Didn't the LNER order a few diesels from EMD, possibly to use on the southern half of the ECML. They were also considering electrifying the northern half, mind you the NER wanted to do that and even produced
this as a prototype. So we have another, "what if". What if the either the NER or LNER scheme succeeded. If the former, we'd certainly never have seen A4s and A3s. The directors would almost certainly have wanted to extend the scheme to King's Cross, and something resembling the Class 77s might have appeared. Gresley helped design them, and although they might not be as advanced, they would look similar. If the latter, then BR would have had to make a decision. Convert to 25 kV a.c. or retain as 1,500 V d.c.? Whichever it was, we would certainly never have seen the Deltics, unless Western Region decided against ordering diesel-hydraulics. Most likely, the line would have been worked by either 77s or 86s. In fact, it's quite likely that all BR electrification from then on would have been 1,500 V d.c., so the same as France. Channel Tunnel in the 1960s?