on top of a chassis based on the HSFV1 research vehicle. The railbuses were intended as a short-term solution to a shortage of rolling stock, with a lifespan of no more than 20 years. As modernised replacements were lacking, the Pacer fleet remained in service on some lines until 2021 37 years after their introduction in 1984. All Pacer trains were scheduled to be retired by the end of 2019 as the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations require that all public passenger trains must be accessible to disabled people by 2020 however the Pacer units were given dispensation until the end of 2020. Only one Pacer (the modernised 144e) met this requirement, and the remainder were therefore planned to be withdrawn by that date. Furthermore, a decision ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
