British Rail Class 424

British Rail Class 424
Class 424 vehicle on display at London Victoria in 1998
In service	1997
Manufacturer	BR York Adtranz (reconstruction)
Constructed	1965 1997 (reconstruction)
Number built	1 vehicle
Number scrapped	1 vehicle
Capacity	77
Operator(s)	Adtranz (technology demonstrator)
Specifications
Maximum speed	100mph (161km/h)

The British Rail Class 424 "Networker Classic" electric multiple unit (EMU) was built in 1997 by ADtranz at Derby. It was a prototype vehicle rebuilt from a Class 421 driving trailer vehicle.

Project

4 Cig vehicle similar to the one converted

The "Networker Classic" concept involved rebuilding Mark 1 design Southern Region EMUs of Classes 411, 421 and 423 to meet current crash-worthiness standards. This involved building a new bodyshell on the existing chassis, but keeping the original electrical and motor equipment. Therefore, the aim was to produce a 'new' unit at one quarter the cost of manufacturing a train from scratch. The rebuilt units would have had a life of at least fifteen years, thus saving considerable amounts of money when replacing old stock.

Prototype

One vehicle, no. 76112 from 'Phase 1' 4Cig unit 1749 was rebuilt as a prototype in 1997. This saw the original Mark 1 bodyshell removed from the chassis, and replaced with a new one resembling the then brand new Turbostar installed in its place. It was displayed to the public at London Victoria, paired with unrebuilt DT 76747 from 4Big unit 2256, for comparison purposes. The converted vehicle had a total capacity of 77 passengers in Standard Class only; had the full 4-car unit undergone the same conversion, then it would have had capacity for up to 310 passengers.

Future

Rather than continue with this concept however, the train companies turned to new-build rolling stock, which saw the introduction of the Electrostar, Desiro and Juniper families from various manufacturers. As a result, the single Class 424 vehicle was stored at the Bombardier plant at Derby until 2012, when it was removed for disposal.^[1] The unrebuilt DT with which it was paired later became part of 4Cig unit 1399, which has since been preserved.

Fleet Details

Class	Operator	No. Built	Year Built	Cars per Set
Class 424	ADtranz	1	1997	1

References

↑ Pritchard, Robert (2012). "325 sent for scrap". Today's Railways (Platform 5) (125): 69.

External links

Experimental Class 424, "Adtranz Classic" - Southern Electric Group
Railway Centre Technical Data
Photograph in Derby Litchurch Lane in August 2011

Electric multiple units of Great Britain

AC units (300–399):	300 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 (I) 316 (II) 316 (III) 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 325 331 (I) 331 (II) 332 333 334 341 342 345 350 (I) 350 (II) 357 360 365 370 371 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 385 387 390 395 399

AC units (700–899):	700 707 710 800 801 802

AC units (pre-TOPS):	AM1 AM2 AM3 AM4 AM5 AM6 AM7 AM8 AM9 AM10 AM11 LB&SCR CP LB&SCR CW LB&SCR SL MR Lancaster units

DC units (400–599):	401 402 403 404 405 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 427 430 431 432 438 442 444 445 446 447 450 455 456 457 458 460 465 466 471 480 482 (I) 482 (II) 483 485 486 487 488 489 499 (I) 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 510

DC units (Original TOPS):	411 412 413 414 421 422 423 424 431 432 441 442 451 452 453 461 462 491 492

DC units (pre-TOPS):	BEMU LMS electric units LNER Tyneside units LNWR electric units LOR electric units LYR electric units Mersey Railway electric units NER electric units W&CR electric units

Southern Railway designations:	2-BIL 2-EPB 2-HAL 2-HAP 2-NOL 2-PAN 2-PEP 2-SAP 2-SL 2-WIM 3-CEP 3-CIG 3-COP 3-SUB 3-TC 3-TIS 4-BEP 4-BIG 4-BUF 4-CAP 4-CEP 4-CIG 4-COM 4-COR 4-DD 4-DES 4-EPB 4-GRI 4-JOP 4-LAV 4-PEP 4-REP 4-RES 4-SUB 4-TC 4-TEP 4-VEC 4-VEG 4-VEP 4-VIP 4-VOP 5-BEL 5-DES 5-TCB 5-WES 6-CIT 6-PAN 6-PUL 6-REP 8-DIG 8-GAT 8-MIG 8-VAB GLV MLV TLV

Miscellaneous units:	499 (II) 994

Families:	1959 design 1972 design Mark 2-derived Mark 3-derived A-Train APT Aventra Civity Desiro Electrostar Juniper Networker TGV Tube¹ Velaro

British electric multiple units List of locomotives List of Diesel multiple units List of Electric multiple units List of Departmental multiple units Rolling stock of Network SouthEast 1: Grouping of different rolling stock types built to loading gauge of London Underground deep tube lines

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