Advanced Passenger Train

The train was designed to run at a top speed of 150 mph (240 km/h), and cut journey times on the West coast Mainline.

Work started on the train in 1972 when a gas turbine-powered prototype was built. An electric powered version was later built.

Unfortunately, due largely to the crude 1970s technology used on the train, the tilting mechanism was unreliable, and had a tendency to over-compensate for curves, which made travellers feel sick.

The train was launched prematurely by British Rail in 1981 in a blaze of publicity, before the technical problems on the train had been fully solved, and predictably it was a PR disaster, as it kept breaking down. The APT was ridiculed by the press, and for largely political reasons was withdrawn from service in 1984.

A surviving APT now serves as a museum exhibit at Crewe Railway Museum[?].

External Links

• A website all about the APT (http://www.lexcie.zetnet.co.uk/apt.htm)