86-862: The Talent is a multiple unit railcar manufactured by Bombardier that was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen shortly before the company was acquired by Bombardier in 1995. The name Talent is an acronym in German for TALbot LEichter Nahverkehrs-Triebwagen (in English, Talbot light suburban railcar ). It comes in a number of variants, including high-floor, low-floor , diesel-mechanical, diesel-hydraulic, diesel-electric, electric, and tilting , and in lengths of two, three, or four carriages. As with most multiple-unit trains, Talent units can run individually, or be coupled together to form longer trains. Classified as heavy rail according to UIC standards,
172-401: A 200 ft (61 m) lattice girder bridge and a half-mile (800 m) tunnel through the sandstone cliff to Park Road. The railway's contractor, J.W. Willans, was appointed as its chief engineer. He specialised in building and running electric railways, and in 1902, newer and more powerful electric motors were fitted to the trains in order to reduce service times in order to keep up with
258-669: A circular route, using the Hunts Cross to Southport line, however, these were never carried out. With fewer ships docking in Liverpool during the Great Depression , there was a reduction in usage of the Overhead Railway. Tourist tickets were offered from 1932, which also included visits to ocean liners that were moored at the docks, as part of a scheme to increase ticket sales, along with reduced prices, and
344-770: A commuter rail system in Johannesburg , operates with Bombardier Electrostar electric multiple units. The concept of multiple unit has entered the horizon of the Chinese since the 6th Speed-up Campaign of China Railway in 2007. With the upgrade of Jinghu Railway , North Jingguang Railway , Jingha Railway and Hukun Railway , and the construction of new Passenger Dedicated Lines (or Passenger Railways) completed, CRH (China Railway High-speed) trains have been put into service, mainly in North and Northeast China, and East China. All these CRH trains are electric multiple units. This
430-729: A lightly used freight railway line. As the Talent is not certified for concurrent shared-track operation with freight trains in North America, freight traffic is not permitted on the Trillium Line's route while passenger services are running. Although it is still legally classified as a main-line railway, Transport Canada allow the O-Train Trillium Line to use One-Person Train Operation, with fares collected through
516-458: A local slang term. As a result of the traffic, congestion, and overcrowding of the dock roads, many proposals were made for transport solutions. Rails were laid at Liverpool Docks in 1852, linking the warehouses and docks. Initially horses were used, for locomotives were banned because of the risk of fire. From 1859, passenger services were provided using adapted horse omnibuses ; the wheel flanges could be retracted to allow an omnibus to leave
602-401: A locomotive-drawn train. This is not so easy for a multiple unit, since individual cars can be attached or detached only in a maintenance facility. This also allows a loco-hauled train to be flexible in terms of number of cars. Cars can be removed or added one by one, but on multiple units two or more units have to be coupled. This is not so flexible. The passenger environment of a multiple unit
688-528: A locomotive-hauled train, if the number of cars is changed to meet the demand, acceleration and braking performance will also change. This calls for performance calculations to be done taking the heaviest train composition into account. This may sometimes cause some trains in off-peak periods to be overpowered with respect to the required performance. When 2 or more multiple units are coupled, train performance remains almost unchanged. However, in locomotive-hauled train compositions, using more powerful locomotives when
774-568: A locomotive-hauled train, one crew can serve the train regardless of the number of cars in the train provided limits of individual workload are not exceeded. Likewise, in such instances, buffet cars and other shared passenger facilities may need to be duplicated in each unit, reducing efficiency. Large locomotives can be used instead of small locomotives where more power is needed. Also, different types of passenger cars (such as reclining-seats, compartment cars, couchettes, sleepers, restaurant cars, buffet cars, etc.) can be easily added to or removed from
860-621: A major advertising campaign. During the Second World War, the railway suffered extensively from bomb damage. As a purely local undertaking, it was not nationalised in 1948 with the rest of the British railway system. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the company started to modernise some of the carriages, incorporating sliding doors. The line continued to carry large numbers of passengers, especially dock workers. The Mersey Docks & Harbour Board maintained stringent controls over
946-405: A motor or trailer car, it is not necessary for every one to be motorized. Trailer cars can contain supplementary equipment such as air compressors, batteries, etc.; they may also be fitted with a driving cab. In most cases, MU trains can only be driven/controlled from dedicated cab cars. However, in some MU trains, every car is equipped with a driving console, and other controls necessary to operate
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#17327718810631032-486: A number of other guests, who traveled on an inaugural journey along the railway. The public services started on 6 March, with the first carriages leaving from the Alexandra Dock and Herculaneum Dock stations at 7 am. The Liverpool Echo reported that "the carriages appear to be fairly well filled with passengers." In the early days of the railway there were a number of injuries and at least one fatality as
1118-432: A part in the degradation of the structure. Alongside this deterioration of the railway, the company never made as much money as they had hoped. Passengers made shorter journeys over the years, with the average passenger value declining from 2 d in 1897 to 1.7d in 1913. Electric trams were introduced and competed with the railway, reducing the number of people using it, and changes to ticketing increased operational costs for
1204-479: A proof-of-payment system. In March 2015, all three Talent units were replaced by Alstom Coradia LINT diesel units. The Talent has now been superseded by the Bombardier Talent 2 and Talent 3 . Multiple unit A multiple-unit train (or multiple unit ( MU )) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined, which if coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by
1290-403: A railway station. It was the second-oldest electric metro in the world, being preceded by the 1890 City and South London Railway . Originally spanning five miles (8 km) from Alexandra Dock to Herculaneum Dock , the railway was extended at both ends over the years of operation, as far south as Dingle and north to Seaforth & Litherland . A number of stations opened and closed during
1376-406: A raised floor in all variants, because the traction equipment installed underneath requires more space than unpowered bogies. The optional tilting system (called ContRoll) is unique: no swinging bolster is required between the bogie and the car body, but hydraulic cylinders, fitted between the anti roll bar system and the carbody, directly actuate the tilting. After a prototype was presented in 1994,
1462-413: A result of passengers and conductors overestimating the height of the railway while standing up on the top deck of open-top buses. Realising that the railway was receiving low traffic outside of working hours, the line was extended northwards to Seaforth Sands on 30 April 1894 in order to reach more residential areas. The extension brought the total length of the railway to 6 miles (10 km) and cost
1548-474: A semi-high-speed EMU named Vande Bharat Express , capable of running at 183 km/h (114 mph). And it continues to use diesel and electrical multiple units on its national network. All suburban and rapid transit lines are served by EMUs. Indonesia uses diesel since 1976 and electric MUs since 1925. Most of these MUs were built in Japan. The Manila Railroad Company (MRR) acquired its first multiple units in
1634-491: A single 60 horsepower (45 kW) motor. They were placed on the track in the switchback section. The finished railway ran between Alexandra Dock and Herculaneum Dock , though the line extended another half a mile (800 m) north of Alexandra Dock station to the carriage sheds and workshops; no land closer to the station had been available. At the time of opening in February 1893, the railway had cost £510,000 and used
1720-415: A single driver, with multiple-unit train control . Although multiple units consist of several carriages, single self-propelled carriages – also called railcars , rail motor coaches or railbuses – are in fact multiple units when two or more of them are working connected through multiple-unit train control (regardless of whether passengers can walk between the units or not). Multiple-unit train control
1806-444: A single train, then be broken at a junction point into shorter trains for different destinations. As there are multiple engines/motors, the failure of one engine does not prevent the train from continuing its journey. A locomotive-drawn train typically has only one power unit, whose failure will disable the train. However, some locomotive-hauled trains may contain more than one power unit and thus be able to continue at reduced speed after
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#17327718810631892-500: A total of 25,000 tons of iron and steel. "I have great pleasure in associating myself in however humble and transitory a manner with this great and splendid undertaking. I am glad to be associated with an enterprise which I hope will carry still further the prosperity and power of Liverpool, and which will carry down the name of Liverpool to posterity as the place where a great mechanical undertaking first found its home... I will therefore, though with some fear and trembling, fulfil
1978-465: A total of £10,000. While the passengers had previously been primarily travelling to businesses and the city, the Seaforth extension resulted in a large increase in traffic from residents of the outer areas of Liverpool. An extension southwards from Herculaneum Dock to Dingle was opened on 21 December 1896. Dingle was the only underground station, the extension from Herculaneum Dock being achieved with
2064-770: A tour of the length of the railway. The railway was officially opened on 4 February the same year by the Leader of the Opposition the Marquis of Salisbury , who turned on the main electrical current during a ceremony at the generating station at the Bramley-Moore Dock . The ceremony was attended by the Earl of Lathom , Lord Kelvin , the mayor of Liverpool, the chairman of the Dock Board, directors and engineers, and
2150-527: A train is longer can solve this problem. It may be easier to maintain one locomotive than many self-propelled cars. In the past, it was often safer to locate the train's power systems away from passengers. This was particularly the case for steam locomotives, but still has some relevance for casualties than one with a locomotive (where the heavy locomotive would act as a "crumple zone"). If a locomotive fails, it can be easily replaced with minimal shunting movements. There would be no need for passengers to evacuate
2236-826: Is an informal word for elektropoezd ( Russian : электропо́езд ), a Soviet or post-Soviet regional (mostly suburban ) electrical multiple unit passenger train . Elektrichkas are widespread in Russia, Ukraine and some other countries of the former Soviet Union. The first elektrichka ride occurred in August 1929 between Moscow and Mytishchi . Swedish railroads have been privatized in steps for about 25 years, and today many different companies operate different types of multiple units. A majority of passenger trains today consists of multiple unit trains of which regional traffic exclusively use them. The Swiss Federal Railways use many multiple units, mainly on regional lines ( S-Bahn ). In
2322-517: Is often noticeably noisier than that of a locomotive-hauled train, due to the presence of underfloor machinery. The same applies to vibration. This is a particular problem with DMUs . Separating the motive power from the payload-carrying cars means that either can be replaced when obsolete without affecting the other. Algeria possesses 17 units of the Coradia El Djazaïr, a multiple unit train produced by Alstom. These units are similar to
2408-558: The Board of Trade based on this plan, but it was rejected and there was no further progress. The Liverpool Overhead Railway Company was formed in 1888 and obtained permission to build a double-track railway in the same year via the Liverpool Overhead Railway Act 1888 ( 51 & 52 Vict. c. cx). Engineers Sir Douglas Fox and James Henry Greathead were commissioned to design the railway . Steam traction
2494-492: The Chicago 'L' ) in 1897. In 1895, derived from his company's invention and production of direct-current elevator control systems, Frank Sprague invented a multiple-unit controller for electric train operation. This accelerated the construction of electric-traction railways and trolley systems worldwide. Each car of the train has its own traction motors: by means of motor control relays in each car energized by train-line wires from
2580-598: The Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee ) was an overhead railway in Liverpool that operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units . The railway had a number of world firsts: it was the first electric elevated railway, the first to use automatic signalling, electric colour light signals and electric multiple units , and was home to one of the first passenger escalators at
2666-477: The Grand National , both held at Aintree Racecourse . Through services from Dingle to Southport were withdrawn in 1914. By 1914 the railway had served over 10 million passengers. To allow the through-running of L&YR trains, the conductor rail was moved to outside the running rails and the centre rail became the earth return until the 1920s. The first automatic train-stop system was installed on
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2752-523: The LRT Line 1 built by La Brugeoise et Nivelles in Belgium . The first EMUs to be used outside of rapid transit will enter service between 2021 and 2022. Most trains in North America are locomotive-hauled and use Multiple Unit (MU) control to control multiple locomotives. The control system of the leading locomotive connects to the other locomotives so that the engineer's control is repeated on all
2838-473: The switchback . Originally the conductor rail was placed between the rails, energised at 500–525 volts DC . The power was supplied by a generating station at Bramley-Moore Dock that received its coal directly from the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway branch line which passed above. Special lightweight passenger cars were designed with each having a driving motor car; one bogie was powered with
2924-849: The 1930s. The locally-built MC class was initially powered by gasoline and was changed to diesel during World War II . Both the MRR and its successor, the Philippine National Railways (PNR), has since acquired various classes of diesel multiple units. All multiple units owned by MRR and all of the older MUs of the PNR were built by Japanese firms. On the other hand, its newer rolling stock were built in South Korea and Indonesia . There will also be DMUs that will be built in China . The first electric multiple units were acquired in 1984 for
3010-539: The 1950s, but by utilizing and enhancing the technology of short-distance urban MU trains, long-distance express MU-type vehicles were developed and widely introduced starting in the mid-1950s. This work resulted in the original Shinkansen development which optimized all of the EMU's efficiencies to maximize speed. It was introduced upon completion of the Tokaido Shinkansen (literally "new trunk line") in 1964. By
3096-486: The 1970s, locomotive traction was regarded as slow and inefficient, and its use is now mostly limited to freight trains. From 1999, there have been development efforts in freight EMU technology, but it is currently used only for an express freight service on the Tokaido Main Line between Tokyo and Osaka. The government has been pushing for the adoption of freight EMU technology on energy efficiency grounds in
3182-603: The French version of Régiolis, which belongs to the Coradia family. Metrorail , which provides commuter rail service in major urban areas of South Africa, operates most services using electric multiple unit train sets of the type 5M2A . These trains are being gradually refurbished and subsequently designated as 10M3 (Cape Town), 10M4 (Gauteng) or 10M5 (Durban). Metrorail services are split into four regions; Gauteng , KwaZulu-Natal , Eastern Cape and Western Cape . Gautrain ,
3268-1009: The Japanese Shinkansen and the German Intercity-Express ICE 3 high-speed trains . A new high-speed MU, the AGV , was unveiled by France's Alstom on 5 February 2008. It has a claimed service speed of 360 km/h (220 mph). India's ICF announced the country's first high-speed engine-less train named 'train 18', which would run at 250 km/h maximum speed. Multiple units have been occasionally used for freight traffic, such as carrying containers or for trains used for maintenance. The Japanese M250 series train has four front and end carriages that are EMUs, and has been operating since March 2004. The German CargoSprinter have been used in three countries since 2003. They are more energy-efficient than locomotive-hauled trains. They have better adhesion , as more of
3354-493: The LOR staff joined British Railways for work after its closure. The railway was replaced by a bus service operated by Liverpool Corporation who purchased 60 new buses for the route. The price of a workman's return fare subsequently increased from 8 d to 1 s as workers were forced to use bus services. Demolition of the structure commenced on 23 September 1957, and all 80 acres (32 ha) of elevated track were removed by January
3440-492: The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway at Seaforth for the purposes of transporting coal to Herculaneum Dock. The lack of development or rescue by the board was at least in part due to its determination to restrict its activities to those that directly impacted the dock. The railway was carried mainly on iron viaducts, with a corrugated iron decking onto which the tracks were laid. It was vulnerable to corrosion, especially as
3526-498: The Museum of Liverpool, and the only surviving first-class modernised carriage, No 7, was taken on by Coventry Railway Centre. On 24 July 2012, a portion of the terminal tunnel near Dingle collapsed. The railway used electric units with passenger accommodation and an electric motor in the same unit. Any number could be coupled together with all motors controlled by the driver. Built between 1892 and 1899 by Brown Marshall & Co,
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3612-464: The Southport branch of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway were made available, with revised fares and timetables. The L&YR built some special lightweight electric stock and from 1906 began running services from Dingle to Southport and Aintree. Regular services to Aintree were withdrawn in 1908, and after this special trains ran only twice a year, on Jump Sunday and the following Friday for
3698-400: The Talent is a two-, three- or four-part articulated railcar with Jacobs bogies . Partially as a result of this, the interior of an entire unit is essentially a single, long cabin; it is possible to see or walk from end to end without opening doors or passing through narrower gangways . The sharing of bogies also means that a Talent unit cannot be easily disassembled or rearranged without
3784-721: The UK the use of modern diesel multiple units was pioneered in Northern Ireland, although a number of other railway companies also experimented with early DMUs (including the Great Western and the London Midland Scottish). Notable examples include the Sprinter and Voyager families, and the newer Javelin trains. The London Underground passenger system is operated exclusively by EMUs. Work trains on
3870-993: The Underground employ separate locomotives, some of which are dual battery/live rail powered. In Northern Ireland the majority of passenger services have been operated by diesel multiple units since the mid-1950s under the tenure of both the Ulster Transport Authority (1948–1966) and Northern Ireland Railways (since 1967). The first multiple unis in Australia were the Tait trains, wooden bodied Electric Multiple Unit train that operated in Melbourne , Victoria . They were originally introduced as steam locomotive hauled carriages but were converted to electric traction from 1919 during Melbourne’s electrification project. Indian Railways has recently introduced
3956-482: The additional locomotives. The locomotives are connected by multi-core cables. The Railway Technical Website , vol. US Locomotive MU Control This does not make these locomotives MUs for the purposes of this article. See locomotive consist . However, commuters, rapid transit , and light rail operations make extensive use of MUs. Most electrically powered trains are MUs. Liverpool Overhead Railway The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as
4042-404: The assistance of a railway yard. In those variants whose floor is 590 mm (23.2 in) above the rails, this means that the articulation floor is raised, but with ramp access, since it needs to be higher than the wheel diameter, above rail level. In the variants with 800 and 960 mm (31.5 and 37.8 in) floor height, the floor is flat from the first door to the last. The endsections have
4128-420: The cars that make up the unit. In many cases these cars can only propel themselves when they are part of the unit, so they are semi-permanently coupled. For example, in a DMU one car might carry the prime mover and traction motors , and another the engine for head-end power generation; an EMU might have one car carry the pantograph and transformer , and another car carry the traction motors. MU cars can be
4214-617: The company. A full-time maintenance team was employed solely for the Overhead Railway, but struggled to keep up with repairs, and costs began to rise steeply during the 1950s. In 1955, a survey discovered that repairs would be necessary in five years at a cost of £2 million. The company could not afford such costs and looked for financial support, from the Liverpool Corporation , the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board and British Railways . A number of attempts to rescue
4300-462: The competition from trams. In the early 20th century, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway L&YR was electrifying its routes out of Liverpool Exchange . A connection was built from the L&;YR Seaforth & Litherland station to a new station beside Seaforth Sands. The railway became popular with tourists. A 1902 Liverpool guidebook devoted a whole chapter to viewing and visiting the docks via
4386-679: The costly motive power assets can be moved around as needed and also used for hauling freight trains. A multiple unit arrangement would limit these costly motive power resources to use in passenger transportation. It is difficult to have gangway connections between coupled units and still retain an aerodynamic leading front end. Because of this, there is usually no passage between high-speed coupled units, though lower-speed coupled units frequently have connections between coupled units. This may require more crew members, so that ticket inspectors, for example, can be present in all of them. This leads to higher operating costs and lower use of crew resources. In
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#17327718810634472-453: The docks. To allow shipping access to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal , at Stanley Dock a bridge was replaced by a combined lifting-and-swing bridge, the lower lifting section carrying the road and goods railway. At Bramley-Moore Dock , the railway dropped to road level to pass under the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) coal tip branch. As the gradient was 1 in 40, this was known as
4558-493: The end of 1956, and despite public protests, the structures were dismantled in the following year. Since 1977, Liverpool's needs for rapid transit and commuter rail have been served by the partially underground Merseyrail network, which was formed from local suburban lines and new tunnel formed into a network, using no former infrastructure of the Liverpool Overhead Railway. The "overhead" refers to
4644-503: The energy consumed for accelerating the train increases significantly with an increase in weight. Because of the energy efficiency and higher adhesive-weight-to-total-weight ratio values, they generally have higher acceleration ability than locomotive-type trains and are favored in urban trains and metro systems for frequent start/stop routines. Most of them have cabs at both ends, resulting in quicker turnaround times, reduced crewing costs, and enhanced safety. The faster turnaround time and
4730-510: The failure of one. They have lighter axle loads, allowing operation on lighter tracks, where locomotives may be banned. Another side effect of this is reduced track wear, as traction forces can be provided through many axles, rather than just the four or six of a locomotive. They generally have rigid couplers instead of the flexible ones often used on locomotive-hauled trains. That means brakes/throttle can be more quickly applied without an excessive amount of jerk experienced in passenger coaches. In
4816-576: The first Talents entered service in 1996. They are used by mainline railways in Germany , Austria and Norway . More than 260 are in service worldwide. In a more unusual use, three diesel Talents identical to Deutsche Bahn's class 643 once formed the fleet for Ottawa's O-Train Trillium Line , a diesel light rail transit line running entirely within the City of Ottawa. The Trillium Line shares
4902-532: The first to be installed in Britain. The track also contained automatic braking systems for trains which ran through a red light; the current could be automatically disconnected and air brakes applied. The seventeenth and final station was opened on 16 June 1930, at Gladstone Dock , between Alexandra Dock and Seaforth Sands stations. Plans were put forward to extend the line from Herculaneum Dock to St Michaels , and from Seaforth Sands to Sefton , to create
4988-439: The following year. Little evidence of the railway remains, but a small number of columns set into walls at Huskisson Dock , and the tunnel at Herculaneum Dock into Dingle station have survived, the latter being used as a garage. The foundations of the double deck swing bridge at Stanley Dock also remain. One of the original wooden carriages, on a recreated section of elevated track, remains on display with other artefacts at
5074-451: The front car, all the traction motors in the train are controlled in unison. Most MUs are powered either by traction motors , receiving their power through a third rail or overhead wire ( EMU ), or by a diesel engine driving a generator producing electricity to drive traction motors. A MU has the same power and traction components as a locomotive , but instead of the components being concentrated in one car, they are spread throughout
5160-474: The high acceleration ability and quick turnaround times of MUs have advantages, encouraging their development in this country. Additionally, the mountainous terrain gives the MUs an advantage on grades steeper than those found in most countries, particularly on small private lines many of which run from coastal cities to small towns in the mountains. Most long-distance trains in Japan were operated by locomotives until
5246-594: The hope that widespread adoption could assist in meeting CO 2 emissions targets. The effort has been principally targeted at express package shipping that would otherwise travel by road. The first EMUs have been introduced in Belgium in the 1930s. Several models have followed since then, such as the AM75 . CIÉ introduced its first DMUs , the 2600-class, in 1951. Elektrichka ( Russian : электри́чка , Ukrainian : електри́чка , romanized : elektrychka )
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#17327718810635332-400: The injunctions of Sir William Forwood, and proceed to handle the electric machinery which is to set this line in motion. I only hope the result will be no different from what he anticipates." The Marquis of Salisbury at the opening ceremony. The first official journey on the railway took place on 7 January 1893, with the railway chairman taking engineers and other people of importance on
5418-409: The line was closed on the evening of 30 December 1956. The final two scheduled trains were full of passengers and were timed to meet at Pier Head, where crowds gathered. It was the first electrified urban railway in the UK to close. A small number of staff were kept to maintain the buildings and structures, and it was hoped that a way of reopening the railway could be found. More than 100 members of
5504-425: The line, and was electrically operated. An arm on the trackside would be struck by each passing train, activating an electromagnet, resulting in a 'danger' signal being shown until the train had passed through the next station. As a result of automation, the number of staffed signal boxes was reduced to two. The line upgraded the signalling from semaphore to a Westinghouse permanent daytime colour-light system in 1921:
5590-442: The locomotive-hauled passenger services still in operation, the majority are tourist-oriented, such as the numerous steam-hauled trains operated seasonally on scenic lines throughout the country, as well as some of the luxury cruise trains. Japan is a country of high population density with a large number of railway passengers in relatively small urban areas, and frequent operation of short-distance trains has been required. Therefore,
5676-420: The norm became a three-coach train consisting of two motor coaches with a trailer coach between. Two classes of accommodation were provided, originally first and second, becoming first and third in 1905 when the L&YR began running over the railway. The cars were open with transverse seating: the central trailer had leather-covered seats for first class passengers; third class passengers had wooden seating. As
5762-491: The operation of the Overhead Railway for the duration of its operation. The board protected its own freight transport interests by including clauses in the Overhead Railway's enabling legislation to limit the weight of parcels that could be transported, and renewing the lease on it every seven years. The board blocked an attempt by the Liverpool Overhead Railway Company to extend its line to join
5848-424: The original units had one 60 horsepower (45 kW) motor, but by the third batch this had been replaced by a 70 horsepower (52 kW) motor. In 1902, the motor cars were fitted with two 100 horsepower (75 kW) motors, and these were replaced in 1919 by 75 horsepower (56 kW) motors. Air brakes were fitted, the pressure being topped up at the termini. In the early days a single motor coach ran off-peak, but
5934-512: The overhead railway, and a 1930s poster described it as "the best way to see the finest docks in the world". As of 1919, a total of 18 million passengers used the Overhead Railway each year, 14 million passengers per year, even during the Second World War , and 9 million into the 1950s. From 1902, the journey end-to-end journey time was reduced to 22 minutes, but due to increased power and maintenance costs,
6020-407: The railway and arrange a takeover took place over the next year but were ultimately unsuccessful. The company went into voluntary liquidation , despite still being reported to be profitable for its shareholders, and was relieved of its statutory obligation to operate passenger services with the Liverpool Overhead Railway Act 1956 ( 4 & 5 Eliz. 2 . c. lxxxii). Despite public protest,
6106-501: The railway being primarily constructed above street level, and not to " overhead line ", though there is no ambiguity as the electrical supply was third rail . When the LOR was extended to the Dingle terminus the "overhead" description of the railway would have seemed an anomaly to those descending to the platform there which was underground in a tunnel. At least two alternative names for the railway existed: "Dockers' Umbrella"; and "ovee",
6192-423: The railway's operation owing to relative popularity and damage, including air bombing during the Second World War . At its peak almost 20 million people used the railway every year. Being a local railway, it was not nationalised in 1948 . In 1955, a report into the structure of the many bridges and viaducts showed that major repairs, which the company could not afford, were needed. The railway closed at
6278-540: The reduced size (due to higher frequencies) as compared to large locomotive -hauled trains, has made the MU a major part of suburban commuter rail services in many countries. MUs are also used by most rapid transit systems. However, the need to turn a locomotive is no longer a problem for locomotive-hauled trains due to the increasing use of push pull trains . Multiple units may usually be quickly made up or separated into sets of varying lengths. Several multiple units may run as
6364-459: The steam-operated Docks Railway operated beneath some sections, despite the locomotives being fitted with chimney cowls which were intended to deflect the steam from the structure. Parts of the decking had become rusty on the surface, caused by steam and soot from the dock locomotives that passed underneath, mixing with rainwater to form an acid that began to corrode the metalwork. Drainage blockages combined with grit and constant vibration also played
6450-484: The tracks to overtake a goods train. By the 1880s there was an omnibus service every five minutes. An elevated railway was first proposed in 1852, and in 1878 the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MD&HB) obtained powers in the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (Over-Head Railways) Act 1878 ( 41 & 42 Vict. c. cxcviii) for a single-line steam railway with passing loops at stations. The MD&HB applied to
6536-410: The train's weight is carried on driven wheels, rather than the locomotive having to haul the dead weight of unpowered coaches. They have a higher power-to-weight-ratio than a locomotive-hauled train since they don't have a heavy locomotive that does not itself carry passengers, but contributes to the total weight of the train. This is particularly important where train services make frequent stops, since
6622-862: The train, therefore every car can be used as a cab car whether it is motorised or not, if on the end of the train. An example of this arrangement is the NJ Transit Arrows. Virtually all rapid-transit rolling stock, such as on the New York City Subway , the London Underground , the Paris Metro and other subway systems, are multiple-units, usually EMUs. Most trains in the Netherlands and Japan are MUs, being suitable for use in areas of high population density. Many high-speed rail trains are also multiple-units, such as
6708-520: The train. Failure of a multiple unit will often require a whole new train and time-consuming switching activities; also passengers would be asked to evacuate the failed train and board another one. However, if the train consists of more than one multiple unit they are often designed such that in the event of the failure of one unit others in the train can tow it in neutral if brakes and other safety systems are operational. Idle trains do not waste expensive motive power resources. Separate locomotives mean that
6794-489: The trains were then slowed down by six minutes in 1908, and the frequency of trains was increased to one every three minutes during peak times. By 1910, the operating hours were unrivaled, providing at least one train every 10 minutes from 4:45 am until 11:33 pm on weekdays. From 2 July 1905, Overhead Railway trains began running through to Seaforth & Litherland, and through connections and through bookings between Liverpool Overhead Railway stations and
6880-495: The voltage was 500 V, when they ran on the L&YR 630 V system the motors had to be in series mode. A three-car train was modernised in 1945–47; this involved replacing the timber body with aluminium and plywood, and fitting power-operated sliding doors under control of the guard. New trains were considered too expensive and six more trains were rebuilt. The Liverpool Overhead Railway operated one steam locomotive, called Lively Polly, an inside-cylinder 0-4-0WT , which
6966-554: Was considered, and they considered fitting floors to the structure to prevent ash falling to the street below; however, this was seen as a fire risk. Sir William Forwood , the Chairman of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, had studied American electric railways, and in 1891 electric traction was chosen. John William Willans was chosen as the primary contractor. Building began in 1889 and was completed in January 1893. The structure
7052-485: Was first used in electric multiple units in the 1890s. The Liverpool Overhead Railway opened in 1893 with two-car electric multiple units, controllers in cabs at both ends directly controlling the traction current to motors on both cars. The multiple-unit traction control system was developed by Frank Sprague and first applied and tested on the South Side Elevated Railroad (now part of
7138-580: Was kept by the Museum of Liverpool and a modernised carriage was stored at the Electric Railway Museum, Warwickshire . The railway is featured in the films Waterfront and The Magnet (both 1950), and in the final scenes of The Clouded Yellow (1951), as the character played by Jean Simmons uses it to travel to one of the docks. Extensive archive footage appears in Of Time and
7224-605: Was originally built in Leeds by Kitson for the West Lancashire Railway . It was used to de-ice the track and haul the maintenance train from its acquisition in the 1890s until it was sold to Rea Ltd, a coal merchant in Birkenhead in 1949. It was replaced by a Ruston diesel engine, which was bought in 1947. Both were fitted with the proprietary coupling used by the Overhead Railway's EMUs. An original train
7310-457: Was the beginning of the general service of multiple unit trains in China's national railway system. Far earlier than the introduction of CRH brand, multiple unit trains have been running on all major cities' metro lines in China. In Japan most passenger trains, including the high-speed Shinkansen , are of the multiple-unit (MU) type, with most locomotives now used solely in freight operations. Of
7396-436: Was to be made of wrought iron girders, positioned a nominal 16 ft (4.9 m) above the roadway. A total of 567 spans were erected, most being 50 ft (15 m) long. The standard gauge railway was laid on longitudinal timbers on the elevated sections. Four bridges were constructed to cross wider streets. Hydraulic lifting sections were provided at Brunswick , Sandon and Langton Docks to allow goods access to
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