Class 81s to 85s - Britain's AC Pioneers

Join this channel to get early access to new videos a week ahead of their public release: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC8R7kmt-W14zWUcr8mymEQ/join Good morning! :D With the electrification of the West Coast Mainline between 1958 and 1965, a slew of new traction needed to be built to support this scheme, thus giving rise, much like other Modernisation-era traction, to a slew of prototypes and pilot scheme locomotives that arrived in the form of the testbed Class 80, alongside the production Class 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85. Together, these classes demonstrated the strengths and drawbacks of British electric traction during those early years, with the Class 83s and 84s being particularly problematic and spent notable periods of their careers in store, while the Class 81s and 85s demonstrated sturdy and reliable machines that continued in mainstream work right up until as late as 1991. Big thanks to Mr C's Footage for allowing me permission to use his clip of 85018 in the opening scene, it is greatly appreciated! Chapters: 0:00 - Preamble 2:07 - Electric Dreams 5:45 - E2001 (The Class 80) 7:43 - AL1 (Class 81) 10:05 - AL2 (Class 82) 11:25 - AL3 (Class 83) 14:04 - AL4 (Class 84) 15:40 - AL5 (Class 85) 17:28 - Through the 60s and into the 70s 21:06 - Gradual Withdrawal 23:23 - The Final Curtain 26:25 - Preservation 28:10 - Conclusion All video content and images in this production have been provided with permission wherever possible. While I endeavour to ensure that all accreditations properly name the original creator, some of my sources do not list them as they are usually provided by other, unrelated YouTubers. Therefore, if I have mistakenly put the accreditation of 'Unknown', and you are aware of the original creator, please send me a personal message at my Gmail (this is more effective than comments as I am often unable to read all of them): [email protected] The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images. If you enjoyed this video, why not leave a like, and consider subscribing for more great content coming soon. Press the Join button to get access to new videos a week ahead of schedule by becoming a channel member for just £2.99 a month! Paypal: https://paypal.me/rorymacve?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/rorymacve Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D References: - Key Model World (and their respective sources) - Wikipedia (and its respective references)