British Rail Class 221

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An unidentified Class 221 on the King Edward VII Bridge, 8 October 2005.
Virgin Trains Class 221 Super Voyager 221137 Mayflower Pilgrims at Camborne Station, Cornwall operating route VT1651, preparing to depart for Penzance. 24 December 2006.

The Class 221 Super Voyager is a train used by Virgin Trains in the United Kingdom. They were built by Bombardier Transportation for the British train operating company Virgin CrossCountry. They are similar to the Class 220 Voyager units, but they are built with a tilting mechanism to allow faster speeds on curved tracks, and most have five carriages rather than four. They can be distinguished from their Class 220 counterparts by their bogies, which appear far more substantial then the lightweight ones of the 220.

They are named after ‘famous voyagers’, as follows:

221 101 Louis Blériot 221 123 Henry Hudson
221 102 John Cabot 221 124 Charles Lindbergh
221 103 Christopher Columbus 221 125** Henry the Navigator
221 104 Sir John Franklin 221 126 Captain Robert Scott
221 105 William Baffin 221 127 Wright Brothers
221 106 Willem Barents 221 128 Captain John Smith
221 107 Sir Martin Frobisher 221 129 George Vancouver
221 108 Sir Ernest Shackleton 221 130 Michael Palin
221 109 Marco Polo 221 131 Edgar Evans
221 110 James Cook 221 132 William Speirs Bruce
221 111 Roald Amundsen 221 133 Alexander Selkirk
221 112 Ferdinand Magellan 221 134 Mary Kingsley
221 113 Sir Walter Raleigh 221 135 Donald Campbell
221 114 Sir Francis Drake 221 136 Yuri Gagarin
221 115 Sir Francis Chichester 221 137 Mayflower Pilgrims
221 116 David Livingstone 221 138 Thor Heyerdahl
221 117 Sir Henry Morton Stanley 221 139 Leif Eriksson
221 118 Mungo Park 221 140 Vasco Da Gama
221 119 Amelia Earhart 221 141* Amerigo Vespucci
221 120 Amy Johnson 221 142* Matthew Flinders
221 121 Charles Darwin 221 143* Auguste Picard
221 122 Doctor Who 221 144* Prince Madoc

(*) Four-car unit.

(**) Four car-unit, but was built as five; the fifth coach was written off following a severe engine fire at Starcross on 8 December 2005 [1]. This coach is now being repaired.

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British Rail Class 221