"F" stock on the Met in the '60s

[twihlet]

Here is a question for people almost as old as me!  When the F stock was refurbished  post WW2 and allocated to the Met, it was fitted with air doors, operated by the guard travelling in the guard's compartment at the inner end of the last DM of the train.  Can anyone remember where in this compartment the door controls were sited, and (roughly) what the panel looked like?  I ask as the "obvious" place for the panel would be on the party wall between the guard's compartment and the passenger area, but this wall would be covered by the guard's door when it was open, as it would be in a station.  The extreme end of the car did not have a panel large enough for a conventional door control panel on account of windows, doors etc.  Did it hang from the ceiling?
Any ideas/memories welcomed.

[ted672]

Not sure if this helps, from J Graeme-Bruce's 'Steam to Silver': "In 1938 the second rehabilitation of the 1920 stock was undertaken. The principal work being carried out at this time was the conversion of the control trailers to single equipped motor cars and the fitting of air-operated doors with passenger push-button control. The control trailers were converted to motor cars by the transfer of equipment from the scrapped ‘Southend ’ locomotives. The guard’s control panel for the air-doors was only provided on the double-equipped motor cars and the formation was altered to DM-3T-1T-SM-SM-3T-3T-DM. When trains were operated as 4-car portions the guard remained on the same motor car for both directions of travel. The west-facing single-equipped motor was provided with First Class accommodation, having been converted from the control trailer car."

[twihlet]

Thanks Ted 672. I was aware of the earlier refurb efforts and bogie swapping etc, but there are no details of the guard's door controls except that they were in the rear cab of the original DMs. I've looked at the LT museum website and there is nothing that detailed there that I have found so far.

[twihlet]

According to a post on RMWEB the solution for F stock was the same as for G and others-the windows in the guard's cab were plated over, and the door control panel fixed where the window was.  A bit crude, and destroyed the unique design of the stock.  I guess it was not noticed a lot by by the public as the offending window would flash past quickly.

[metman]

Spot on! The same treatment was done on the Q23 and F stocks and there are photos on the web to show this.

[geriatrix]

I loved the design of the F stock trains, so distinctive. I used to live at Wembley Park, and from what I can remember the F stock was invariably used on the Uxbridge trains. Were they ever used on the Watford branch?

[metman]

Yes they were used on the Watford branch on occasions. I’ve read there was a usual service in the early afternoon peak to take school children from the Watford/Rickmansworth area who were not trusted with compartment stock - probably not much changed!

There were also trips to Amersham after the electrification to Amersham in 1960.