The genesis of 25kv overhead electrification began in the late 1960s on the West Coast Main Line, the 1980s for the East Anglian Main Line, and the East Coast Main Line in the late 1980s. Development took place in stages culminating in fully electrified lines from London to Scotland on both East and West Coast lines, and from London to Norwich. The introduction of these lines required the construction of new motive power.Initially five types were produced for the WCML, from which the second phase of loco design was developed, giving a higher level of reliability, as well as power output. These newer designs were applied to the Anglian services, but the ECML plans required an updated design, ostensibly for mixed traffic, but hardly ever used on anything other than express passenger services, for which their 140mph potential enabled a major recast of the timetable. The opening of the Channel Tunnel required a mixed traffic dual voltage locomotive, running on both 25kv and the Southern Region 750v third rail DC.The locomotives are classified between 81 and 92 inclusive, and this book of photographs by David Cable covers all the classes in a variety of locations and duties.

This informative, illustrated guide to the British Railways locomotive series covers its full production lifespan, from 1962–1965. In the early 1960s, the Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotive known as The Clayton was conceived as the new standard for British Railways, superseding other Type 1 classes. While the early classes suffered from poor driver visibility, the Claytons were highly successful and popular with operating crews. However, the largely untested high-speed, flat Paxman engines proved to be highly problematic. As a result, the Claytons were eventually withdrawn from BR service by December 1971. Anthony Sayer draws on considerable amounts of archive material to tell the full story of these ‘Standard Type 1’ locomotives and the issues surrounding their rise and fall. Further sources provide insights into the effort and money expended on the Claytons in a desperate attempt to improve their reliability. Supported by over 280 photographs and diagrams, dramatic new insights into this troubled class have been assembled for both historians and modelers alike.

This book, a companion to British Rail in the 1980s and 1990s: Diesel Locomotives and DMUs, exhibits a selection of some of his finest photographs from this period.

Previously unpublished images covering a range of different electric-powered traffic on Britain's railways.

Stunning previously unpublished photographs of English Electric locomotives. Shows them in service all over the BR system from 1966 to 2019 working a wide variety of trains.

The British Railways ‘Pilot Scheme’ orders of 1955 included ten BTH and ten NBL Type 1 locomotives, these being introduced during 1957-61 for use in East London, and on the Great Eastern and London, Tilbury & Southend lines. The BTH fleet subsequently expanded to forty-four, as a consequence of their light axle-loading and the availability of spare manufacturing capacity which BR chose to exploit in their quest to eliminate steam traction. Further construction of these two classes ceased after the fifty-four units, with preference being given to the highly reliable English Electric product which by mid-1962 had proliferated to 128 examples. The NBL fleet survived until 1968, being withdrawn after ten years of indifferent performance. The BTH locomotives followed by 1971, although four lingered on as carriage pre-heating units. Dramatic reductions in goods traffic during the 1960s/70s particularly impacted local trip and transfer freight duties, the ‘bread and butter’ work for the Type 1s, and it was inevitable that the less successful classes were retired from traffic first. This book looks at the short history of these two classes, making extensive use of archive sources, combined with the primary observations of numerous enthusiasts. Previously unpublished information, covering the introduction, appearance design and performance issues of the locomotives, form a central focus, and, allocations, works histories, storage and disposals, liveries and detail differences are covered in the same level of detail as previous volumes in the ‘Locomotive Portfolio” series.