EM2 Electric Locomotive

British Rail Class 77 EM2 electric locomotive no. 27001, named 'Ariadne', constructed at British Rail Gorton Locomotive Works, Manchester, 1954. Electrical equipment made by Metropolitan Vickers.

Class 77s were built specially to haul express passenger trains over the Woodhead Line, Britain’s first all-electric mainline, which linked Manchester and Sheffield. The route was a difficult one, crossing hills and valleys and passing through the three-mile-long Woodhead Tunnels. Mostly used by heavy coal trains, the tunnels were badly ventilated and an uncomfortable part of the journey when trains were pulled by smoke-belching steam engines.

In the 1950s the Woodhead route was electrified, with a new tunnel built. The passenger trains pulled by the electric Ariadne were not much faster than the steam trains they replaced, but they were quiet, modern and clean, offering passengers a comfortable journey free from fumes and coal dust. The Woodhead route was closed in 1970, but the Class 77s including this one was sold to the State Railways in the Netherlands, where it operated as Nederlandse Spoorvegen (Dutch Railways) 1505 until 1986, often pulling express trains from The Hague to the German border. Ariadne is preserved with yellow and grey NS livery.