Midland No. 1550

This was a small battery locomotive built by the Midland Railway in their own shops at Derby in 1913. It was used for shunting and sorting coal trains in the West India Docks in central London, a task that had previously been carried out by horses. The rails in the docks had no direct rail connection to the network and the wagons were transferred using hydraulic hoists, so there was no possibility for steam locomotives to enter the docks. Similar locomotives were built for industrial service.

The small locomotive had two axles and weighed 17.5 tons including the batteries. Recharging the 300 Ah capacity was done over 1.5 to 2 hours after midnight and each morning before work the locomotive had to be plugged in for a short time to refresh the batteries. Rated capacity were either six 15-ton wagons or twelve six-ton wagons. Braking was also done by a rheostatic brake since feeding back current into the batteries was not possible. British Railways designated it BEL 1 (Battery-electric locomotive 1) and used it until 1964.