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| K Stock | |
|---|---|
| In service | 1927–1971 |
| Manufacturer | BRC&W |
| Specifications | |
| Car length | 50 ft (15.24 m) |
| Width | 8 ft 11+5⁄16 in (2,726 mm) |
| Height | 12 ft 3+1⁄2 in (3,746 mm) |
| Weight | 33.90 long tons (34.44 t; 37.97 short tons) |
| Seating | 42 |
| Notes/references | |
 London transportportal | |
London Underground K Stock is a clerestory-roofed rail stock built for the District line in 1927. It was subsequently absorbed into the London Underground Q Stock.
A complete review of District line rolling stock was carried out in 1926, leading to the withdrawal of further B Stock cars and their replacement, plus additional rolling stock to increase frequencies. [1] This led to the construction of the 101 motor cars of clerestory roofed K Stock. [1]
As built, the cars had hand-operated sliding doors. The doors were converted to air operation, and electro-pneumatic brakes added in 1938 as part of the Q Stock project. [2] The modified cars were reclassified as Q27 stock. The last of the Q Stock was withdrawn in 1971.
London Underground rolling stock includes the electric multiple-unit trains used on the London Underground. These come in two sizes, smaller deep-level tube trains and larger sub-surface trains of a similar size to those on British main lines, both running on standard gauge tracks. New trains are designed for the maximum number of standing passengers and for speed of access to the cars.
The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London, England, from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an "inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first part of the line opened using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The Metropolitan Railway operated all services until the District Railway introduced its own trains in 1871. The railway was soon extended westwards through Earl's Court to Fulham, Richmond, Ealing and Hounslow. After completing the inner circle and reaching Whitechapel in 1884, it was extended to Upminster in Essex in 1902.
The T Stock was a series of electric trains originally built in various batches by Metropolitan-Vickers and the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company for the Metropolitan Railway in 1927–31 for use on electric services from Baker Street and the City to Watford and Rickmansworth, though rarely some worked on the Uxbridge branch.
The London Underground R Stock electric multiple units were used on London Underground's District line from 1949 to 1983. Composed of new cars and converted Q38 Stock trailers, the cars were built and converted in three batches between 1949 and 1959. The cars were driving motors (DM) or non-driving motors (NDM), there being no unpowered trailers. The second batch, introduced in 1952, was constructed from aluminium, saving weight and one train was left unpainted as an experiment. Considered a success, trains were left unpainted or painted white or grey to match in 1963–68. Originally designed to operate in trains with six off-peak and eight cars during peak hours, the trains were reformed as fixed seven-car trains in 1971. R Stock trains were replaced by the D78 Stock and withdrawn between 1981 and 1983.
The Q Stock consisted of various District line trains, built from 1923 until the mid-1930s, originally built with manually operated sliding doors. Following conversion to air operated doors, the trains became collectively known as Q Stock. Given that five different types of rolling stock were converted to Q Stock, the resulting hybrid trains looked bizarre - with the older carriages having flat sides and clerestory roofs, whilst the Q38 had flared sides at floor level.
The London Underground O and P Stock electric multiple units were used on the London Underground from 1937 to 1981. O Stock trains were built for the Hammersmith & City line, using metadyne control equipment with regenerative braking, but the trains were made up entirely of motor cars and this caused technical problems with the traction supply so trailer cars were added. P Stock cars were built to run together with the O Stock cars now surplus on Metropolitan line Uxbridge services. The trains had air-operated sliding doors under control of the guard; the O Stock with controls in the cab whereas the P Stock controls in the trailing end of the motor cars. The P Stock was introduced with first class accommodation, but this was withdrawn in 1940.
Diesel locomotives have seen limited use on the London Underground, largely because exhaust gases cannot be discharged when the vehicles are working in tunnels. A prototype diesel engine numbered DEL120 was built in 1939 from two 1915 stock motor cars, which was expected to be part of a batch of ten, but experience with battery locomotives showed that these were a better alternative. Three 0-6-0 diesels (DL81-DL83) were obtained in 1971, to replace the last steam engines, but were too short to operate the signalling system, and too heavy for some of the bridges. In 1996, fourteen diesels were supplied by Schöma of Germany, which were used during the construction of the Jubilee line tunnels. They were fitted with exhaust scrubbers, to enable them to work in the tunnels. To speed up track renewals on the subsurface lines, Class 66 locomotives have been hired in since 2006 to handle permanent way trains, but again suffer from being too heavy for some of the bridges. Because they are not fitted with tripcock safety devices, and pull trains much longer than the signalling system is designed for, they are restricted to slow speed running.
The London Underground C69 and C77 Stock, commonly referred to as the C Stock, was a type of sub-surface rolling stock used on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines of the London Underground between 1970 and 2014. They were replaced by the S7 Stock.
The A Stock cars were built for the District Railway by Brush Traction in 1903. They were the prototype electric units tested by the District Railway.
Electric locomotives were first used on the London Underground when the first deep-level tube line, the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), was opened in 1890. The first underground railways in London, the Metropolitan Railway (MR) and the District Railway (DR), used specially built steam locomotives to haul their trains through shallow tunnels which had many ventilation openings to allow steam and smoke to clear from the tunnels. It was impractical to use steam locomotives in the small unvented tubular tunnels of the deep-level lines, and the only options were rope haulage or electric locomotives.
The London Underground F Stock was built in 1920 and 1921 for the District Railway by the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company. They were partly funded by the government as part of an initiative to help British industry recover from World War I. One hundred steel-bodied cars were built: 40 driving motors, 12 control trailers and 48 trailers with the first train entering service on 23 December 1920. The cars were built with manually-operated sliding doors.
London Underground L Stock was a clerestory-roofed rail stock built for the District line in 1932 and subsequently absorbed into the London Underground Q Stock, being redesignated Q31 Stock.
The London Underground 1956 Stock consisted of three prototype units built before mass production of the 1959 tube stock. These units were tested on the Piccadilly line and remained in service after production trains were introduced. Later they were transferred to the Northern line, but in 1995 they were replaced as non-standard by 1962 Stock cascaded from the Central line.
The London Underground Q Stock were trains used on the District line of the London Underground. First introduced in 1938, these electric multiple units were formed from cars built between 1923 and 1935 and new purpose-built cars, and fitted with electro-pneumatic brakes and guard controlled air-operated doors. Trains were made up from cars of different ages with differing appearances, the older ones with clerestory roofs and the newer ones with flared sides. Some units were withdrawn in the early 1960s, although six- and eight-car trains remained on the District line with use gradually diminishing to peak hours only, and four car units worked the East London line until 1971.
Over the years, London Underground has acquired various types of engineering stock to help with the construction of new lines and maintenance of existing lines. Some of these wagons were inherited from its predecessors, many were built new and some were acquired second-hand from the main-line railways. Several types of specialist wagons have been used, which are described below.
District Railway electric multiple units were used on London's Metropolitan District Railway after the lines were electrified in the early 20th century.
The history of the District line started in 1864 when the Metropolitan District Railway was created to create an underground 'inner circle' connecting London's railway termini. The first part of the line opened using Metropolitan Railway gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The District introduced its own trains in 1871 and was soon extended westwards through Earl's Court to Fulham, Richmond, Ealing and Hounslow. After completing the 'inner circle' and reaching Whitechapel in 1884, it was extended to Upminster in East London in 1902. To finance electrification at the beginning of the 20th century, American financier Charles Yerkes took it over and made it part of his Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) group. Electric propulsion was introduced in 1905, and by the end of the year electric multiple units operated all of the services.
The London Underground opened in 1863 with gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The Metropolitan and District railways both used carriages exclusively until they electrified in the early 20th century. The District railway replaced all its carriages for electric multiple units, whereas the Metropolitan still used carriages on the outer suburban routes where an electric locomotive at the Baker Street end was exchanged for a steam locomotive en route.