This 1904 Train Is the Sole Survivor of an Electric Railway Revolution | Curator with a Camera
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2024
- Join curator Bob Gwynne for a tour of the 1904 North Eastern Railway (NER) electric luggage van at the Stephenson Steam Railway in North Shields, as we continue our exploration of vehicles on loan as well as those on display at our own museums.
Bob is rather fond of this striking looking electric multiple unit (EMU), particularly its bright red and cream paint scheme. It's the only surviving example of its type and started life hauling parcels and fish across the North East on a futuristic electric-powered railway introduced by the NER to redress the balance after the tram system tempted passengers away from rail travel.
The luggage van (also known as a luggage/baggage car) was subsequently converted into a de-icing vehicle and although the driving controls have since been stripped out of the cab, the shoe gear for interacting with the third rail-from which power was supplied to the motors-remains. As do an abundance of other 120-year-old features.
This vehicle is an important piece of transport history from the North East, so where better for it to be on display than in its North Tyneside home?
Thanks for watching and please subscribe! It'll help us enormously on our quest to show you more intriguing railway-related objects and tell fascinating stories from railway history-as well as looking ahead to the future.
To find out more about the Stephenson Steam Railway, visit: stephensonsteamrailway.org.uk/
To find out more about Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham, visit: www.locomotion.org.uk/
To find out more about the National Railway Museum in York, visit: www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:20 Doing battle with the trams
01:13 Electric benefits
01:58 Why were baggage cars introduced?
02:20 A lucky acquisition
2:52 Red and cream livery
3:05 Porthole window
3:54 Exterior details
4:17 Third rail shoe gear and de-icer
5:11 The NER's futuristic approach
5:54 Step inside!
8:30 Tool cupboard
9:25 Inside the cab
11:05 Frank Sprague
11:38 Porthole window opening
12:54 The vehicle's impact
13:34 Like and subscribe!
#railway #tram #transport #rail #northeast #northshields #technology - Авто та транспорт
Somehow the National Railway Museum has come out with this banger of a format and I'm really loving each and every episode here
This format is actually pretty normal, became common over the last 5 years or so. The ones I am familar with are channels like "Military aviation visualised" who does this kind of thing for planes and "TheChieftain" who does this sort of thing for tanks. There's plenty of other channels but youtube continually deletes my subscriptions so I can't remember them all off by heart.
Oh, bovington tank museum also does a similar format for tanks.
@@jimmydesouza4375 What is different here is that giving the presenter a camera and him doing a detail live recording gives an extra layer of interactivity. Much better than the presenter generally pointing with a finger and saying look at this.
@@jimmydesouza4375 what if it became driveable
@@Biker_Gremling I never saw this reply. But this level of interactivity is itself normal. Chieftain climbs in and around the tanks he looks at and since he is a tanker himself can even describe how usable certain things would be. MAV also does in cockpit stuff if the museum will let him. Erik Johnson has the owners of aircraft do full walkarounds and cockpit examinations while describing as much of the plane, its history, and how it flies as they're willing to do. Doug DeMuro (I think that's his name) does a similar thing for cars. Etc. And there's plenty of other channels.
Actually it’s pretty well documented that the reason for the porthole window was because the drivers would bring a stool from home and sit down. The railway owners/managers didn’t think this was very professional as they were stuck in the age of steam where a driver would be standing, so they painted the window with just a small viewing area forcing the driver to stand up, eventually building it into the train with a porthole.
I remember my grandmother taking my cousin and I to the coast on these trains. They seemed to be a bit old and tired then (1950s) and so what happened, British Railways, in their infinite wisdom, scrapped the electrics in favour of diesels. I'm told the Tyneside Metro now uses much of the old infrastructure so it has gone the full circle back to electric operation. Great vid and presentation. Greetings from Victoria, Australia.
That is a mighty fine railcar.
Didn't know that existed! Its a shame that more hasn't survived from the NER 'pre-Metro' electric services, and that none of their Electric locos from the Shildon - Thornaby coal line survived. I think that the fact that the NER were the first company to put electric Main Line (incl freight) trains (as opposed to tram like railways like the Isle of Man) into service has been substantially forgotten.
Agreed - there's a fascinating book by Ken Hoole titled "The Electric Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway". (Oakwood Press LP167). He also wrote a book on the same-era EMUs, published by the same company.
@@HowardLeVert Also worth looking for is "The Harton Electric Railway by Hatcher, William J. (Oakwood Library of Railway History)" which is the history of the Harton Coal Companies electric coal carrying line from South Shields to the River Tyne. And the Stephenson Steam Railway has the sole surviving electric loco used on that line built by Siemens in 1908. It has been converted to battery power by the museum so that it can be ran at the Steam Railway.
@@tinplategeektoo That's very helpful, thank you - I shall seek a copy out now!
Another book that's also worth a read is by Graeme gleaves which is called North Eastern Electric Stock 1904-2020: Its Design and Development
How attitude and fashion changes, in the mid 50's onwards how wonderful the then new high rise and brutalistic architecture seemed, nowadays most of us who are still around from then realise that was not the case. It's amazing how much has survived of railway history thanks to the efforts of the NRM, enthusiasts and the preservation movement. Its' tragic though that this baggage car is all that remains of Tyneside Electric stock which after all was another first for the region.
My great grandparents lived in the North East, and they used these types of trams daily.
Nice
This is a wonderful restoration - what a gem - a reminder of a revolutionary system which changed lives
I'd say opening that porthole window would be pretty handy for cleaning it, too. Easier than stopping and leaning out the door.
The sole survivor of the fish train!
Beautifully restored! Pity the equipment was ripped out when it became a de-icing car. But still, it’s preserved, probably the only extant car from the once great Newcastle system. Thanks for the tour! :D
You could probably fit controllers from a tram as they were very similar. In fact a lot of the restored trams at Beamish open air museum had control equipment from the old glasgow underground trains.
@@pauljohnson7171 It would be cosmetic, then. And probably not realistic. The Glasgow Underground cars didn't have multiple unit control. MU-controllers are usually smallish things, since they only control small currents and voltages, compared to a camshaft controller (og the kind you'd pull/move/grind/notch by hand). :)
Thanks for a most interesting video. The baggage car was very handsome, internally and externally.
It's surprising to think that steam locomotion was still in action more than fifty years later.
We held my sons 8th birthday at the museum, ride on the train and they put on the birthday tea inside the luggage van. He and his friends loved it. (This was 18 years ago)
Stunning restoration!! Thank you for sharing!
The third rail,that the NER,and the L&Y used is still in use,on the Chicago and Boston subway/elevateds! 660 volts DC,as is the Long Island,and NYCTA! 100+ years old and also still going strong! By the way,that carbody style was used by any number of Interurbans,and subways around the world! J.G.Bro
That looks like footage from probably the first drivers eye view film, the 1910 trip on the Metropolitan Railway film that the BFI have - some shots of Chorleywood from the train with people in the fields that are now filled with houses waving, and much more obvious four rail electric trains at Baker Street later on, and a final shot of rural Metroland.
Thanks for reminding me of those leather straps for raising the windows in the old carriages! Great video.
What a beautifully restored piece of railway history, thanks for bringing it to us.
As a child I remember the LNER stock in the 1950's on the north loop to the coast, so comfy and quick with individual seats and large windows. No problem on a hot summers day, I'm sure the manual sliding doors could be left open! Next stop the Spanish City, a walk on the beach and a hot dog or bag of winkles for lunch.
Happy days
Lovely electic unit there and the restoration is wonderful.
I did wonder why they had a porthole! A beautiful car, made all the more beautiful by its livery!
The same livery as the old Tasmanian Railways, who probably ripped if off?
The Tyne and Wear Metro follows on from the legacy of the NER Electrics
The north eastern was also an air braked railway not vacuum and air brakes only came in later on the rest of the network in BR days.
Honestly enjoyed this one, would love to see the 1904 NER electric luggage van in person one day.
Is it the sole survivor because it transported fish? 😅
Amazing content as always NRM 🎉
That Bob Gwynne is a natural !!
It's such a pity that none of the larger NER electric locomotives survived such as the EF1, especially as one survived until 1964 shunting carriages at Ilford.
Thank you. Nice restoration and good story.
A number of American passenger cars were also built with porthole windows, including the Pennsylvania R.R. MP-54 and P-54 cars, of which more than 1,000 were built, starting in 1907. Now you've explained the reason for this unusual design.
Really wonderful job of preserving an important bit of history.
Very well presented and produced.
It would be nice to have a completed train built.
But where would you run it for the southern third rail is 750V dc not 600V. No way the NRM would put a third rail on a demonstration line with loads of people about. They'd be waiting for a huge flash and a death to quickly follow it.
The car looks beautiful and oddly American
The story of the Tyneside electrics is quite strange; they operated for decades on 600v DC, which was ripped out and dieselised by British Rail, then converted to 1500v DC overhead when the lines were repurposed for the Tyne & Wear Metro. One wonders if BR has persisted with the 3rd rail for a few more years, would the Metro have kept the 3rd rail instead of opting for overhead electrification?
This is awsome
NER electric rolling stock seems often overlooked when compared to steam locomotives of the same era. If it wasn't for the 2 wars, the NE (and LNER in general) would've been much more advanced
Thank you for this video. When I first saw this car I asked myself “What the heck does an US interurban car in a British Railway museum?” Its design seems so inspired by its american siblings that you could have run it - let’s say (with a trolley pole added) on the Pacific Electric, and people would only have mentioned the different color scheme.
Can your next? Curator with a camera be about great Northern number one.
1930s Drumm battery (accumulator) rail carriages that ran in Dublin deserves an honourary mention
nice, guess which other country has british tram,
hong kong, their trams are tested in Liverpool
I just researched that on Wikipedia. Fascinating!
Still third rail down here (Kent) on South Eastern domestic services. But catenary on the Eurostar and London high-speed
It is fascinating to think that electric trains came before diesel trains.
Switzerland, electric in the 20's, dodged the diesel thing mainly
I wonder who had the porthole first, NER or the PRR/LIRR here in the colonies?
Another "colony" that had porthole windows was Victoria. They used them on their post First World War petrol-electric railcars that serviced commuter routes beyond Melbourne's overhead electrified system.
@@Dave_Sisson hey some colony’s have awesome trains!
The Metropolitan & District railway in London built in 1920 &1921 , F stock which was for use on the surface part of the Underground. They had porthole drivers and offside cab windows , must of been horrendous view wise .
Wasn't third rail 1500v DC ? Wouldn't tools include a short circuit bar as well ? Very interesting video
Not 1500v DC, although the current Metro is 1500v DC but via overhead wire. 750v DC is pretty much the greatest you're likely to see on any 3rd-rail electrification system.
@@marcelwiszowaty1751
Before conversion to Metrolink Manchester Victoria to Bury was 1200 V third rail but it was a side contact system with the rail protected by wooden boards.
@@srfurley Good point... I'd forgotten about that!
@@marcelwiszowaty1751 Raven experimented with 1500v third rail for his NER Main Line scheme, but soon abandoned it when the arcing-over problems made it too much trouble.
@@tooleyheadbang4239 Thanks... that's interesting. A new one on me!
what if the rest of the equipment was rebuilt and inserted into the cab and what about it being brought back to life
[CONTINUED],J.G.BRILL built many cars,and a few,if I remember correctly,still survive in Spain! Thank you for your attention ☺️! Thank you 😇!
I thought it was a good video except where the narrator talks about Frank Sprague.
The Liverpool Overhead Railway (Opened March1893) pre-dates Frank Sprague's invention (first use 1897) and so deserves a mention. The LOR had a more basic control system than Sprague's but it worked.
The Wikipedia entry:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_Overhead_Railway
I wonder if that was the same Sprague that made condensors aka modern capactor
Sprague was equally famous for introducing the first practical trolley pole for streetcars (trams) in 1888.
Can you guys do Cornwall?
Like Debbie did Dallas?
what if there was a wooden toy NER parcel van and electric units
I thought it was weedkiller duties that kept it busy until the 50s??
eee, thats my local railway museum
Strangely it looks like a Berlin U-Bahn carriage, type C
Huh, always thought they were green and cream rather than red and cream.
Can you do the Tyne and Wear metrocar there
They haven't got it yet!
@@pauljohnson7171 when they getting it
In the 1960s a school friend of mine was electrocuted on the mainline near Woking. I’ve always wondered how companies like the NER and the Southern who pioneered the third rail managed its introduction in respect of train crews, platelayers, etc. All had to learn of a entirely new and pretty fatal hazard and I guess a fair few found out the hard way. And surely the rail unions - which existed at the time - must have had some view about the safety issue. Never seen this matter looked at in articles. Might be a nice student project?
'Promo SM'