Southern Electrics - The Class 71 and 74

Hello again! :D

By popular demand, this week we look at an obscure locomotive class that was intended as the flagship of the Southern Region during the 1960s, the HA, later Class 71, a machine designed to power a wide range of services, including the crack boat trains, the Golden Arrow and the Night Ferry, as well as the humdrum work of parcels and freight.

Sadly, the Class 71's were limited in their function by the underinvestment of British Railways to expand electrification across the Southern Region, with their inability to access large portions of their domain leading directly to the electro-diesel derivative, the Class 74, a good idea in practice, but one which carried a few too many flaws to keep the overall design viable, leading to an early withdrawal for both the 71s and 74s by the end of the 1970s.

Chapters:

0:00 - Preamble
0:52 - Beyond Units
5:53 - Gapping and Boosting
11:02 - Enter the HA's
15:07 - Electro-Diesel Alternatives
19:09 - Losing Relevance
23:04 - Withdrawal and Preservation
26:42 - Conclusion

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References:
- Key Model (and their respective references)
- SREmG
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)