The National Railway Museum has announced that the nationally significant High-Speed Freight Vehicle 1 (HSFV1) has been donated to Locomotion in Shildon, by the APT-E-Support Group. The HSFV1 made international high-speed travel and freight carrying possible and represents a historic and ground-breaking landmark for rail travel.
It was developed by the Railway Technical Centre in Derby in the late 1960s under Professor Alan Wickens. The outcome of this was the development of new trains to run consistently at high speed across the existing network.
The vehicle was purchased in 2010 by The APT – E Support Group and displayed in Coventry’s Electric Railway Museum, but follows to its recent closure, a new home was needed and with the help of Shane Wilton and Graeme Gleaves from the Electric Railway Museum, the move became possible.
Senior Curator of Rail Transport & Technology at Locomotion, Anthony Coulls, said: “We thank the APT-E Support Group for their kind donation of this seminal vehicle. The research was part of the development of modern rolling stock and we look forward to placing it on display at Locomotion alongside the APT-E, two of the most significant vehicles of late 20th Century railway development.”
Kit Spackman and Paul Leadley of the APT-E Support Group, said: “HSFV1 is as important to modern high-speed rail travel worldwide as Stephenson’s Rocket was the development of railway travel originally. It’s very pleasing that at long last it’s been given a proper recognition and a showcase in the Museum’s collection.”
Locomotion, which officially became part of the Science Museum Group portfolio in December last year, will also be the new home to the British Rail class 306 no. 306107, later this year. This electrical multiple unit was introduced in 1949 and used on the electrified suburban lines between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street.
The Class 306 electric multiple unit has previously housed at the East Anglian Railway Museum in Essex, where it has been on loan from the National Railway Museum. The unit will return to Locomotion in Shildon for conservation and for public display.
Locomotion houses over 60 historically and significant locomotives and rail vehicles and will give visitors from the North-East and across the country, access to railway history within the collection.
