Those Great Locomotives - EM2 / NS 1500
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- Electric High-Speed Mountaineers. Express locos who tamed the Pennines. Based on the earlier EM1, themselves developed by the London & North Eastern Railway, the EM2s were the mainstay of the passenger trains along the Woodhead Electric Railway. Who would have thought they would end up pulling luxurious express trains on the European mainland?
Go check out the EM2 Society - www.em2ls.org....
SOURCES AND CREDIT
Het Utrechtse Archief - hetutrechtsarc...
Het Spoorwegmuseum - www.vriendenns...
LNER.info - er.info/locos/Electric/em2.php
Railway Archive - www.railwayarc...
Railway Matters - twsmedia.co.uk...
The Great Central Railway Society - www.gcrsociety....
External offline sources used:
'The Great Book Of Trains' by Brian Hollingsworth & Arthur Cook, published by Salamander Books Ltd
The photo in the thumbnail of EM2/NS 1501 'Diana' is my own work.
LINKS
Discord server - / discord
Outro music: Kevin MacLeod - Fiddles McGinty
Channel icon by - / shirahoshid
2D avatar by - / inksilvery
#EM2 #WoodheadRailway
I don't know why the thumbnail didn't save in hi-res, I'm going to try and fix it!
Thank you Dutch rail for giving these locos a second life after woodhead and, ultimately, letting us have a couple back.
The EE1 never ran in service. It did do several test runs on the NER's Sildon to Erimus Yard, Middlesbrough, line, which was electrified in the pre-WW1 era (electrification completed around 1915). This line was the test bed for the NER's plan to electrify their portion of the ECML from York to Newcastle, but WW1 put pay to those ambitions. The Shildon line was de-electrified in the mid 1930s due to the cost of replacing the life-expired electrification equipment, the high cost of electricity and the cheapness of coal.
I’ve recently visited the dutch railway museum. The 1501 is now owned by the museum itself i think and for as far as i know its actually capable of driving. They don’t drive them anymore but i think most trains there are technically still intact and driveable. The Museum recently got their hands on a certificate to enter the mainline with their trains so maybe we’ll ever see the 1501 in action again on the mainline
Well, I'm glad you went to all this trouble, and it's clear from the content that you did lots of research - including finding pictures of all the members of the class. The Class 77's (as I like to call them) were very fine locos indeed and it's brilliant that they were able to earn a living on the Dutch railways. Thank you to the Netherlands! I went to the Severn Valley Railway in October 1987 and received driver training on E27000 Electra from the EM2 Locomotive Society. My other most favourite loco of all time is the Class 52, at least two of which were also present (and working) on that day, so I hit the jackpot. Of course, the EM2 wasn't able to move, and I spent some time at quiet moments of work after that researching the possibility of erecting a tramline-style overhead catenary at 1500 V dc using decommissioned telegraph poles. I even found a source for these. It's wonderful that a number of the class are preserved, hopefully one of them can find work on an electrified preservation railway one day. I'd like to point out that the UK still has a tiny pocket of 1500 V dc electrification on the Newcastle Metro, and I'm sticking to my still-uncorroborated story that EM1's were used during the commissioning of that railway system.
From Wikipedia: "Locomotive 3737 (allocated to Roosendaal shed) ran the last official NS steam hauled service from Geldermalsen to Utrecht Maliebaan on 7 January 1958, where the Spoorwegmuseum (Railway museum) was already located at that time. The locomotive 3737 was subsequently included in the collection of the museum." So steam traction ended about a decade earlier in the Netherlands than what you (jokingly) show here. If it hadn't been for the war, the Netherlands would have gone entirely electric + diesel in before 1950.
Very interesting video! Het spoorwegmuseum (dutch railway museum) is now the owner of the 1501 and de locomotive is looking beautiful and is well cared shown to the public. Not sure if she can drive on her own in the current state, but she is looking good.
I read in an article that they are planning to bring her back in running condition. I don't know when though
In 1921 the UK railways and government decided to select 1,500V DC overhead as the standard system for electrification on all routes not already electrified outside of the lines in what would become the Southern Railway. The LNER drew up plans to electrify the Woodhead line inn1936, at the same time they started to electrify the line out of Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria. Many of the steel gantries for the electrification were erected just in time for Hitler to invade Poland. Work resumed after the war and a new Wodjeadvtunnel was dug and another tunnel was enlarged with the electrification completed in 1955. Meanwhile in France the SNCF had been experimenting with 25kV AC for traction supply. In 1956 BR decided that any future electrification outside of the Southern Region would be at 25kV AC. The line from Liverpol Street to Southend Victoria was converted to the new voltage and all the EMUs already in service on the line were converted to AC.
Both the EM1s and EM2 were built at Gorton, except for the prototype EM1 which was built at Doncaster. This prototype after a few test runs in the UK was loaned to NS between1947nand 1952 where it got the Tommy.
I keep on forgetting how far back electric locos go. Steam may have been the standard but there were still interesting side takes like these engines running around.
The Milwaukee Railroad electrified in 1914 which I also am astounded by.
@@FlyingScott Ikr in fact their first electric locomotive which was a class of boxcabs built by general electric I think we're still in service by the time the Milwaukee road ended it's electric operations in the 1970s
The NER electrified the Shildon to Erimus Yard, Middlesbrough, around the the start of WW1. It was part of the plan to ECML from York to Newcastle.
Whilst yes the Woodhead route ran at 1,500 volts DC. British Railways decided to standardise on 25,000 volts AC not 2,500 volts.........
Whoops!
As I am originally from the Nederlands, I remember seeing the 1500 in the museum in Utrecht, at that time I knew it was a British locomotive, but that's all I knew then. I only recently learned about the role of these locomotives on the Dutch railway network.
The NSWGR 46 class were based off these and the 76 class. However they had a longer service life
A great video
Pity they never kept the diamond pantographs in the Netherlands.
There is of course and EM1 in the NRM at York and I wonder if she would still run if there was 1500Dc.
As far as running in the UK it make you wonder if they could be fitted with transformers and re tickets to work under 25Kv
Expensive exercise though.
I'm really pleased u preserved
Maybe do the J36 next, they are one of my favorites in terms of scottish engines.
Well I’ve seen a booklet about the Woodhead Line locomotives made by Metropolitan Vickers back when the line opened on the Internet which quotes the EM2s as mixed traffic, but mainly used on passenger duties. To be fair, it’s not like the EM2s are incapable of lighter or express goods work. So I guess it makes sense as EM2 rather than EP1.
Many locomotives that didn't receive a renumbering into the TOPS numbering scheme got a TOPS classification. Not sure why.
An awesome video about an awesome loco, Scott! I wonder why the trackbed wasn't just upgraded during the electrification? _big thonk_
Probably too expensive, plus you'd have to halt traffic along the line, which was only double track just outside of Manchester. The Woodhead line in general suffered from congestion, contrary to what people generally think it wasn't that ideal of a route.
@@FlyingScott Ah yes, now I remember them electrifying it while trains were running in that one BTF documentary from the '50s
what program/game/simulator is this footage recorded in?
Train Simulator! With the Woodhead Railway DLC, of course.
A Raven A2?
Indeed it is, I should consider covering it for a video at some point...
@@FlyingScott Interesting loco but it could never have been seen with BR Mk 1 carriages as they had short lives and were withdrawn in the 1930s. It would be interesting to compare them with the GWR Great Bear which also proved to be a blind-alley design and had a short life.