Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive
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Metropolitan Railway electric locomotives were used on London's
Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
with conventional carriage stock. On the outer suburban routes an electric locomotive was used at the Baker Street end that was exchanged for a steam locomotive en route (latterly at Rickmansworth). The first ten had a central cab and were known as camel-backs, and these entered service in 1906. A year later another ten units with a box design and a driving position at each end arrived. These were replaced by more powerful units in the early 1920s. The locomotives were withdrawn from passenger service in 1962 after electrification reached Amersham and the A Stock electric multiple units entered service. One locomotive, No. 5 ''John Hampden'', is preserved as a static display at
London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the h ...
, and another, No. 12 ''Sarah Siddons'', has been used for heritage events.


Westinghouse

The
Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
ordered electric locomotives from British Westinghouse and made by Metropolitan Amalgamated. The first ten were built with Westinghouse electrical control equipment and entered service in 1906. These 'camel-back' bogie locomotives featured a central cab, weighed 50 tons, were long over the buffers and had four traction motors. Initially there was only one position for the driver which proved troublesome, and a second master controller was soon added.


British Thompson Houston

The second ten, also constructed by Metropolitan Amalgamated, were built to a box car design with British Thompson Houston control equipment. These locomotives weighed 47 tons, and were long over buffers and entered service in 1907. The control equipment was replaced with the Westinghouse type in 1919.


Metropolitan-Vickers

In the early 1920s, the Metropolitan placed an order with Metropolitan-Vickers of
Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...
for rebuilding the twenty electric locomotives. When work started on the first locomotive, it was found to be impractical and uneconomical and the order was changed to building completely new locomotives using some equipment recovered from the originals. The new locomotives were built in 1922-1923 and weighing 61½ tons, they had four motors, giving a one-hour rating of and a top speed of . In 1925, no. 15 was exhibited on the Metropolitan Railway's stand at the
British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibit ...
; the panelling was removed from one side, so that the equipment inside could be viewed. The locomotives were all named, the first nameplates being fitted on 18 March 1927. Nineteen of the names chosen were of people, real or fictitious, who had a connection with the area served by the Metropolitan; the exception was no. 15, the exhibition locomotive of 1925, which became ''Wembley 1924''. Nameplates were removed during World War II. In 1953 the fifteen remaining locomotives were overhauled and the traction control equipment replaced by BTH equipment from District line cars. Nameplates were refitted. After electrification to Amersham was completed in 1961, the locomotives were withdrawn from passenger service although three were kept as shunters. One locomotive, No. 5 ''John Hampden'', is preserved as a static display at
London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the h ...
and another, No. 12 ''Sarah Siddons'', has been used for heritage events, most recently in January 2019 running in conjunction with Metropolitan Railway Locomotive No. 1 on steam excursions to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the
District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...
.


List of Locomotives


Accidents and incidents

*On 18 June 1925, locomotive No.4 collided with a passenger train at
Baker Street station Baker Street is a London Underground station at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road in the City of Westminster. It is one of the original stations of the Metropolitan Railway (MR), the world's first underground railway, opened ...
when a signal was changed from green to red just as the locomotive was passing it. Six people were injured.


References


Notes


Bibliography

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Further reading

* {{Metropolitan line navbox Metropolitan Railway locomotives Electric locomotives of Great Britain 600 V DC locomotives