Xerces Fobe2 Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 The Metropolitan Line A60/A62 stock is now in it's final year as they are being replaced by the new S stock. These truly iconic units have given 50 years of stirling service to the Underground and will be sadly missed by many including me. On my way back from the an Underground related event on Dec 11 2010 I spared a few minutes to capture a scene that is soon to be history A60/A62 at Baker Street. Unfortunately I did not have my best camera with me however I still managed to capture some very atmospheric video and together with some lasting memories Enjoy Xerces Fobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chris116 Posted February 27, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 27, 2011 The best stock the Underground has and they are replacing them! The replacements have hard seats, and you get whiplash if you want to lookout of the window. I don't like travelling sideways, much better facing or back to the direction of travel. A great film thanks for sharing. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Bird Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Nice video of some excellent trains. I was once told that the A60 stock was designed for LT by BR. Can anyone confirm that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePipersSon Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Frightening to think that I can remember this stock being introduced.... and the same comments are being made as then - less seats on the new stock than the stock they are replacing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noiseboy72 Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 and the same comments are being made as then - less seats on the new stock than the stock they are replacing. To be fair, the A60 was not well liked over the compartment stock it replaced. As mentioned, it also had less seats than its predecessor and was felt to be cold and draughty. Following this to its logical conclusion, we will end up with all standing stock, just 4 cars long, all doors and space for 94 wheelchair, 12 push bikes and 125 buggies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatC Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks for the video. Think I need to make trip up to the smoke soon to have a last look. The A stock has always been there for as long as I can remember. Scary thing is the C and D stock is going as well and I can remember those coming into service! Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Nice video of some excellent trains. I was once told that the A60 stock was designed for LT by BR. Can anyone confirm that? The Metropolitan A60/A62 stock was built by Cravens of Sheffield so nothing to do with BR Xerces Fobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 There's a sizable thread on the District Dave underground site about the A stock, withdrawals, the lot. I too remember the stuff being introduced and worked on it as a guard in 1973/74. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 The A60,s did a good job remains to be seen if the new stock will follow up or wil people desert them for Chiltern from Amersham to London ?But Ican remember having somevery rough rides onA60,s they did not ride pointwork to well at least as has been said before you didnt have to sit sideways but you bounced well!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted March 1, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2011 Following this to its logical conclusion, we will end up with all standing stock, just 4 cars long, all doors and space for 94 wheelchair, 12 push bikes and 125 buggies... We already have them, they are called Class 378... Seems there is some presumably DDA Act impregnated think tank somewhere that has an allergic reaction to the concept that actually people like to sit down when travelling... As for the A60/A62 stock, will be sad to see it go despite the sometimes rather lively and lumpy ride the bogies would sometimes give at full pelt through Metroland!! They were also one of the few of the whole fleet refurbishments done by LU in the 1980's/1990's that were actually half decent and enhanced the stock rather than dumbed it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Trevellan Posted March 1, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 1, 2011 Some of the comments above bring back memories of spotting trips in the late 60s/early 70s. If there was enough time we would do the LU equivalent of a white knuckle ride by travelling on the A stock between Finchley Road and Neasden. As already mentioned, if the trains got up to any sort of speed the ride was very lively and we had a whale of a time bouncing around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 ..if the trains got up to any sort of speed the ride was very lively and we had a whale of a time bouncing around! Flat out down the southbound fast line from Harrow with the wheels beating out an increasingly urgent tattoo from the jointed lightweight bullhead rail, roaring under the bridge at Preston Road at over 50mph with the pickup shoes whacking onto the conductor rails as they changed sides, swooping down through Wembley Park at 60, with the added thrill of some vicious lateral waggles over the points into Neasden depot, then galloping towards the North Circular bridge, to hit the rickety old Jubilee/Met depot exit junction at nigh on 70mph - just superb. Who needed Alton Towers in those days? It was never the same once the bullhead was replaced by heavy section welded flatbottom rail and the speed limit at the North Circular was dropped to 40mph, presumably for very obvious safety reasons. I miss the old rollercoaster days! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted March 1, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2011 Nice video of some excellent trains. I was once told that the A60 stock was designed for LT by BR. Can anyone confirm that? The A stock was designed after extensive testing of two prototype cars 17000 and 20000 which were marshalled into trains of MV and MW stock (the "compartment stock" referred to above which was later generically referred to as T-stock irrespective of origin). These cars dated from 1946/7 respectively and pre-date BR quashing that myth. 17000 was reconfigured internally in 1949 and re-entered traffic numbered 17001 in November that year. Both were withdrawn in 1953 and scrapped in 1955. Some four years later and based upon the trialled designs of those cars the initial order for A60 stock was placed with Cravens of Sheffield. These cars bore a strong resemblance to the prototypes and the design thus goes back much more than 50 years. Despite the love of the plush-seated compartment T-stock it was pretty well worn out by the time it was retired in the early 1960s and the slam doors were considered a liability at busy stations on the underground section of the line. There has always been something of a "main-line" air about the A-stock with its high-backed deep seats and mostly face-to-back 3+2 arrangement and it is the only underground stock fitted with luggage racks and coat hooks. Its passing will be mourned by many who found it rather comfortable for the hour or so it takes to reach deepest "Metroland" from the City. S-stock is unlikely to engender such affection in my opinion and is also rather ungainly in appearance. It can only be operated as a complete 8-car train which has meant the end of the Chesham shuttle and its replacement with direct trains to the City at all times. While many might consider that a positive step forward a near-empty 8-car train on a fairly rural branch line in Buckinghamshire is a waste. If it were on the National network it might be served by a single class 153 car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 I did wonder if Chesham couldn't have been passed over to Chiltern, possibly allowing them to revive another bubblecar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted March 1, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2011 I think it's a case of it being fairly well used at peak times when the 4-car A-stock unit which was the shuttle (and the two 8-car city trains which have always run in each peak) would be decently filled but not through the day nor late at night. And just as with the (late lamented) Ongar branch under LT the present operator sees fit to provide a service from early morning until very late at night seven days a week which might be costly and not provided for within a "main line" franchise. I often wondered whether the Ongar line might have survived if it hadn't started at such early hours on the less busy days but that's now history as well as politics. Chesham has survived and in any case has been consistently better-patronised than was Ongar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coppercap Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Flat out down the southbound fast line from Harrow with the wheels beating out an increasingly urgent tattoo from the jointed lightweight bullhead rail, roaring under the bridge at Preston Road at over 50mph with the pickup shoes whacking onto the conductor rails as they changed sides, swooping down through Wembley Park at 60, with the added thrill of some vicious lateral waggles over the points into Neasden depot, then galloping towards the North Circular bridge, to hit the rickety old Jubilee/Met depot exit junction at nigh on 70mph - just superb. Who needed Alton Towers in those days? It was never the same once the bullhead was replaced by heavy section welded flatbottom rail and the speed limit at the North Circular was dropped to 40mph, presumably for very obvious safety reasons. I miss the old rollercoaster days! David Reckon there's a Betjemanesque poem somewhere in there. Perhaps a modern-day "Early Electric"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Colin Posted March 1, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2011 What's the chance of a set (even a short one) being preserved I wonder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted March 1, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2011 I would be very surprised if the London Transport Museum did not take a four car unit into their collection. They have representations of pretty much every kind of stock the Underground has run including a driving car from the awful and short lived 1983 Jubilee stock plus they recently added the driving car from the Victoria Line unit that the Queen rode in the cab of on opening day to the collection. Also I would expect at least one four car will be retained for running the sandite car within and maybe another will be used for some sort of departmental work in the same vein that there is still a full length unit of 1959 TS on the Central Line for Sandite duties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noiseboy72 Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 I'll bet these trains still have a lot of life left in them. May be a re-motor with something a bit more efficient and fit regenerative braking etc. I am not sure of their crash worthiness etc.... Has one ever been involved in a serious incident ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted March 2, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 2, 2011 Has one ever been involved in a serious incident ? Kilburn viaduct comes to mind as one of the few. I don't doubt the bodies have many more years life in them as would the traction motors if they were re-engineered but some other components wear out and technology moves on. A-stock has spoked wheels for example which are fine but modern resilient wheels give a better ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 The A stock has proved to be a reliable workhorse over the years. they've had their share of teething problems, plus the mid-life refurb about 20 years ago, plus the conversion to OPO. Why bother fitting regen brakes? There's nothing wrong with the EP/Westinghouse brake; at least the dRIVER is in control of it, not some damn fool computer! Like all good things, sadly the A stock has had its day and has to go. When I worked on them, they were cold in winter, though not as cold as some stock, and too hot in summer. They were, as said earlier, capable of running at 70mph and more, probably the only underground stock that could do so. Again I suggest you look at the District Dave website for full details of the A stock and replacement progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 A-stock has spoked wheels for example which are fine but modern resilient wheels give a better ride. The spoked wheels were replaced back in the 90s, since when they've had modern disc wheels (I don't know whether they are resilient like those in the old class 86s and 87s). The bogie (I suppose I should say 'truck' in LT US-style) frames seem to have taken a heck of a beating over the years, with Neasden's team having to spray white paint on all the various known weak spots to make it easier to detect cracks - I'm guessing that the combination of higher speeds, rickety lightweight rail and spoked wheels took its toll in the earlier years. The lower speeds, heavyweight rail, better roadbed and solid wheels of today must be a much less demanding environment for these elderly examples of Sheffield's engineering heritage. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted June 15, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 15, 2011 has any of the new s-stock started working north of watford yet? the only reason i ask is i was working a train on the met on monday and there were a few fotters about i then passed an s-stock unit between ricky and chorleywood but it had not in service on it and all the passenger windows had some sort of vinyl advertising or something over them, cant honetly remember if i've seen ay s-stock thatfar up the met before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 has any of the new s-stock started working north of watford yet? the only reason i ask is i was working a train on the met on monday and there were a few fotters about i then passed an s-stock unit between ricky and chorleywood but it had not in service on it and all the passenger windows had some sort of vinyl advertising or something over them, cant honetly remember if i've seen ay s-stock thatfar up the met before? S stock has run to Watford for a while now however I was on the Met a week last Saturday and there were none of the S Stock in service. Xerces Fobe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted June 16, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 16, 2011 I know they have been doing the watfords as i pass quite a few between london and moor park but have they started on the chesham or amersham jobs yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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