Inside The Intercity Advanced Passenger Train - APT

[dalex175]

I rode it from Euston to Glasgow in "extra" service as a fare paying passenger in 1984. The interiour was cramped. The tartan was in place to reflect the Scottish connection. The ride was good, no problems with sickness or feeling the tilt; as mentioned it was adjusted.

[tjshill82]

@dalex175 I would have loved to ride this train!! The train is very cramped in places the is no denying that, the alley in the buffet car is extra narrow.. Footage from Horizon in 1981 is a fab insight to the APT. Type " Horizon A Race Against Time 1981 " in to Youtube and watch it :)

[XTGEcolditz]

Are you sure this is advanced? More like advanced for people with major travel sickness. From what I can remember people kept projectile vomiting on it.

[tjshill82]

@XTGEcolditz The were early teething problems with the train but BR did not help by having a free bar on board for the press on a test run.. Rumour has it they got hammered on free booze which made them feel all the more queezy when the tilting mechanism kicked in

[stellarartwars07]

The problem with the APT seemed to be with passenger comfort, lacking compared to the Mk2 and Mk3 stock - from what I've heard the travelling experience was more aircraft than train. The production Pendalino goes some way to addressing this issue- but is still there to some extent, and I guess this would have been much more noticeable in a lower tech era. . This trade off between speed and comfort, combined with operating cost issues killed it, like Concorde.

[KuraIthys]

@stellarartwars07 I heard there were serious concerns with people getting ill due to the tilting mechanism. - They fixed this pretty quickly by, ironically making reducing the tilt and thus less effectively cancelling the forces involved. Otherwise it shares the problem of all tilting trains. To fit the track clearance, it has to be narrower inside than other trains. Especially at the top. But this train was mainly just a victim of bad PR.

[tjshill82]

@KuraIthys. It was rushed, it wasn't ready lets be honest. Had it of undergone some more testing and had top - down commitment we would have had a world beater by the mid 80's

[RoadCone411]

You mention that the decor is from the 1980s and, I hate to be pedantic, but that tartan interior screams 1970s to me! And considering the APT was mainly developed in the 1970s, that's fitting! Great video, when I look through, I see so many missed opportunities. BR envisioned the APT to be what the current Pendolino is and has become - except the Pendolino is not a British designed train.

[tjshill82]

@RoadCone411 Now I think of it you are quite right! I have changed the description to the 1970's as you say it was developed through the 70's. It does sadden me thinking about what could of been. Just think if the APT was sucessful it would still be running alongside the ic125's! - I'm sure of it

[tjshill82]

@Hood197950 Thanks for the kind comment :)

[JBofBrisbane]

OMG, look at that seat material! Now I know where the TR7's seats came from.

Memo to BR in the 1980s - it's simple, guys, First Class is RED, Second/Economy Class is GREEN, like it always was.

[tjshill82]

@JBofBrisbane It is a true time warp this train.. It even smells of the 1980's

[dungareeboy]

remember this was developed in the 1960s by the same people that developed concorde and was not built until the late 1970s , back then wheel chair accesss was not a consideration. But your right there was to much hype to get it into service and thatcher was anti railways. sadly it was ahead of its time, but did run alot longer than people realise, right upto the late 1990s

[walterrich]

Nice interior scheme, however it seems rather cramped in there and not wheelchair friendly at all. I dont think the train should have been retired, just needed some modifications and more development of the technology. Like someone said, the Pendilino uses the same concept these days and they didnt invent it.

[TimRuffle]

Saw this at Crewe 30 years ago! Looks cramped- I wonder what it's like for the wheelchair-bound.

After the new systems were developed and extensively tested in the APT-E BREL built the production version and made ill-considered changes to the design. It could still have been developed for service but was never given a the chance felled by Thatcherism and the old boys network. So now the technology is used all over the world and we have to buy it back in the Pendolinos.

Criminal.

[tjshill82]

@TimRuffle. It did not seem very wheel chair friendly to be honest! They must have had some kind of solution for that issue

[darrowby1972]

You can almost sense the drunken sweaties in standard class swigging Tennants super and making a row! - as seen on Pendolino`s

[fatwalletboy2]

spot the hidden can of McEwans Export on one of the 1st class seats!

[edj66]

Nice interior. To be fair, BR really should have just kept up with these sets. They worked well, they were fast, efficient. Just ridiculous that politics means we don't have these on our railways today, alongside IC225s.

[tjshill82]

@edj66 Yeah if it was not for politics and lack of top down commitment It would have a great british engineering success.. It seems to me the PR people just wanted it there and then and the was alot of pressure to get it done - it was rushed and had way to may teething problems.

The English Electric Deltic prototype is the way to do it. That covered crazy miles before BR committed to ordering 22 locos.

[Xantec]

@tjshill82

every new machine has its issues, many of which can be sorted. yes the APT needed to be winter tested.

what killed the APT wasn't failing technology but THE PRESS

[efuller2]

Great Vid, shame about the APT though

[tjshill82]

@efuller2 Thanks for the comment.. Yes it is such shame it was not a success. If it was a success it would still be in service now. Just look at the Intercity 125. The APT is well worth a visit.