RMweb Premium keefer Posted November 28, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 28, 2011 just noticed this fabulous documentary on youtube. 30 years ago, BR was in the final stages of trying to get the APT-P ready for passenger service. (iirc Horizon episodes were 50 mins long, so not all of the programme has been recorded. i think the first bit may have included footage of the POP train and other early developments, which were also included in an Open University programme) like the ch4 'equinox' docu on the 91s, this, i think, shows how documentaries used to be made - full of information presented in an honest, watchable form, that does not assume the viewer needs CGI/animations/music/effects to make a subject interesting or understandable. they may have to think a bit, but it doesn't assume that they're totally thick! http://youtu.be/z2XXtqQPdDw so near and yet so far........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Reid Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Many thanks for the link Keefer - brought back a lot of memories of nights spent at Polmadie and of a lot of the ScR M&EE staff involved with the commisioning team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Saw it pass Tring when it was running very impressive pity it was not a success. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Prime example of what could have been, had the project run through to completion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poor Old Bruce Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 - brought back a lot of memories of nights spent at Polmadie and of a lot of the ScR M&EE staff involved with the commisioning team. Not Shields? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted November 29, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 29, 2011 i noticed they said polmadie in the film - perhaps the base for the commissioning runs (and any running repairs)? presumably used the big new shed at shields for preparation/servicing of the complete trains? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Reid Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Shields was the base for the commissioning team for the fleet however the sets were serviced overnight and prepared for service at Polmadie CSMD and where additional staff were based once the full fleet was in service. The heavy repairs however were still done at Shields Rd, as was the staff training. Shields Road wasn't equipped or staffed for servicing full sets in addition to their regular EMU fleet. (whereas Polmadie had been altered to suit specifically for the APT fleet - though both were under the the same AME (South). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward66 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 A very interesting documentary, thanks for posting it Keefer. Sad that the project was ultimately doomed, I remember going to Hest Bank on the WCML to see it pass and it was really something. What is the present status of the remaining bits of it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poor Old Bruce Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Shields was the base for the commissioning team for the fleet however the sets were serviced overnight and prepared for service at Polmadie CSMD and where additional staff were based once the full fleet was in service. The heavy repairs however were still done at Shields Rd, as was the staff training. Shields Road wasn't equipped or staffed for servicing full sets in addition to their regular EMU fleet. (whereas Polmadie had been altered to suit specifically for the APT fleet - though both were under the the same AME (South). Thanks Bob. Live and learn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Harvey Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Considering the engineering standards of the last 20 years and the way technology has changed do you think the APT would of been a sucsess if it had be built in the late 90's instead of when it was built? Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNCF stephen Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Thanks for the link to the documentry. It was really interesting to watch. I have the Ian Allen book written at about the same time that details the troubles they were having with the train. It is interesting to see the management take on it. It is a shame they scrapped most of the fleet. I have heard that when they were scrapped they were running at a reasonable level of reliability. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 A very interesting documentary, thanks for posting it Keefer. Sad that the project was ultimately doomed, I remember going to Hest Bank on the WCML to see it pass and it was really something.What is the present status of the remaining bits of it? http://www.apt-p.com/aptindex.htm 6 car unit at Crewe, another power car now at Coventry (was at NRM Shildon). The former has been cosmetically restored the latter will be (and needs it too). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyville Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Hi, sorry for the bump, but thats only half the documentry theres 23 mins missing off the beginning. There is indeed a 6 car set at the Crewe Heritage Centre for which i look after, do any small repairs, clean and repaint it. After seeing it at Rugby a few times during the mid 80's i have always wanted to see it up close and for the last 4.5 yrs ive had the chance. I have manged to get the horns, air con, windscreen wipers, cab lights, cab heaters, the kitchen(buffet car) and most of the electrics working. My next biggest thing to fix will be the internal/external doors working remotely, got the relays working just trying to figure out why the air isn't feeding in right. Would be nice to get it to tilt again with the remote box, but cant find it anywhere, so its an ongoing project for which i enjoy immensly. I did a couple of videos of it and they are on youtube under the name of ithewonder, so take a look also Richards documentry on the driving of it with one of the old drivers, for which i assisted in a very very small way really fascinating stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyneux Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 A couple of us went up to Crewe earlier in the year to photograph and take measurements of the APT-P as I've got a back-burner project to build a full train. It was good to see the progress that you've made on the train given what had been done to it in the past! Anyway good luck with getting the tilt going again and thanks for posting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted February 3, 2013 Share Posted February 3, 2013 I know money is a major issue, but would it ever be feasable to get the APT-P running again? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted February 3, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 3, 2013 Must have been out of gauge! IIRC the hastings buffet car was chosen for this project because it wasn't out-of-gauge when tilting - being only 8'-0" over the straight-sided body (i don't know if it had the same full amount of tilt as the APT or not) there were occasions when the APT-P had what you experienced, albeit not always intentionally - often one vehicle 'stuck' in the tilted position. would maybe entail a speed restriction, but the vehicle wouldn't be out-of-gauge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted February 3, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 3, 2013 re:bogies, i wasn't sure but there's pics and info here: http://www.departmentals.com/photo/975386detail i believe these became the BT12 under the APT-P (the artic bogies being BT11 and the power bogies BP17) i've read that with its bogies, hastings was good for 110mph! actually thinking about the tilt-angle, it'd probably have to be the full 8 or 9o - i've just remembered they don't tilt on a fixed 'pivot' as such, the gubbins are linked so the pivot point also moves laterally opposite to the direction of tilt (there's a diagram in the 'two miles a minute' HST book, but i can't find it yet online). so the vehicle has more space to tilt without going out-of-gauge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 The clip is now private on youtube. Does anyone have the full documentary? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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