Class 70 Profile

Southern Railway and British Railways Electric Locomotive

Introduced in 1941 by the Southern Railway Company, this fleet of 3 electrics were built for use on third rail or 660/750V overhead operation. They operated on all three Southern Region divisions and could be considered as the prototypes for the Class 71 electric locomotive. Although allocated Class 70, none actually carried their TOPS numbers. 20003 was withdrawn in October 1968 and 20002 in December the same year, while 20001 - see photo below, lasted until January 1969. All were cut up by the end of November 1969.

BUILT: 1941 (20001), 1945 (20002) by the Southern Railway's Ashford and Brighton Works. 1948 (20003) by British Railways Ashford Works.

ENGINE: 750V dc (Overhead and Third Rail) Electric.

NUMBER SERIES: 20001-20003.

PREVIOUS NUMBERS: Southern Railway CC1-CC3 (CC3 allocated to 20003 but never carried).

TRANSMISSION: .

MAX SPEED: 75mph.

TRACTIVE EFFORT: 40,000lb (20003 45,000lb).

WEIGHT: 99 tons (20003 104 tons).

WHEEL ARRANGEMENT: Co-Co.

QTY BUILT : 24
FLEET STRENGTH: NIL (All Withdrawn)

Unless stated otherwise Photographs in this section are © copyright of Milburn Associates. Permission to use these images in railway society newsletters, etc., can be obtained by e-mailing the Thin Controller.

[20001] [JPEG Image of 20001 size 21K]

Class 70 20001 in British Railways Green Livery at Stewarts Lane Shed (73A).

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Last revised: 17 October 1998