This Train Made Passengers Sick: The APT Tilting Train Story

Video Description

Watch More Mustard Videos & Support The Channel: https://nebula.tv/mustard Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MustardChannel Mustard Store: https://mustardchannel.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mustard_channel Twitter: https://twitter.com/MustardVideos Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mustard-109952378202335 In the 1960’s, Britain's railways were in decline. The country’s railways were slow and antiquated and facing fierce competition against growing automobile ownership and booming air travel. But elsewhere in the world, railways were beginning to make a comeback, and the key seemed to be much higher speeds. Japan’s new high speed Shinkansen Bullet Trains proved enormously successful with passengers, carrying over 100 million passengers in just the first three years of service. The French had also begun working on a revolutionary new high train, the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"). If British Rail was going to compete with automobiles and airliners, the solution seemed clear: much faster trains. But elsewhere in the world high speed trains were developed along with new special dedicate high speed tracks. These new lines were constructed with long, straight sections of rail and gentle curves. For their Bullet Trains, the Japanese built an entirely new dedicated high-speed rail line (Tokaido Shinkansen). For their TGV, the French would need to build hundreds of kilometers of dedicated high speed track (LGV for Ligne à Grande Vitesse). But the British would take a different approach. Instead of spending billions on new high-speed rail infrastructure, they would engineer a new kind of high speed train that could run on Britain’s existing rail network. The challenge was that many of Britain’s railways were built a hundred years earlier, and they were full of sharp twists and turns. The solution, was to engineer a train that would lean into bends like a motorcycle, maintaining passenger comfort even while running a high speeds around sharp curves. With active tilting technology, the Advanced Passenger Train (APT), would be able to bend nearly twice as fast as any British train. During testing in 1979, the APT hit 261 km/h, setting a new British speed record. But the APT’s development was plagued by setbacks and delays. The train never lived up to its potential. From day one, the APT was plagued by technical problems; everything from frozen breaks to failed tilting mechanisms. Nearly a third of passengers to become motion sick from the tilting mechanism. After a disastrous debut, British Rail faced an uphill battle to overcome technical challenges and win back public confidence in their innovative train. It was a battle they would never win. #APT #BritishRail #Trains Select footage courtesy the AP Archive AP Archive website: http://www.aparchive.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/aparchive and https://www.youtube.com/c/britishmovietone Special thanks to Nick Arehart for helping clean up our audio: https://twitter.com/airhrt_ Special thanks to: Wyatt Doran, Luke, Chiba Cheegoni, Gibbo, Jake Hart, Coby Tang, Cole Gerdemann, Christian Altenhofen, Felix Wassmer, Therandomuser, Ryfael, Lucas Schleicher, Justin Will, Jefferson Hu, Jean-christophe, Andrew J. Thom, Colin Millions, TOOLCO CORP, Anthony, Razvan Caliman, Joseph Zadeh, Mark Mills, Robert Tait, Danny Wolf, Matt Watersm, Trent Bosley, Christopher Boyd, Joel Salvador, Guzman Martin, Alexander Pace for supporting us on Patreon and helping Mustard grow: https://www.patreon.com/MustardChannel Thanks for watching!