In 1913, the City and South London Railway (C&SLR) and the London Electric Railway (LER) were granted authorisation by separate Acts of Parliament to carry out works on their underground routes.[1] The City and South London Railway needed to enlarge its tunnels to accommodate larger rolling stock and the London Electric Railway obtained permission to construct tunnels to connect the C&SLR at Euston to its Hampstead Tube station at Camden Town.[2] The work was delayed by the onset of the First World War and both companies obtained further Acts of Parliament to extend the time limits allowed for the works.[3][4] Increases in the costs of materials and labour following the war meant that building and maintaining underground railways was no longer economic, and by 1921 the country was in recession, with nearly two million workers unemployed.[5] In order to ease the situation, the government passed the Trade Facilities Act 1921, which enabled companies involved in projects that would create employment to borrow money, with the treasury guaranteeing both the capital amounts and the interest payments.[6] Lord Ashfield, the chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, which owned both the City and South London Railway and the London Electric Railway,[7] applied for and was granted powers to borrow £5 million under the scheme, which allowed the two projects to proceed.[8][9]
The Trade Facilities Act 1921 had allowed the treasury to guarantee a total of £25 million,[10] and the scheme was extended by the passing of the Trade Facilities and Loans Guarantee Act 1922, which increased the amounts of funding to £50 million, while extending the time limits by a year.[11] With the prospect of being able to borrow more money, the London Electric Railway obtained an act that authorised an extension of the Hampstead Tube from Charing Cross (now Embankment) to Kennington in 1923, while the City and South London Railway obtained an act for an extension southwards from Clapham Common to Morden, where a new depot would be constructed. The extension was funded by issuing 4.5 percent debenture stock, backed by a government guarantee. Work on the extension started on 31 December 1923 at Clapham, and the line and the depot were opened on 13 September 1926.[2]
Trains of 1956 Stock (left) and 1959 Stock (centre and right) stabled at Morden in 1988
In order to run the extended service, the first trains of what became known as Standard Stock were ordered. 191 cars were ordered in 1923 from three manufacturers, with a further 127 in 1924 and 120 in 1925. All of the cars were delivered by road, the 1923 Stock going to Golders Green Depot, the 1924 batch going to both Golders Green and the newly constructed Morden Depot, while all of the 1925 build was delivered to Morden. Stock delivered to Morden was stored until the line to Clapham was opened.[12] The cars were towed to Morden by traction engines, mounted on road bogies. Two tall gantries were erected, which enabled the cars to be lifted, for the road bogies to be removed. A railway steam crane was then used to place the railway bogies onto the tracks, and once mounted on them, the City and South London's diminutive steam locomotive was used to move the cars to the stabling sidings.[13]
The line southwards from Clapham runs almost entirely in tunnel, emerging into the open air just to the north of Morden station.[14] Tracks continue southwards beyond the station, passing under the A24 road to reach the depot, which is only accessible from the northern end. At its southern end, the depot is hemmed in by Morden South station and the tracks of the Sutton Loop Line. Within the depot there is a large car shed, with open-air sidings to either side of it.[15] A long footbridge crosses the depot tracks, providing good views of the facility.[16]
Morden Depot is thought to be the first such facility on the London Underground where the term "depot" was applied to a site for stabling and maintenance of trains. It was probably borrowed from army stores served by railways after the end of the First World War, which were also known as depots. Prior to this, the various underground lines all had "works" where trains were stabled and maintained.[17] Whereas Golders Green is designated as a main depot, Morden is a subsidiary depot, despite the fact that 38 trains are stabled there, as opposed to 16 at Golders Green. The designation is based on the range of maintenance functions performed at the depot, not the number of trains, and heavy maintenance for the Northern line is only performed at Golders Green.[18]
When first constructed, the depot was used to stable trains of 1924 and 1925 stock until the line northwards to Clapham was competed. With the 1923 stock, trains were formed into five-car units, but as the number of control trailer cars increased, they were formed into six-car units, with motor cars at the outside ends, two control trailers in the middle, and two trailer cars.[19] The delivery of additional standard stock, 112 cars in 1926 and 306 cars in 1927, enabled all trains on the Northern line to be formed of the new air-door stock. The extra stock meant that the frequency of trains could be improved, and the trains lengthened to seven cars.[20] A seven-car train was formed of a four-car motor-trailer-trailer-motor unit, and a three-car motor-trailer-control trailer unit, with the control trailer in the middle of the train. During off-peak hours, trains were shortened to four cars, by uncoupling the three-car unit. Approximately half of the trains had the three-car unit at the Morden end, and thus could be shortened at Morden, with the three-car unit being shunted into the depot, to be re-attached for the next peak service. Trains with the alternative formation were shortened at Edgware or Golders Green.[21] It is unclear whether any trains of gate stock were ever stabled at the depot, as although both types of train ran on the Northern line, the earlier gate stock was only used on short workings from Golders Green and Highgate to Charing Cross, and from Euston to Tooting, but was never used in passenger service as far south as Morden.[19]
The 1935-40 New Works Programme which London Underground initiated included the provision of new trains, and delivery of 1938 Stock began in May 1938. By November, there were 24 trains of the new stock in passenger-carrying service, and further trains were being commissioned at a rate of two per week.[22] At the depot, 1938 Stock gradually replaced Standard Stock, which was transferred to Acton Works and overhauled to see further service on the Central line.[23] Delivery of 1938 Stock continued into the early years of the Second World War, and by mid-1941, there were 96 seven-car trains operational on the Northern line, with 96 spare cars, so the changeover was complete. As a result of the wartime conditions, a considerable number of new cars were stored around the system, some of which had been commissioned, but some of which could not be, because they were missing parts or motors.[24] Five unused trailer cars were listed in the depot returns for Morden, of which some if not all were non-standard cars, which were designed to run in nine-car block trains. The use of nine-car trains was abandoned at the start of the war, and they were not reintroduced. There were also ten non-driving motor cars stored somewhere on the Northern line, but their locations were not specified. In order to improve the situation on the Bakerloo line, there was a concerted attempt to assemble the spare cars into complete trains in 1943, and the five trailer cars left Morden for Acton Works to be modified to run in standard length trains.[25] There was a serious collision of 1938 Stock at the depot on 27 July 1971, when motor car 10278 hit motor car 11159, which was stabled in the car shed on road 6. Both cars were damaged beyond repair, and formed part of the first batch of 1938 Stock to be scrapped in 1972.[26]
Newer stock
From 1972, Morden Depot ceased to be the preserve of just 1938 Stock, and by 1978, there were five types of stock in use on the Northern line and stabled at the depot. As part of a major programme of updating the rolling stock on the system, the Piccadilly line was equipped with 1973 Stock. This allowed the 1956 Stock and 1959 Stock on that line to be transferred to the Northern line, and some of the 1938 Stock to be scrapped. To make up the number of trains required, 30 trains of 1972 Mark I Stock were ordered, and subsequently, a second batch of 33 trains, known as 1972 Mark II Stock, was ordered, for eventual equipping of the Jubilee line, then under construction. They operated on the Northern line from November 1973, to enable additional 1938 Stock to be scrapped, and were gradually transferred to the Bakerloo line, as more trains of 1959 Stock were displaced from the Piccadilly line.[27] The first train of 1959 Stock arrived in November 1975, and by 1 January 1978, 56 and a half trains had been transferred.[28] The allocation at the beginning of 1978 comprised 10.5 trains of 1938 Stock, three of 1956 Stock, 56.5 of 1958 Stock, 30 of 1972 Mark I Stock and 15 of 1972 Mark II Stock, making 115 in total,[29] although only 95 were required from day to day. Morden Depot was used to stable 39 trains to run the passenger service at that time, with Golders Green supplying 17, and the remaining 39 being stabled at Highgate and Edgware Depots, and on sidings at High Barnet, Highgate Woods, and Golders Green.[30]
Although all of the 1972 Mark II Stock had left the Northern line in time for the opening of the Jubilee line in May 1979, four trains returned in 1983, following service reductions on the Jubilee line. They were modified to be compatible with the Mark I Stock, and a further 14 trains arrived in 1984–1985, as they were displaced from the Jubilee line by newly built 1983 Stock. The extra trains allowed 1959 Stock to be transferred to the Bakerloo line, to replace the remaining trains of 1938 Stock.[31] By mid-1993, there were 2.5 trains of 1956 Stock, 74.5 trains of 1959 Stock, 2.5 trains of 1962 Stock and 24.5 trains of 1972 Stock on the Northern line, making 104 trains in total.[32] The passenger service required 82 trains, of which 38 were supplied by Morden Depot.[33]
The return to the depot stabling a single type of stock began in mid-1998, when the first trains of 1995 Stock entered service on the Northern line, after some 18 months of commissioning problems. As they entered service, the 1956, 1959 and 1962 Stock trains were sent for scrap, and the 1972 Stock was converted to one person operation and transferred to the Bakerloo line. The last train of 1959 Stock worked on 27 January 2000, and this was also the last train to be crewed by a driver and a guard on London Underground, as all subsequent trains were one person operated. By that date, 97 of the new trains had been commissioned, sufficient to run the peak-time service which required 84 trains. The final nine trains had been delivered by 10 April 2001. Trains consist of six cars, and are composed of two three-car units, each made up of a motor car, a trailer car, and an uncoupling non-driving motor car.[34] From the introduction of the July 2002 timetable, 91 trains were required for the peak service, of which Morden Depot supplied 38.[35]
Notes and References
Related Research Articles
The Bakerloo line is a London Underground line that runs from Harrow & Wealdstone in suburban north-west London to Elephant & Castle in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over 23.2 kilometres (14.4 mi). It runs partly on the surface and partly through deep-level tube tunnels.
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two southern branches and two northern branches. Despite its name, it does not serve the northernmost stations on the Underground, though it does serve the southernmost station at Morden, the terminus of one of the two southern branches.
Elephant & Castle is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Southwark in south London. It is on the Bank branch of the Northern line between Kennington and Borough stations, and is the southern terminus of the Bakerloo line, the next station being Lambeth North. The station is in both Travelcard Zones 1 and 2. The Northern line station was opened in 1890 by the City and South London Railway (C&SLR) while the Bakerloo line station was opened sixteen years later by the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR). There is an out-of-station interchange with the nearby Elephant & Castle National Rail station.
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 London Underground 1938 Stock was 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, Central, and Northern City 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.
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 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, with a driver's cab, behind which was a "switch compartment" occupying approximately one-third of the length of the car, plus trailer cars and "control trailers", with a driving cab but no motor. All were equipped with air operated sliding doors. The guard's door on the earlier trains was a manually operated, inward-opening hinged door.
The London Underground 1967 Stock was a type of deep-level train that operated on the Victoria line of the London Underground from the line's opening on 1 September 1968 until 30 June 2011. It was also used on the Central line between Woodford and Hainault between 21 February 1968 and 1984, as the same automatic train operation (ATO) system was used on both lines.
The London Underground 1995 Stock is a type of rolling stock used on the Northern line of the London Underground. A total of 106 six-car trains were built, entering service between June 1998 and April 2001, replacing the 1959 Stock, 1962 Stock and 1972 Stock. They are very similar to the 1996 Stock used on the Jubilee line.
Rolling stock used on the London Underground and its constituent companies has been classified using a number of schemes. This page explains the principal systems for the rolling stock of the Central London Railway (CLR), the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), the District Railway (DR) and the Metropolitan Railway (MR). For information about individual classes of locomotives and other rolling stock, see London Underground rolling stock.
Stanley A. Heaps (1880–1962) was an English architect responsible for the design of a number of stations on the London Underground system as well as the design of train depots and bus and trolleybus garages for London Transport.
The 1949 Tube Stock was composed of ninety-one cars built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company in Smethwick, England. These cars were identical to the earlier 1938 stock with which they were used.
The 1906 Stock, also known as "Gate Stock", was built for the Yerkes tube lines, Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), and Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR).
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.
Ealing Common Depot is a London Underground railway depot on the District line, located between Acton Town and Ealing Common stations in west London, England. It is the oldest of the main depots on the Underground, having been built in 1905, when the District Railway was upgraded for electric traction. All depot facilities were moved there from Lillie Bridge Depot, and it was known as Mill Hill Park Works. It subsequently became Ealing Common Works, and its status was reduced to that of a depot in 1922, when Acton Works was opened, and took over responsibility for all major overhauls. Most of the functions of Acton Works were devolved back to the depots, including Ealing Common, in 1985.
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.
Ruislip depot is a London Underground traction maintenance depot on the Central line, and is situated between the stations of Ruislip Gardens and West Ruislip in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The depot is accessible from both ends, and was built for the Central Line extensions under the 1935-1940 New Works Programme. It was nearly completed by 1939, when the outbreak of the Second World War prevented further work. It was used as a factory for anti-aircraft guns during the war, and was finally opened in 1948. The main car shed has 16 tracks, and there is also a three-track car cleaning shed.
Hainault depot is a traction maintenance depot on the London Underground Central line, between Hainault and Grange Hill stations, now in the London Borough of Redbridge, England. Until boundary changes in 1998, part of the depot was in Epping Forest District. Construction began in 1939, but was delayed by the onset of the Second World War, and was not completed until 1948. It has stabled three generations of trains, Standard stock, 1962 stock and 1992 stock. It has also housed trains of the experimental 1960 stock, both when it was conventionally controlled and during trials of Automatic Train Operation (ATO) in preparation for the construction of the Victoria line. Some of the 1967 stock destined for the Victoria line was also stabled at the depot while its ATO equipment was tested and commissioned on the Woodford to Hainault Branch.
Stonebridge Park Depot is a stabling and maintenance depot for trains on the Bakerloo line of the London Underground in England. It opened in 1979, as part of the restructuring that resulted in the Bakerloo line's Stanmore branch becoming part of the Jubilee line. It is the main depot on the Bakerloo line, and has been used for stabling stock dating from 1938, 1959 and 1972. In addition, trains of 1972 Stock from the Northern line have been transferred to the depot temporarily for overhaul.
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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
