#4113
British Rail Class 252
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by British Rail Engineering Limited· from 1972· train engine used in the UK
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 252001 - weston s mare - 1975: Max Batten· CC BY-SA 2.5
- 2. Class 252 Prototype HST Trainset: Samson Ng . D201@EAL· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
Class 252 was the classification allocated to the prototype High Speed Train (HST) unit, numbered 252001.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 54 years ago, in 1972.
- Top speed is 1.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 10 minutes.
- Weighs about as much as 11 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 17.1 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 18 years (1972–1990).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1972
- in service from
- 1972
- retired
- 1990
- status
- retired
- number built
- 1
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- British Rail Engineering Limited
- operators
- British Rail
- top speed
- 230 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- formation
- Two power cars flanking Mark 3 carriages
- length
- 17.1 m
- weight
- 68.5 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q4970763, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 252 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.