NS Class 1500

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Preserved 1505 Ariadne at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

The Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Class 1500 were built by Metropolitan Vickers in 1953-1955. They were originally built for British Railways (BR) as Class EM2 (later Class 77) for use on the Woodhead Route between Manchester and Sheffield. They were withdrawn by BR in 1969 and acquired by NS in 1969 following a locomotive shortage.

[edit] Description

Seven locomotives of this type were constructed. They had been withdrawn en masse in September 1968 by BR, and were stored at Bury in the hope of sale to a foreign railway. Around this time, NS had been suffering from a shortage of electric locomotives. In August 1969, officials from Holland inspected no. E27002, which then performed a test run between Sheffield and Reddish. NS were so impressed that they purchased all seven locomotives.

The class was shipped to the Netherlands in September 1969 by ferry from Harwich to Zeebrugge. They were then tripped to Tilburg workshops for assessment and repairs. One locomotive, no. E27005 Minerva was considered to be in too poor a state to be repaired and so was broken up for spare parts. The remaining six locomotives entered the workshops for various modifications, including the fitting of Dutch headlight clusters, new pantographs and a new braking system. They were renumbered in the 1500 series in the order they left their workshops, starting with E27003 as 1501 in May 1970 and ending with E27002 as 1506 in June 1971.

The 1500s were primarily used on services in the southern part of the Netherlands. Typical passenger duties included Den Haag to Venlo and Maastricht to Haarlem. Freight duties were mainly operated at night and included Den Haag to Roosendaal.

By the early 1980s, new electric locomotives in the form of Class 1600 were being introduced. The 1500s were therefore made obsolete and withdrawals started in 1985. The final locomotives were withdrawn in 1986.

[edit] Fleet details

Key:	Preserved	Scrapped

NS number	BR number		Name	Disposal
NS number	1955	1957	Name	Disposal
1501	27003	E27003	Diana	Preserved in the Netherlands by Werkgroep 1501
1502	27000	E27000	Electra	Preserved at Midland Railway Butterley
1503	27004	E27004	Juno	Scrapped (10/1986)
1504	27006	E27006	Pandora	Scrapped (02/1985)
1505	27001	E27001	Ariadne	Preserved at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry
1506	27002	E27002	Aurora	Scrapped (02/1985)
-	27005	E27005	Minerva	Used for parts by NS. Scrapped (11/1969)