The Locomotives

EM2

In 1948 an order was placed for 27 Co-Co locomotives to work the passenger services, but by 1952 the economies demonstrated by the Frech Railways using 25,000 volts a.c. could no longer be ignored. All new electrification in Britain would be to this new standard. As the Manchester - Sheffield route had suddenly became electrically isolated, and the cost of the project was escalating rapidly, the order was reduced to 7. The locomotives were capable of 90 m.p.h., but the maximum line speed was 70.

In 1959 / 1960, as with the EM1s, the entire class received names, this time being a mixture of Greek and Roman Goddesses.

The entire class was withdrawn from service in 1968 and placed in store at Bury.

Meanwhile, over in Holland, a new phase known as 'Spoorslag 70' envisaged a new class - the 1400 series. By 1965, it was apparent the cost of development and construction was beyond the NS's resources, and the project was abandoned in 1966. The gap had to be filled somehow.

After three years of searching, the NS came to inspect the Goddesses, the EM2s. On Wednesday August 20 1969, E27002 'Aurora' came in from the cold and ran as train 1Z36 Reddish depot to Sheffield Victoria and return. On board were NS locomotive and rolling stock men.

The trip was eventful, as it appeared someone had removed a milepost near Crowden. Is it true that E27002 exceeded 100mph with five coaches behind and proved just how stable the EM2s were on bends?

It didn't really matter because the NS bought all seven locomotives. On September 25, they were loaded on the 'Cambridge Ferry' at Harwich. The story goes that if a storm brewed up on the way to Zeebrugge, the EM2s were to be dumped overboard ...

The next day. E27002 set off alone for Holland with the others following in groups of three. Little was seen of them for the next eight months except for the redoubtable E27002 running around as a test train, still in BR colours and festooned with all sorts of cables and pipes.

It was certainly strange to see this loco, by now looking very run-down and sometimes in tandem with Class 1100 and 1200s. E27005 'Minerva' ended her life in Holland. It was in too poor a state to consider rebuilding, and she was broken up for spares.

The EM2s had not exceeded 800,000 miles each on BR. The bogies had hairline fractures due to insufficient side-play on the centre axle, and the main frames needed strengthening. Other components, including wiring, was in a very reasonable state.

The first EM2 - E27003 'Diana' entered Tilburg workshops in November 1969, and emerged in May 1970 as NS 1501. In shops, all removable items were stripped out, all paintwork removed, and the frame cleaned. The original braking system was more or less thrown away for a new mechanical system with double brake blocks and automatic gear adjusters. The vacuum system became the NS compressed air type, with two air compressors mounted in place of the boiler, which was scrapped.

The cabin and driving controls were altered for right-hand drive operation, the master control unit being moved from left hand horizontal to right hand vertical. Attention was also paid to the suspension bearings of the traction motors and modification to the suspension, allowing more free side-movement on corners.

Faveley AM30 pantographs with double horns were mounted on a raised and strengthened base. A great deal of attention was paid to operating safety devices. Other work included replacement of the main air reservoirs, enlarged battery boxes between the bogies, new sanding equipment, electric train heating, and AWS and speed indicators.

After 1501, the rest of the EM2s emerged from Tilburg at regular intervals until old E27002 emerged on June 24 1971.

Operating territory of the 1500s was confined to the southern part of Holland with Den Haag (The Hague) their northern terminus using the line via Breden and Venlo and Maastrich-Haarlem. Freight services also operated on the same lines, but extend to Rosendaal in the South West.

Regular services also operated via Utrecht with the North West Express and Berland/Mediterraneos. The basic service was however the Inter-City Den Haag-Venlo with the Britannia and Rhine expresses thrown in. Freights operated mainly at night.

On certain days, the 1500s used take car sleepers out of Den Bosch to Maastricht/Venlo on their way to Southern France and Italy. One of the most unusual services allocated was a Friday only freight of empty ballast wagons from Den Haag to Binckhorst to Amsterdam Watergraafsmeer over Woerden/Abcoude.Technical Specifications Data Table