London Underground S Stock (ex-Metropolitan Railway)

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S Stock (ex-Metropolitan Railway)
In service1919-1950
Stock type Subsurface
Notes
Underground sign at Westminster.jpg   London transportportal

S stock is the designation given to one train of eight cars by London Underground in the 1930s. It was composed of converted trailers and experimental driving motor cars inherited from the Metropolitan Railway in 1933.

Contents

Trailer cars

In 1919, the Metropolitan Railway converted six 1904 saloon stock cars into the "Hustler train". These were the only cars of this type: two were driving motors, two were control trailers, which the Metropolitan called driving trailers, and the remaining two were trailers. In 1936, the two driving motors were converted into trailers, and all six cars were used with two 1925-built prototype driving motors. [1]

Driving motor cars

In 1925, two driving motor cars were built as prototypes for what would later become the T stock. In the London Passenger Transport Board numbering scheme, they became 2598 and 2599. After the trailer cars were withdrawn from service in the 1940s, the two driving motor cars remained in service on the East London Line, being used with a 1923-built control trailer. These three cars were withdrawn in 1950.

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London Underground rolling stock Passenger trains that run on the London Underground

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London Underground 1938 Stock

The London Underground 1938 Stock is a London Underground tube stock design. A total of 1,121 cars were built by Metro-Cammell and Birmingham RC&W. An additional 173 cars were added to the fleet by the end of 1953, comprising 91 new builds, 76 conversions from Pre-1938 Tube Stock or 1935 Tube Stock, and six unconverted cars of 1935 Tube Stock, and the stock was used on the London Underground until 1988. During their long lives they worked on the Bakerloo, Northern, Piccadilly, East London and Central lines. Ten sets were refurbished and ran on the Isle of Wight as Class 483, making them the oldest passenger rolling stock operating timetabled services on the National Rail network at the time of their withdrawal in January 2021. The trains represented a major technical advance, as all the electrical equipment was located under the floor for the first time. All previous tube stock had large equipment compartments behind the driving cabs in motor cars, which reduced the space available for passengers by about a third.

London Underground Standard Stock

The Standard Stock title was applied to a variety of Tube stock built between 1923 and 1934, all of which shared the same basic characteristics, but with some detailed differences. This design is also sometimes referred to as 1923 Tube Stock, 1923 Stock, or Pre 1938 Stock. Most of the Standard Stock was built to replace the first generation of "Gate Stock" Tube trains or to provide additional trains for extensions built in the 1920s and early 1930s. Standard Stock cars consisted of motor cars, plus trailer cars and "control trailers". All were equipped with air operated sliding doors, although the guard's door on the earlier trains was a manually operated inward-opening hinged door.

London Underground T Stock Electric train series used on the Metropolitan Railway from 1927 to 1962

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.

London Underground R Stock

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.

London Underground G Stock

The G Stock were 50 electric multiple unit train carriages built for the District Railway in 1923 by Gloucester RC&W. They operated on the District line of the London Underground until 1971.

London Underground O and P Stock

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.

London Underground 1960 Stock

The London Underground 1960 Stock was a class of electric multiple unit for the London Underground Central line. Twelve motor cars were supplied by Cravens, and pairs were made up to four cars by the addition of two converted standard stock trailers. A production run of 338 motor cars was shelved, due to the time needed to assess the new features and the cost of converting the trailer cars. Some of the pre-1938 trailers were later replaced by 1938 stock trailers.

London Underground B Stock

The London Underground B Stock was built in 1905 for the District Railway. 420 vehicles were built, formed into sixty 7-car units.

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.

London Underground electric locomotives

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 F Stock was built in 1920 and 1921 for the District Railway by the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Co. 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 1935 Stock

London Underground 1935 Stock was an experimental train design by Metropolitan Cammell in London. Twelve two-car units were built.

The 1920 Tube Stock consisted of forty cars built by Cammell Laird in Nottingham, England. These cars were the first new tube cars to be built with air operated doors. The batch consisted of twenty trailer and twenty control trailer cars, which were formed into six-car trains by the addition of twenty French motor cars built in 1906 and modified for air-door operation. They initially ran on the Piccadilly tube, but in 1930 were considered to be drab, compared to new stock being delivered at the time. The motor cars were therefore replaced by Standard Stock units, built in 1927, and the 1920 cars were refurbished. They were transferred to the Bakerloo line in 1932, and continued to operate until 1938.

London Underground 1900 and 1903 Stock

The Central London Railway Stock were electric multiple units composed of trailers that had been converted from carriages designed to be hauled by electric locomotives with new motor cars. The Central London Railway opened in 1900 with electric locomotives hauling wooden carriages, but the heavy locomotives caused vibrations that could be felt in the buildings above the route. Following investigation it was found that conversion to electric multiple units solved the problem, so new motor cars were bought and replaced all the locomotives by June 1903. Trains normally ran with six-cars, four trailers and two motor-cars, although some trailers were equipped with control equipment to allow trains to be formed with three cars.

London Underground Q Stock

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.

Metropolitan Railway electric multiple units

Metropolitan Railway electric multiple units were used on London's Metropolitan Railway after the lines were electrified in the early 20th century.

District Railway electric multiple units

District Railway electric multiple units were used on London's Metropolitan District Railway after the lines were electrified in the early 20th century.

London Underground departmental stock Overview of departmental locomotives on the London Underground

Departmental locomotives on the London Underground consist of vehicles of a number of types which are used for engineering purposes. These include battery locomotives, diesel locomotives, electric locomotives, sleet locomotives, pilot motor cars and ballast motor cars. Details of the first four types are covered elsewhere. Pilot motor cars and ballast motor cars are generally vehicles which have been withdrawn from passenger service, but continue to be used by the engineering department. Pilot motor cars are used to move other vehicles around the system, while ballast motor cars are used to haul ballast trains and engineering trains.

Acton Works London Underground depot

Acton Works is a London Underground maintenance facility in West London, England. It is accessed from the District line and Piccadilly line tracks to the east of Acton Town station, and was opened in 1922. It was responsible for the overhaul of rolling stock, and gradually took on this role for more lines, until the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, when all major overhauls of underground vehicles were carried out at the works. By 1985, when rolling stock had become more reliable and maintenance intervals had increased, this function was devolved to depots on each line. Subsequently, Acton continued to overhaul major items after they had been removed from trains at the depots, and tendered for work, which included the conversion of the A60 Stock to One Person Operation. It is likely to be reorganised and expanded to house the departments displaced from Lillie Bridge Depot which is being demolished as part of the redevelopment of Earls Court Exhibition Centre.

References

  1. p. 96 of Steam to Silver, J Graeme Bruce, London Transport, London 1975 (Hardback ed). ISBN   0-85329-061-X)