#2686· Class 70
British Rail Class 70 (electric)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Southern Railway· from 1941· class of 3 Co′Co′ 1470-hp electric locomotives
what is it?
The British Rail Class 70 was a class of three third rail Co-Co electric locomotives. The initial two were built by the Southern Railway (SR) at Ashford Works in 1940–41 and 1945 and were numbered CC1 and CC2 - the Southern Railway latterly preferring French practice for locomotive numbers which also gave an indication of the wheel arrangement. Electrical equipment was designed by Alfred Raworth and the body and bogies by Oliver Bulleid.
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 85 years ago, in 1941.
- Served for 27 years (1941–1968).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1941–1948
- in service from
- 1941
- retired
- 1968
- status
- retired
- number built
- 3
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Southern Railway, British Rail, Ashford Works, Brighton Works
- operators
- Southern Railway, Southern Region of British Railways
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- Dutch name
- Class 70
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4970843, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 70 (electric) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.