{"id":38593,"date":"2021-03-09T18:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T18:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=38593"},"modified":"2021-03-06T13:45:24","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T13:45:24","slug":"picture-in-time-tyne-and-wear-metro-4001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=38593","title":{"rendered":"Picture in Time: Tyne and Wear Metro 4001"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We go right back to before public services began on the Tyne and Wear Metro for the next couple of weeks of \u201cPicture in Time\u201d as we concentrate on the two prototype units.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>We all know that the Tyne and Wear Metro started public services in 1980 (2020 should have seen celebrations to mark the 40<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary but you know what intervened) but what isn\u2019t reported much is that period before the opening when the two prototype units were on test. <strong>4001<\/strong> and <strong>4002<\/strong> were delivered in 1975 having been built by Metro Cammell in Birmingham and with construction of the Tyne and Wear Metro network having only started the year before a special test track was built. This was established on a 2.4km section of the Backworth Colliery Railway from West Allotment towards Percy Main.<\/p>\n<p>With track reconstructed, overhead electrification installed, a short artificial tunnel built plus a two road shed and basic platform provided at Middle Engine Lane, this test facility opened in June 1975. Occasional open days were held which allowed the public to see the new cars and to experience the future of rail travel on Tyneside.<\/p>\n<p>This test line closed in June 1980 and the Middle Engine Lane site is now occupied by the Stephenson Steam Railway.<\/p>\n<p>In the first photo below, all of which were taken on 6<sup>th<\/sup> June 1976, <strong>4001<\/strong> is seen loading at the Middle Engine Lane platform. It was a different era in 1976 with the photographer allowed to stand trackside to take this image plus a sheer drop from the end of the platform.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=38594\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-38594\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38594\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1.4001-db-550x344.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1.4001-db-550x344.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1.4001-db-1024x640.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1.4001-db-768x480.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1.4001-db.jpg 1292w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next up is an interior view of <strong>4001<\/strong> with its clear and uncluttered design. A design which would scarcely look dated today.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=38595\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-38595\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38595\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2.4001-db-550x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2.4001-db-550x367.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2.4001-db-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2.4001-db-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2.4001-db.jpg 1276w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In this final photo we see <strong>4001<\/strong> during one of its test runs on 6<sup>th<\/sup> June 1976 as it approaches the platform. Also visible on the right is the temporary depot and <strong>4002<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_38596\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=38596\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-38596\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38596\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-38596\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/3.4001-db-550x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/3.4001-db-550x367.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/3.4001-db-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/3.4001-db-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/3.4001-db.jpg 1294w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-38596\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">All Photographs by Donald Brooks<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We go right back to before public services began on the Tyne and Wear Metro for the next couple of weeks of \u201cPicture in Time\u201d as we concentrate on the two prototype units.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35,67],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38593"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38597,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38593\/revisions\/38597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}