Piccadilly Pilot wrote:
Richard J. wrote:
Piccadilly Pilot wrote:
James wrote:
It means that a lot of national-running trains have to be
diesel.

Or be multi-voltage, as most modern electric trains (at least
potentially) are - Electrostar, Desiros, 319s, 365s, EMUs
Silverlink and WAGN use in London, Eurostars.

I can't think of any services which are diesel because of the
two electrification systems. They are diesel simply because of
a lack
of electrification.

I can think of some which used to run: the North-West to Brighton
services via the Trent Valley and the WLL.

Which electrification system is used on the WLL?

750V DC 3rd rail from Clapham Junction to (IIRC) Mitre Bridge
Junction, where it becomes 25KV AC overhead.

Sorry, used "is" when I meant "was" in the context of the previous
posters observation about services between the North-West and
Brighton.

Others may know the history better than me. AFAIK the southern section
from Clapham Junction to Olympia was electrified (3rd rail DC) some time
between 1960 and 1990. The northern section from Olympia to Willesden
Junction was electrified early in the 20th century (3rd/4th rail DC),
but I don't know if that survived the post-war years. The current
scheme, with 3rd rail to Mitre Bridge Junction, and 25kV AC north of
there, dates from 1992, and was originally installed to support
Eurostar.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)