The Advanced Passenger Train, or APT as it was commonly known, was an unsuccessful tilting train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s.
The train was designed to run at a top speed of 150 mph (240 km/h), and cut journey times on the West coast Mainline.
Work started on the train in 1972 when a gas turbine-powered prototype was built. An electric powered version was later built.
Unfortunately, due largely to the crude 1970s technology used on the train, the tilting mechanism was unreliable, and had a tendency to over-compensate for curves, which made travellers feel sick.
The train was launched prematurely by British Rail in 1981 in a blaze of publicity, before the technical problems on the train had been fully solved, and predictably it was a PR disaster, as it kept breaking down. The APT was ridiculed by the press, and for largely political reasons was withdrawn from service in 1984.
A surviving APT now serves as a museum exhibit at Crewe Railway Museum.
