British Rail Class 501
class of 57 British 3-car electric multiple units
The British Rail Class 501 electric multiple units were built in 1955/56 for use on the former LNWR/LMS suburban electric network of the London Midland Region. A total of 57 three-car units were built.
Services
The services worked by the Class 501 units consisted of a small self-contained group of lines, which were electrified at 630 V DC on the 3rd and 4th rail principle, linking London Euston to Watford, Broad Street with both Richmond and Watford plus the Croxley Green branch — which was mostly served by shuttle trains from Watford. Some of these services were partially jointly operated with London Underground's Bakerloo and District Lines. In 1970 the trains were converted to 3rd rail only operation, although the 4th rail was retained on sections of line which are shared with London Underground trains.
The original electric scheme on these lines was at 630 V DC, which was actually supplied at +420 V in the outer electric rail and -210 V in the centre one, a total potential difference of 630 V. This was the same system as used at the time (and still employed today) by London Underground, and allowed Underground trains to run over the lines, from Queens Park to Watford (Bakerloo line) and Gunnersbury to Richmond (District line). In 1970 it was decided to convert to the normal arrangement of the full positive current of +630V in the outer rail, and to use the normal running rails for the return current at 0 potential. This required adaptation of the Class 501 trains to return current through the wheels instead of the centre rail. On the sections shared with the Underground trains the centre rail was retained, but was now also at zero potential and just bonded electrically to the running rails. No modifications were required on the Underground trains for this change, but electrical switching units are at the lineside where Underground trains pass from one system to the other.
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This entry incorporates text from “British Rail Class 501” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.