Rail Express – September 2019

September 2019 RAIL EXPRESS 71

Christopher Westcott&Piers Connor LU WORLD

AFTER being offered to the museum
sector with no takers, theLondon
Transport Museum has made the
difficult decision to dispose of its
prot otype 1986Tube Stock car No. 16,
whichwasacqui redin1996.
Currentlyhoused at the Museum’s
Acton Depot, the decision has been
taken due to the lack of space across
the sixfour-carroadsinsid ethe depot
buildingand on thetrack fanthat leads
to Ealing Common Depot.
CarNo. 16 became part of the
Museum’scollectionfollowing its
withdrawal, andhas been stored in
controlled conditionsfor20years.It
joined the museum’soriginalexhibits–
such asthefour-car 1938 Stock unit,
four ‘Q’ Stock cars, andformer District
Line ‘R’ Stock carNo. 22679–but the
collection hasexpanded significantly
sincethe ntoi ncluderepres entative cars
from the‘A’ Stock (No. 5034),‘C’Stock
(No. 5721)and ‘D ’Stock(No. 7012).
Additional cars have also been
saved, including theformer Waterl oo
&City car No. 61 from the National
Railway Museum and StandardStock
DM No. 3327, which previouslyresided
at the Science Museum.
As aresult, severalhistorically
valuable cars arenow having to be stored
in the open,expose dtothe weather,
alb eitsheetedover. With limited
optionsavailable toextend the building,
the onlychoice leftforthe LTMhas
been to prioritise whatrepresentative
cars it shouldkeep in the collection.
Based upon its historicalvalue,
the‘GreenTrain’ car has neverbeen

Private sale for‘Green’ 1986 Stock

The LondonTransport

Museum is seeking a

buyerforits prototype

vehicle No. 16 or it may

have to bescrapped.

agenuinerepresentativeofthe

Underground. It onlyoperatedin

pass enger service on the Jubilee Line

foralittle overayear betweenMay5,

1988 and July17, 1989. Examples of

the ‘Blue’ and ‘Red’ prototype 1986

Stock trains operatedforamonth

longer.Whilst it is unique, with its

interior beingfavoured by passengers,

andalsobeing the first type of car to

have externallymounteddoors, itwas

the ‘Blue’ train constructedby BREL

that mechanicallybecame the 1992

Stock fleet that continue to operate on

the Central Line today.

COVENTRYPLAN

It wasannounced in 2016 that car

No. 16wasdue togo to theElectric

Railway Museum near Coventry.These

plan swerethwarte d, however, when

a‘Notice to Quit’wasservedupon the

ERM by the l ando wners and so the

LTMhad to consider other options.

he interior o ‘Green train’ car No. 16,

which passengers said theyfavoured

when compared to the alternative‘red’

and ‘blue’ (eventuallychosen) interiors.

ChristopherWestcott

Being an Arts Council‘accredited

museum’ comes withresponsibilities

andacodeofconduct when disposing

of artefacts. TheLTMthereforehas

adutytocomplywith the ‘ethical

disposal’ of items within its collection.

In addition, being part ofTransportfor

London, the museum has tofollow TfL’s

policyregardingvehicle disposal.

Using comparisons from across

the museum sector when items have

been disposed of,the LTMhas sought

to identify suitable technology and

transport museums or preservation

railwaysthat mightwant to accept the

car into their collection. Unfortunately,

such talkshave cometo no thingand

therefore the LTMisnow seeking to

‘privatelydispose’ of car No. 16 to any

responsible party.Funds obtained from

anyprivate salewill be usedforthe

benefit of the collection.

The museum does not have afirm

deadline towork to ,howeveritw ould

The exterio rofc ar No. 16 atLTM’s Acton Depot on September 25, 2016.

ChristopherWestcott

HS2has unveiled designsforadriverless

people movertoc onn ect its Birmingham

Interchangestation with the nearby

airport, International station, and

National Exhibition Centre.Twenty-

metrevehicles will departevery three

minutesovera1.5-mileroute entirelyon

aviaduct, thesystem being capable of

carrying up to 2100 passengers per hour

in each direction.

Contactless bank cards can now

be used instead of paper tickets on

Manchester Metrolinktram services,

with passengers ‘touching in’ at the

start of their journeyand ‘touching

out’ at the endrather like the system

already used inLondon.Faresare

automaticallycalculated based on the

zones passed through.

ALondon UndergroundJubilee Line

train ranbetween FinchleyRoad and

West Hampstead on September 1,

2018 with 10 sets of doors still open

after the operatorbypassed an interlock

circuit, according toareportby the

Rail AccidentInvestigation Branch.

His actionsfollowedacontrol system

overload, likely causedby faults

elsewhereonthe train, but RAIBfound

contributingfactors to be the sudden

increase in the operator’sworkload after

running automatic mode;fatigue from

his sleeping pattern; and lowblood-

sugarlevels fromaprolonged period

withoutfood.The report recommended

LU makes improvements to door control

systems, training, and the management

of trainfaults.

South Shields station on theTyne

andWear Metrosystem closed from the

end of service on July7tobereplaced

by anew bus and Metrointerchange

nearbyfromAugust 4. Thiswasthe first

T&W station to close since its operations

began in 1980. South Shields opened in

1984, itselfreplacing theformer heavy

rail station, and since then has been used

by an estimated 50 million passengers.

Wi-fi rollout across the Underground

WITH wi-fi having been introduced

at 54 Underground stations within

zones 1-4, cabling has nowbeen

installed intoasectio nof tunnel on

the Jubilee Line to test thefeasibility

of introducing 4G wi-fi services across

the entireUnderground.

Trials of 2G, 3G and 4G services

arebeing undertaken on the

eastern end of the Jubilee Line on

station platforms and within

tunnels. If this trial is successful,

TransportforLondon intends to

awardacontract to one offour

already-identified bidders to install

the infrastructurethat will include

5G services.

The current approximate

completion date is ‘mid-2020s’ across

the Underground network.

‘J’ door upgrade work to go ahead

TRANSPORTfor London is inviting

tendersforani mprovedcab security

system forall driving motorcars

across London Underground.

‘J’ doors arelocated between the

passenger compartment ofadriving

motor car and the train operator’s cab

andmost arefitted with safety glass

or plastic covers to protect the handle

mechanism. Inrecent years, however,

therehas beenaserie sofi ncidents

wherepassengers have beenable

to access the cab andevenassault

train operators.

Bidderswere expected to submit

their tendersby earlyAugust to design,

manufactureand deliveralockable

system on 1262cab doorsacros sseven

typesof rolling stock. Thework is due to

be completedby November 2022.

like to ha ve the space within the depot

as soon as possible. Anyinterested

party must submit what theywilldo

with the car,how theywillcarefor

it, aswell as howmuch moneythey

would be willing to pay. The LTMisalso

mindful that long term storageoutside

is not suitable due to the doors being

mountedexternally on thecar.

Whoeveriswilling and able to purchase

the car,must have the facilities to

suitablyprotect it.

If no worthwhile interested party

canbefound, sadlythe car will be

physicallydisposed of,probablyatCF

Booth, Rotherham.

LIGHT RAILROUND-UP