Advanced Passenger Train

The Advanced Passenger Train, known as the APT, was an experimental tilting high speed train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s for the curving West Coast Main Line. It pioneered active tilting, a feature later copied on designs around the world. The experimental APT-E, which was gas turbine powered, reached 152.3 miles per hour (245.1 kilometres per hour) in August 1975, and the electric service prototype APT-P set a British record of 162.2 miles per hour (261.0 kilometres per hour) in December 1979. British Rail Engineering Limited was contracted to build the bogies and parts of the trains, and the power cars were let to Metro-Cammell. Passenger runs between London and Glasgow began in December 1981, but early problems brought a press backlash, and after a quiet return in 1984 the three APT-P sets were withdrawn over the winter of 1985 and 1986. Its design influenced the Pendolino and the Class 91 electrification work, and the APT-E and an APT-P are preserved.