Why Railways went electric

[Dragonrider]

Here's one for CT, especially after his European Train journey.



Must admit, that cyclist has more bottle that I would have had in that situation!

[thecaretaker]

Here's one for CT, especially after his European Train journey.



Must admit, that cyclist has more bottle that I would have had in that situation!

Oh that is fantastic. I wasn't expecting that. We didn't worry about our carbon footprint in the steam days did we.

The Southern Railway started to use electric trains way back in 1923 using a third rail at 660 V DC and still uses the third rail system today despite the dangers for people crossing the lines.

The overhead wires used in all other parts of the country is inherently safer but the infrastructure costs a lot more to install and maintain.

Early diesel locomotives proved to be less reliable and the Southern opted to stick with electric and steam.

However, strange as it may seem, although an early adopter of electric trains, the Southern region held on to many of its steam locomotives to the bitter end when steam was banned by BR.

[Keyolder]

In 1863 when the London underground first opened between Paddington and Farringdon, the gas lit wooden carriages were steam driven.

Back in 2013 London Underground did a test run using steam again for the 150 year celebrations: