E2001 Akeman-Street 250170 GE
E2001, the former Metropolitan-Vickers gas turbine 18100 converted to an AC electric for test or training purposes and classified as Class 80 under the TOPS scheme. The locomotive (E2001) was introduced into BR service in 1958 and withdrawn from capital stock in April 1968.opposite side Akeman Street was on the Great Central link from Ashendon Junction (where the GW & GC Joint Line split) to Grendon Underwood Junction, where the Great Central Main Line was joined the line was last used on a regular basis in 1966, but continued as a freight only branch on the track nearest the camera. The loco and coaches were visible from the A41, but the Royal Aircraft Establishment experimental rocket propulsion laboratory was immediately adjacent to the railway here (Indeed the establishment had its own rail connection and internal railway system with a Ruston & Hornsby shunting locomotive). My notes from this visit state that the the locomotive and coaches were there for wind velocity tests. ©www.railphotoprints.co.uk - Gordon Edgar