British Rail Class 83

The British Rail Class 83 is a class of electric locomotives built by English Electric at its Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, to haul services on the West Coast Main Line after its electrification. Fifteen were built between 1960 and 1962 as one of five prototype classes, numbered 81 to 85, that British Rail built and evaluated and that eventually led to the Class 86. They drew power from overhead wires energised at 25,000 V AC. Like the Class 84 they suffered problems with mercury-arc rectifiers, spent several years in storage between 1967 and 1971, and were rebuilt with silicon rectifiers and dual braking, then returned to traffic when electrification was extended to Glasgow. Two were withdrawn early after accidents, ten of the remaining thirteen were withdrawn in 1983 and the last three in 1989.