British Rail Class 77

The British Rail **Class 77**, also known as **Class EM2**, is a class of 1.5 kV DC Co-Co electric locomotive. They were built by Metropolitan Vickers in 1953–1954 for use over the  between Manchester and Sheffield.

They were the larger and more powerful version of the Class 76 (EM1) to haul passenger trains. Once the Woodhead Line had lost passenger trains, all of the Class 77s were sold to Nederlandse Spoorwegen. They would serve in the Netherlands for 15 more years until they were retired. Three are now preserved. One stayed in the Netherlands, and the other two has since returned to the United Kingdom.

## Background

When the London and North Eastern Railway started electrifying the  in the late 1930s, they planned to have a total of 88 electric locomotives. Nine of these were planned to be used on express trains. In 1939, the project was halted because of the Second World War. In 1944, the LNER decided to make changes to the project to save money. They decided to use only the EM1 (later Class 76) mixed-traffic locomotives.

There were doubts about the EM1s being instable at high speeds. That led to another change to the project later in the late 1940s, and 27 express passenger locomotives were ordered. They would become the Class EM2 and would be used alongside the 58 EM1s.

As the Woodhead Line electrification was becoming more expensive, in 1950, the order for the EM2s was reduced to seven locomotives. To make up for the loss, the last ten of the smaller EM1s were fitted with roller bearings to make them suitable for passenger trains.

## Service in the United Kingdom

The seven EM2s were built by  in 1954. Metropolitan Vickers provided the electrical equipment. It was said that the EM2s were too heavy and outdated by the time they had entered service. However, the EM2s faired well in service. All seven locomotives were named after Ancient Greek and Roman goddesses (see below).

Like the smaller EM1s, the Class EM2s at first were painted black. This was later changed to dark green from 1956. Then light blue, the same shade worn by AC-current electric locomotives, was applied to the EM2s in the 1960s.

In January 1967, the  published a report. It proposed the end of electric-hauled passenger trains over the Woodhead Line and divert them to the unelectrified . It was claimed that these trains get in the way of freight trains and required specialised locomotives, referring to the Class EM2s. That led to all seven locomotives being taken out of service on 2 March 1968. They were then stored at Bury depot.

## Further use in the Netherlands

In 1969, the entire class was sold to Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) and was shipped to the Netherlands in September that year. They became the **Class 1500**. and were modified to suit the NS. This included replacing the steam boiler that was used to heat the carriages with an electrical generator. They were adapted to right-hand driving found in the Netherlands, as opposed to left-hand driving in the United Kingdom. The traction motors were refreshed so that they could output more power, but at a lower speed at .

Six reentered service with the NS from 1970 to 1971. The seventh, No.27005, was taken apart to provide spare parts for the other six locomotives. The Class 1500s were employed on passenger trains from Amsterdam to Heerlen, and between Maastricht and Venlo. Four of them remained in use until their retirement on 14 June 1986. Three are now preserved.

## Fleet details

|Key:|||
| --- | --- | --- |
|style="background:#deebfc;"|Preserved|Scrapped|

|colspan=2|BR number|rowspan=2|NS number|rowspan=2|Name|rowspan=2|Disposal|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|27000|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|E27000|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|1502|style="background:#deebfc;"|_Electra_|style="background:#deebfc;"|Preserved at|
|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|27001|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|E27001|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|1505|style="background:#deebfc;"|_Ariadne_|style="background:#deebfc;"|Preserved at the  in Manchester|
|align=center|27002|align=center|E27002|align=center|1506|_Aurora_|Scrapped (February 1985)|||
|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|27003|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|E27003|style="background:#deebfc;" align=center|1501|style="background:#deebfc;"|_Diana_|style="background:#deebfc;"|Preserved in the  by Werkgroep 1501|
|align=center|27004|align=center|E27004|align=center|1503|_Juno_|Scrapped (October 1986)|||
|align=center|27005|align=center|E27005|align=center|-|_Minerva_|Used for parts by NS. Scrapped (November 1969)|||
|align=center|27006|align=center|E27006|align=center|1504|_Pandora_|Scrapped (February 1985)|||

## Related pages

- British Rail Class EE1
- British Rail Class 76
- British Rail Class 506

## Other websites

- The Electric Co-Co Class EM2 (BR Class 77) Locomotives - LNER Encyclopedia
- The Locomotives: EM2 - The Woodhead Site
- Werkgroep Loc 1501 (in Dutch)
- EM2 Locomotive Society

## Infobox (locomotive)

- **name**: British Rail Class 77
- **powertype**: Electric
- **image**: 27000 at Crewe Works.JPG
- **caption**: Preserved locomotive, no. 27000 in original black livery.
- **builddate**: 1953–1954
- **totalproduction**: 7
- **tractionmotors**: 6 x Metropolitan Vickers
- **electricsystem**: 1500 Volt, V Direct current, DC
- **collectionmethod**: Pantograph (rail), Pantograph, x 2
- **whytetype**: Co-Co
- **trainbrakes**: Vacuum
- **locobrakes**: Air and electrical regenerative
- **trainheating**: Steam generator
- **operator**: British Railways (1954-1968)
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (1968-1986)
- **fleetnumbers**: 27000–27006
- **retiredate**: 1968 (UK)
1986 (Netherlands)
- **disposition**: Three preserved, remainder scrapped