#1968
British Rail Classes 485 and 486
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Metro-Cammell· from 1923· 2 related classes of ex-London Transport tube stock used on the Isle of Wight
what is it?
The British Rail Class 485 (or 4Vec, later 5Vec) and British Rail Class 486 (or 3Tis, later 2Tis) electrical multiple units were originally built for the London Electric Railway from 1923-31 as its 'Standard' tube stock. They were purchased by British Rail in 1967 and transported to the Isle of Wight to work 'mainline' services on the newly electrified Ryde to Shanklin line, where they worked for an additional quarter of a century. At the time of their purchase the units had already worked for over 40 years on the London Underground, but their introduction allowed the last steam locomotives on the line to be withdrawn.
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 103 years ago, in 1923.
- Weighs about as much as 16 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Seats 132: 3 full city buses (~50 seats each).
- Served for 69 years (1923–1992).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1923
- in service from
- 1923
- retired
- 1992
- status
- retired
- number built
- —
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Metro-Cammell, Union Construction Company
- operators
- Network SouthEast
- top speed
- 72 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 660 V DC 3rd rail
- formation
- 4 cars per trainset (4-VEC), 3 cars per trainset (3-TIS), DMBSO+TSO+TSO+DMBSO (4-VEC), DMBSO+TSO+DTSO (3-TIS), 5 cars p…
- weight
- 94 t
- capacity
- 132 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4970921, Wikipedia: British Rail Classes 485 and 486 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.