SQUAREWHEELS.org.uk
1960 tube stock

The preserved 1960-stock train awaits departure from platform 1 at Edgware, during the "Northern Heights Railtour" of Sunday 13 June 1999.

Above: The preserved Cravens unit at Chalfont & Latimer on Saturday 3 October 1998.

This event, on Saturday 3 October 1998, involved the freshly-repainted unit replacing the more usual Metropolitan Line A stock 4-car unit for the middle of the Saturday service: the unit is seen arriving at the bay platform (3) at Chalfont & Latimer, prior to returning to Chesham at 11:21. The destination blinds were intended for use on the Central Line and so, in the spirit of the occasion, the unlikely destination of Grange Hill is being displayed. Note that the Train Number (107) is displayed in the window of the `M' door, and not in the location provided (see the other end, below); this is because poorly-sited public-address equipment was blocking the proper aperture at the time, but this has since been re-sited.

At Chesham, the three-car unit is dwarfed by the 8-car-length terminal platform; note the different profile and window arrangement of the 1938 trailer in the middle. Chesham station always does very well in the "best station" gardening competitions.

Back at Chalfont & Latimer, we see the other end of the unit which is more properly displaying Special, and carries the Train number in the correct place.

The pipe fastened to the front of the unit, passing close to the headlights, contains the tripcock resetting cord, the top of which can be seen dangling from the mouth of the tube: this provision obviates the need for the "tripped" driver to get down onto the track, astride the negative rail, and feel for a filthy cord at solebar level near the live rail! In fact, the use of a pipe to extend the reset cord to within reach of the cab was a special modification, made when this train was doing ATO testing as described above: there was a fear that, if the driver had to get down onto the track after being tripped, he could be run over by his own automatically-restarting train when he pulled the reset cord!

The wholehearted support of London Underground's Central Line management (now Infraco BCV) has greatly facilitated the Cravens preservation project; the unit is stored in Ruislip depot under cover, as seen here. In fact, this three-road shed is the former cleaning-shed, which consisted of acid-shower equipment used for cleaning the grime and graffiti off the unpainted aluminium-bodied 1962 stock trains; now that these have gone and most LU trains are painted, ordinary car-wash-type train washers at most depots are adequate. The cables hanging down to the left of the train are power-cables running the length of the shed on trolley-wires at roof level; the cables plug into Receptacle Boxes on the train, allowing it to take power for compressors, lighting or moving out of the shed until one set of shoes is on the conductor rails outside.

In June 1999 the train worked the all-day "Northern Heights" railtour from Uxbridge, via King's Cross (Piccadilly Line) to the Northern Line, where it visited most of the destinations: I was particularly amused to have been through all four platforms of Leicester Square station that day without once changing trains! Above is the short layover at Edgware (see also title picture); the premature end to the New Works programme gives the station a distinctly "unfinished" feel.

Later in the day, the tour had a totally gratuitous (planned) diversion over the District Line route into Ealing Broadway station; when it left, the passengers had to detrain at Ealing Common while the unit went to reverse in a siding at Acton Town. In this atmospheric view, Dennis Varley (of Ruislip Test Crew Operations, who provide traincrew for the tours) looks back along his train to see that everyone is off, before proceeding with the shunt move.

Before the above tour had even finished, Allan Hoare (Cobourg Street Control Room Manager, who has greatly assisted in coordinating these events) was discussing the possibility of repeat. This duly happened, on Sunday 24 October 1999; on that occasion we visited every one of the 50 stations on the Northern Line, plus Highgate and Morden depots!

In the very early hours of Sunday 30th July 2000, the Cravens unit operated a once-in-a-lifetime railtour covering all parts of the Central Line, to celebrate the line's 100th birthday. Run 100 years to the day since the first train entered service on the "Tuppenny Tube", the tour had to be operated entirely during engineering hours (0130-0550) because the Cravens unit is not fitted with Central Line ATP equipment (see 1992 stock pages). It was a truly unique event, no such tour is ever likely to take place again!