Hello There
I have just passed an arduous train journey in the genial company of Sir Arthur Cresswood, who recently retired as chairman of the National Rail Rolling Stock Procurement Design Panel. Sir Arthur is a wonderful raconteur, whose tales of locomotive and carriage design deserve a wider audience. With funding now withdrawn, his team is recently disbanded but, as Sir Arthur notes (and as the cab of the new class 70 diesel locomotive attests), no-one paid any attention to its work anyway.
As our journey progressed, he reminisced on what would have been his crowning achievement, the Internally-Navigated Express Passenger Train. In 1979, his team was approached to develop a solution to the age-old problem of trains being delayed by problems on the track ahead. The team’s mission was to create a train that would identify forthcoming traffic and track conditions and, as necessary, control the system so as to divert itself yet still achieve its next destination on time. IT infrastructure on the railways is very advanced, so the train would use its computer to read conditions and, when a viable alternative was available, reset both its own and related signalling across the network to re-route itself accordingly. For example, an Internally-Navigated Express Passenger Train running non-stop from Liverpool Street to Norwich, detecting a potential delay at Colchester, would identify an alternative, clearer route via Bishops Stortford and Ely.
Making all routes available for diversion was essential to the success of the project yet few tracks meet main line standards: the Internally-Navigated Express Passenger Train had to be designed with this in mind. Greater distances imply proportionately later arrivals, so the specification demanded an increased availability in speed of up to 250% over tracks normally limited to slower running. This could be achieved by an average axle weight of under 8 tonnes, plus larger flanges and a GPS-controlled tilt system, to enable the train to negotiate poorly-ballasted, tight-radius track at speeds in excess of 120kph. The prime concern was weight.
Sir Arthur’s solution was innovative, to say the least. He was to build the Internally-Navigated Express Passenger Train out of lithium, the lightest metal in the universe. The malleability of Lithium 5 offered an engineering bonus but its corrosive effects a drawback, so highly radioactive Lithium-6-deuteride was chosen. Sir Arthur immediately turned the fatal shortcomings of this alloy to the train’s advantage, electing to use its nuclear fission to power it. Eight coaches of radioactive lithium would produce virtually limitless power, yet thanks to a favourable half-life and because journey time would (usually) be reduced significantly, the duration passengers would be exposed to the deadly radiation came within loosely acceptable parameters.
Slowly transforming into beryllium and emitting an attractive red glow as it raced through the night, the Internally-Navigated Express Passenger Train offered many beneficial extras. The medicinal effects of the lithium were anticipated to raise passengers’ mental well-being en route. A pantograph would return excess power to the network when running on electrified lines: on non-electrified lines, the power would be converted to heat which would be convected downwards to burn off weed growth and litter, and sterilise the track bed.
A rheumy twinkle appeared in Sir Arthur’s eyes. Our own journey was reaching its tortured end and, as he took his umbrella from the overhead rack, he sighed.
Even all those years ago, Sir Arthur Cresswood had foreseen that the defining phrase for British rail passenger transport development in the 21st century would be ‘INEPT’.
With warmest regards
Vernon Thorncroft
