The U.K.'s oldest trains...

[45669]

...are the 1972 tube stock trains on the London Underground Bakerloo Line.

 

Now that the 1938 tube stock has been withdrawn from the Isle of Wight, the 50 year old Bakerloo Line trains have taken the top spot.  And they might not be replaced until the 2030s or even the 2040s!  My shutter finger will probably have been withdrawn by then, so here's a short video from earlier this month:

 

 

 

TTFN,

 

Ron.

[37114]

Loads of locos are older though, 37099 still on the go made in 1962.

[Edge]

Technically Talyllyn and Prince have never been retired and are still in the books of their original railway companies 

[45669]

2 minutes ago, Edge said:

Technically Talyllyn and Prince have never been retired and are still in the books of their original railway companies 

 

Well, I was referring to regular public transport rather than heritage lines.  Perhaps I should have made that clear.

[Steadfast]

25 minutes ago, 37114 said:

Loads of locos are older though, 37099 still on the go made in 1962.

Plenty of 1950s built Salmon knocking about too,  but their days are numbered. Think it was either 51 or 53 on the low numbered one we saw the other day 

 

Amazing how stock can continue if overhauled and looked after. I wonder how the 72 stock will be doing at a similar age?

 

Jo

Edited June 25, 2022 by Steadfast

[John M Upton]

By the mid 2030's the 1972 Bakerloo Line stock should be just about in their prime for a new career on the Isle of Wight...  😀

[darren chpamn]

Class 20s are still on the mainline and class 08s in yards 

[Wickham Green too]

2 hours ago, John M Upton said:

By the mid 2030's the 1972 Bakerloo Line stock should be just about in their prime for a new career on the Isle of Wight...  😀

....... looking VERY odd mixed in with the 'D' stock !

[Mark Saunders]

15 hours ago, Steadfast said:

Plenty of 1950s built Salmon knocking about too,  but their days are numbered. 

The BDA and MXA Lobsters are even older.

[lmsforever]

17 hours ago, 45669 said:

...are the 1972 tube stock trains on the London Underground Bakerloo Line.

 

Now that the 1938 tube stock has been withdrawn from the Isle of Wight, the 50 year old Bakerloo Line trains have taken the top spot.  And they might not be replaced until the 2030s or even the 2040s!  My shutter finger will probably have been withdrawn by then, so here's a short video from earlier this month:

 

 

 

TTFN,

nothing wrong with them comfortable ,clean they will last much longer.

Ron.

 

[Steadfast]

3 hours ago, Mark Saunders said:

The BDA and MXA Lobsters are even older.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten them as the plate on the is from the 1970s and 80s when converted to BDAs. Looking a Paul Bartlett's pics the build dates are largely concurrent with the Salmon, the first Bolster Ds were built before the first Salmon.

 

Jo

[D9020 Nimbus]

Why does the Bakerloo line always seem to get the oldest trains? ISTR it was one of the last London haunts of the 1938 stock, too.

[Northmoor]

7 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

Why does the Bakerloo line always seem to get the oldest trains? ISTR it was one of the last London haunts of the 1938 stock, too.

The Bakerloo is the only LU line that loses money.  The Southern extension would have helped but isn't on the Mayor's priority project list any more, unfortunately and if TfL is put on a Managed Decline strategy, the Bakerloo line is vulnerable (a good chunk of it is duplicated).

 

Sourcing parts to keep the 72TS running isn't easy when many of the original manufacturers either:

1. No longer manufacture the particular widget you need from their (former) range;
2. No longer even manufacture any range of widgets, they became a wireless thingummy manufacturer 20 years ago;
3. No longer exist at all, or just the staff bowls club if you're lucky.

Lots of "Reverse Engineering" going to be needed to keep them running into their 70s, probably......

[DavidB-AU]

Technically, the oldest thing in regular public transport that you can ride behind on the NR network on a non-heritage service is probably a class 73 in Scotland!

 

Although what about the Hythe Pier Railway? Not preserved, not a heritage operation and does form part of public transport to a timetabled passenger ferry.

 

Cheers

David

[Chris116]

I know this may seem political but please note I am not blaming a particular political party just making a general observation about how politics seems to work.

 

Has anybody else noticed that as we move closer to a general election all of a sudden there is lots of talk about the Bakerloo extension and railway openings around the country. As usual the present government will not be faced with the bill but that is something I have seen throughout my life with governments of all parties. Sadly rail transport suffers from the fact that upgrades take a lot longer than the politicians in charge are in office and therefore they often do not see any benefits for themselves.

 

We can only hope that our political system can sort out the problem of long term projects with short term political terms.

 

 

[stewartingram]

Blackpool Balloon trams from the 1930s (on rare occasions) in fleet service as a 'B' car

The tramway was rebuilt over 10 years ago, with new Flexity trams put into service (the 'A' fleet). 'Just in case' the need arose  they modifird a handful of Balloons, putting th 'tubby' doors on them so they could use the new platforms that the Flexity trams use. They are normally kept withe rest of the fleet at the old Rigby Road depot (now Tramtown) with the ''C' fleet, which are the Heritage trams, the latter not used in normal service.

However Tramtown is closed for a while due to renovation of the building, and some cars that are used have temporarily moved to the new depot at Starr Gate.

I'm not sure if the B trams have ever been used as planned in normal service, but the possibility is there, however they have been used on heritage tours.

[adanapress]

Maybe some of the 08s built during WW2 still do odd trip working in the Netherlands -.. .. ..  perhaps

Theres quite a few still about.

[melmerby]

6 minutes ago, adanapress said:

Maybe some of the 08s built during WW2 still do odd trip working in the Netherlands -.. .. ..  perhaps

Theres quite a few still about.

They're not really 08s though. and the OP did say UK.

[Halvarras]

Mainline diesel loco-wise 20007 is doing well (introduced September 1957).....

[Tom Burnham]

On 26/06/2022 at 15:37, D9020 Nimbus said:

Why does the Bakerloo line always seem to get the oldest trains? ISTR it was one of the last London haunts of the 1938 stock, too.

And some of the Bakerloo 1938 stock sets included a Standard stock trailer, looking very dated even compared with the rest of the 1938 stock.

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

They're not really 08s though. ...

... effectively class 11 ...... and built between 1950 & 1957.

[melmerby]

28 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

... effectively class 11 ...... and built between 1950 & 1957.

Which was the final LMS shunter design.

The NS class 600 were 400hp

[BR60103]

VIA Rail in Canada is trying to replace cars built in 1954-55.  Need a good government authorization and funding.

 

[Wickham Green too]

9 hours ago, melmerby said:

Which was the final LMS shunter design. The NS class 600 were 400hp

According to my Platform 5 'Benelux', the 600s were 294kW  ( 394hp ) but the 500s were 260kW ( 349hp ) ...... both are listed as having 1230mm wheels ( 4' - akin to the class 11 ) rather than the 4'6'' of the familiar 08 ........ let's say the 600s were an eleven plus !. 

[Mark Saunders]

8 hours ago, BR60103 said:

VIA Rail in Canada is trying to replace cars built in 1954-55.  Need a good government authorization and funding.

 

The irony of Canada is watching Michael Portillo travelling on the exported Nightstar stock!