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Post by Chris W on May 3, 2005 21:02:17 GMT
Gentlemen- not that I'm ignoring the fairer sex, but I'm not too sure we have any female forum members yet; but I'm happy to be corrected  As I understand it, there are only about five vehicles left (DM unit 54256 in Walthamstow, a 3 car CO/CP unit at the Buckinghamshire Railway & the 2 DM Q's at Acton depot), however can anyone tell me the long term plans of any of these - I did e-mail District Dave last year re the Q's in Acton Museum Depot and whether they could be restored and returned to special service (as the 1938 tube unit). Dave kindly replied that the trailers were also needed in order to create a useable unit. Does anybody know of any other complete cars hiding anywhere? (I believe there is a driver's compartment at the Covent Garden Museum for driver simulation purposes).  |
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2005 21:14:53 GMT
Sadly the unit at Quainton is probably only fit to be a trailer these days; and that's after someone else's bogies are stolen to put underneath it  |
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Post by Chris W on May 3, 2005 21:29:38 GMT
Sadly the unit at Quainton is probably only fit to be a trailer these days; and that's after someone else's bogies are stolen to put underneath it Why was this unit left to rack & ruin... lack of funds or of interest.... it does seem a little stange that a 3-car unit ended up at the Buckinghamshire Railway when they ended their useful lives on the District (was thay due to their use of the Metropolitan Line prior to the 60 stock arrival) It does make me wonder sometimes whether its worth saving a piece of our railway history only to let it deteriorate and consequently be beyond economic restoration... or is this just a symptom of transport enthusiasts, saving a unit with the best of intentions at the time, only to loose interest later As a side issue what were the units like to drive?? I can recall quite a well known photo of a CO/CP and D78 stock units standing alongside eachother at Ealing Broadway with a senior TO inside the CO/CP cab staring longingly into the then brand new 78 cab! How similar were they to the R stock that survived them for just a couple more years on the District Line? |
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Post by setttt on May 3, 2005 21:39:08 GMT
(I believe there is a driver's compartment at the Covent Garden Museum for driver simulation purposes). You're right about that - but I didn't realise it was a genuine cab. It seems an awful waste of a DM considering it's not a proper simulator - it just plays a driver's eye view in a loop  . |
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Post by q8 on May 3, 2005 21:52:14 GMT
How similar were they to the R stock that survived them for just a couple more years on the District Line?
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When my scanner is up and running at the end of the week I will scan some literature I have regarding both stocks. These scans will be quite lengthy and with any material so published the copyright remains with the original owner.
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Post by Chris W on May 4, 2005 12:57:07 GMT
"When my scanner is up and running at the end of the week I will scan some literature I have regarding both stocks. These scans will be quite lengthy and with any material so published the copyright remains with the original owner." Thanks Q8... ;D I will look forward to seeing the documents (I will observe your warning about copyright) Did you get to drive these units (including R stock)? What was the general concensus from drivers and guards about how easy and reliable they were to drive and control when compared to their replacements? ;D ;D |
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Post by q8 on May 4, 2005 16:56:13 GMT
Did you get to drive these units (including R stock)? What was the general concensus from drivers and guards about how easy and reliable they were to drive and control when compared to their replacements?
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;D Drove 'em all cock. General opinion of CP's was "sh*t" partly because of the way you had to drive them and partly because they were a converted stock. Despite that they could move when required but had a lot of niggly little quirks. They had also been bashed to death in their time on the Met and by the time we got them on the DR they were clapped out.
As for "R" stock they were well liked in general but a more fussy stock you never saw. Although they were all built with same equipment each train was different in behavior. Also as they were coupled uncoupled frequently (sometimes 4 times in one day) a given train could behave differently each time. The one thing that used to get on a driver's nerves was the MG whine over the train telephone and the noise of the MG flag in the cab. I will start a thread soon with some reminiscences.
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Post by Chris W on Jun 3, 2005 18:56:23 GMT
Ladies/Gents Don't know if anyone's interested but having visited the Buckinghamshire Railway @ Quainton yesterday (as well as Didcot after) I managed to get some good photos of the 3-car CO/CP unit including a good shot of the plate that was used to reinforce the rebuilt 14233 (later renumbered to 54233) ;D  I e-mailed the best off to Mr District Dave earlier today so hopefully our kindly administrator may add them to the site in due course. I did ask whether I could have a quick look inside, however was told that this wasn't possible... Although a narrative on the units claims that it is the aim to not only restore the 3-car unit, but also get it running again. Unfortunately I can't see this happening, certainly not in the medium term as the cars appear to be in quite poor condition with two of them having their roofs missing, exposing a silver painted metal roof underneath. Whilst at Didcot I found a DVD of "All change at Earls Court" (which also includes a 60 min feature about the various forms of the Q stock).... that is a good buy if anyone is interested in this rolling stock , & the only down side is that the narration is a little minimalist at times with lots of shots/footage of the units during their working lives. |
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