Editing Advanced Passenger Train (section)

==In service==

===Queasy rider===
While the commissioning team continued to report, and solve, problems in the APT design, BR management was under increasing pressure from the press. By the early 1980s the project had been running for over a decade and the trains were still not in service. ''[[Private Eye (magazine)|Private Eye]]'' lampooned it with a timetable proclaiming "The APT arriving at Platform 4 is fifteen years late".<ref name=laughing/><ref>{{Cite web |orig-date=1981-12-18 |title=Private Eye cover of issue 522 (18 December 1981) |url=https://www.private-eye.co.uk/covers/cover-522 |access-date=2023-07-18 |website=Private Eye}}</ref> Press pressure led to political pressure which led to management pressure, and the APT team was told to put the train into operation in spite of its ongoing problems.

On 7 December 1981 the press was invited aboard APT for its first official run from Glasgow to London, during which it set a schedule record at 4 hours 15 minutes. However, press reports focused on a distinct sickening sensation from the tilt system, and nicknamed APT the "queasy rider". They also reported that the stewardess, Marie Docherty, suggested the solution was to "just stand with your feet apart." A BR engineer suggested that the reporters were simply too drunk on BR's free alcohol.<ref name=laughing /> On its return trip from London the next day, one of the coaches became stuck in a rotated position when the tilt system failed, and this was heavily reported in the press.<ref name = BBCcoverarticle/> Two days later, the temperature dipped and the water in the hydrokinetic brakes froze, forcing the train to end service in [[Crewe]].<ref>{{cite news|title=APT - The lean machine|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1695589.stm|access-date=27 April 2018|work=BBC News|date=7 December 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202041403/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1695589.stm|archive-date=2 December 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

APT became the focus of a storm of negative press reporting. When it emerged that only two of the three APT-Ps were in operation and the third would be out of service for overhaul and maintenance, the press dubbed it the "Accident Prone Train".<ref name=laughing/> BR also ran a second train 15 minutes behind it in case it failed, and since the train was mixed among existing traffic, its speed was limited to 125&nbsp;mph instead of its full speed.<ref name=laughing/>

BR, desperate for some good publicity, hired former [[Blue Peter]] presenter [[Peter Purves]] to make the journey from Glasgow. On arrival at [[Euston railway station|Euston]], Purves said that he had had an "excellent breakfast in the most delightful surroundings", and when asked about the train, said "it's smooth, it's quiet, and an altogether delightful experience." However, as he said this, a slight shudder was visible, and the sound of rattling dishes could be heard.<ref name=laughing>{{cite journal |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35061511 |title=APT tilting train: The laughing stock that changed the world |first=Justin |last=Parkinson |journal=BBC News Magazine |date=18 December 2015 |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425023722/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35061511 |archive-date=25 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Further development===
In 1981, BR hired the consulting firm Ford & Dain Partners to produce a report on the APT project and make any suggestions to improve it. It produced an interim report in November 1981, and a final version that December.<ref>{{cite tech report |title= Advanced Passenger Train: interim report by Ford and Dain Partners |date=November 1981 |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=8412824}}</ref><ref>{{cite tech report |title= Review of the Advanced Passenger Train: final report by Ford and Dain Partners |date= December 1981 |url= http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11183015 |access-date= 9 February 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161104011058/http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11183015 |archive-date= 4 November 2016 |url-status= live}}</ref> Their reports first suggested that the technical aspects of the design were largely complete, although they drew attention to the braking system, but that the management structure was a serious problem and there had to be a single manager in charge of the entire project. This resulted in the appointment of John Mitchell to the position of manager of the APT.{{sfn|Wickens|2002}} Matters immediately improved.

Among the improvements was a fix for the motion sickness being experienced by passengers. The commissioning team had been well aware of this problem before it entered service, but this was not mentioned to the press when it was noticed on the public runs. The problem was due to two effects. One was that the control system did not respond instantly, so the cars tended to not respond when the curve first started, and then reacted rapidly to make up for this lag. The fix for this was to take information on the tilt from the car in front, giving the system the slight time advantage it needed. The other problem was similar to [[sea sickness]], but in reverse. Sea sickness is caused when the body's [[equilibrioception]] system can feel movement, but inside a closed room this movement cannot be seen. On APT, one could easily see the tilting as the train entered turns, but there was no perception of this motion. The result was the same, a confusion between the visual and the equilibrioception system. The solution was almost trivial; slightly reducing the amount of tilt to be deliberately less than needed resulted in a small amount of leftover centrifugal force that was perceived by the equilibrioception system as being perfectly natural, which proved to cure the effect.

This also led to a further embarrassing discovery. The work that suggested the amount of tilt needed to reduce the lateral forces to acceptable levels was eventually traced to a short series of studies carried out by a steam train on a branch line in northern Wales in 1949. A series of updated studies carried out in 1983 demonstrated less tilt was needed, about six degrees. This was within the range possible through superelevation, which suggested tilting might not be needed at all.<ref name=flop/>

===Re-entry - and demise===
The APT-P trains were quietly reintroduced into service in mid-1984, but not mentioned as such on any of the timetables; passengers would find out if they were taking APT only when it arrived at the platform. These trains proved to work well, the problems having apparently been corrected. However, the political and managerial will to continue the project and build the projected 140&nbsp;mph capable APT-S production vehicles had evaporated.

Meanwhile, HST entered service as the [[InterCity 125]] in 1976 and proved to be an all-round success. Its diesel operation and slightly lower speeds also meant it could operate on more of BR's network. Pressure to abandon APT in favour of HST was continual. Supporters of the APT were increasingly isolated, and the system was removed from service in the winter of 1985/6. This was made formal in 1987, when the trains were broken up and sent to museums.

One APT-P set was kept at Glasgow Shields depot and found use once or twice as an [[multiple unit|EMU]] to take journalists from Glasgow Central to [[Anderston railway station]] and back, for the [[Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre]]. A second APT-P was stored in a siding behind Crewe Works. The Glasgow APT-P and the third APT-P were scrapped without publicity.