please empty your brain below
The coaches pulled by Sarah Siddons are not authentic Metropolitan Railway rolling stock.Prior to 1960's electrification north of Rickmansworth, the Met was the last bastion of antique rolling stock but what you saw is a repainted former Southern region multiple unit, used for special days and enthusiast excursions.The varnished teak is painted on rather than being teak that was varnished as used on the original coaches. The real stuff was acquired by the Bluebell Railway in Sussex some years ago and appears in period dramas on the television regularly. The Bluebell is well worth one of your excursions if you not been recently. They even have a North London Railway Tank Engine that would have chugged round your patch. One of the key features of Metropolitan locomotive hauled compartment stock was the the rounded top corners of the doors the stop passengers inadvertantly bashing them should they be foolish enough to open them whilst the trains were in tunnels. The Metropolitan used to operate locomotive hauled trains from Rickmansworth to Baker Street, having changed over from the steam engines that had hauled the train from Aylesbury, using the long disused bay behind the eastbound Circle line. When these locomotives were used for shunting rolling stock, a commentator at the time described it as being " like watching elephants play football".

Mwmbwls | Homepage | 12.09.11 - 7:59 a.m. | #

Cheers, I've removed the offending word "genuine" from Journey 5.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 12.09.11 - 8:13 a.m. | #

Metro-land the place of my childhood. Growing up in the 1950' and early 60's in this area. Surprisingly it has not changed all that much, unlike over parts of the Home Counties. Fantastic photos DG, loved the cars, converted to BW, it could be mistaken for a vintage photo.

Michael | 12.09.11 - 9:54 a.m. | #

Apologies - Mwmbwls fwmbwls - the locomotive hauled trains ran from Aylesburt and Rickmansworth to Liverpool Street via Baker Street. Like Peter Cook, I learn from my mistakes - I can replicate them perfectly. To see me make similar proof reading errors please visit our new site.

Mwmbwls | Homepage | 12.09.11 - 10:19 a.m. | #

Just to add to Mwmbwls, The Metropolitan Railway used to extend all the way to Aylesbury, and indeed beyond, but the limit oif electrification was Rickmansworth - trains to Aylesbury exchanged the electric loco for a steam one there. When electrification was extended to Amersham, the only services continuing beyond there (to Aylesbury and, in those pre-Beeching days, Nottingham and Sheffield) were those from Marylebone. Network Rail now owns the track beyond Amersham.

Sarah is perfcectly capable of pulling four coaches, the second locomotive was provided at thye other end to avoid having to shunt her from one end of the train to the other at each end of this short shuttle service.

Timbo | 12.09.11 - 12:17 p.m. | #

As already said, its a little unkind to say she isnt powerful enough - the diesel is actually added weight, there for convenience to avoid moving Sarah from end to the other for each journey. Hope you had a good time!

Chris | 12.09.11 - 1:17 p.m. | #

Re. the cessation of the off-peak non-stop Metropolitan Line services: Passengers from Rickmansworth and beyond will still have the half hourly faster and more comfortable Chiltern services, with interchange possibilities at Harrow on the Hill. Cheshamites would have to change, as they used to, but Moor Park will miss out as the Chiltern trains don't stop there.

RogerB | 12.09.11 - 1:54 p.m. | #

Thank you DG for this. I have just called my 83 year old father and told him about yesterday's event. As a long term LT employee he remembers driving the Sarah Siddons and is thrilled it is still giving people such pleasure. As he hasn't got access to a computer I hope you don't mind that I have printed off a couple of your pictures to send him. Thanks again

Dianne | 12.09.11 - 3:44 p.m. | #

Six paragraphs! (+an intro). you're back on form, breathe.

geofftech | 12.09.11 - 4:03 p.m. | #

What a fun day out.
As a Northern line resident I remember those trains, but not in red..silver. Guess they had a different paint job in the 1970s, though if I cast my mind back far enough there's just the faintest trace that I might remember the changeover.

CornishCockney | 12.09.11 - 6:31 p.m. | #

@CornishCockney: the 1938 stock was never silver; unpainted trains didn't start until after the war. You're probably thinking of the 1959 stock, which had remarkably similar interior styling (down to the square wooden windows) but had a different front end and, of course, was silver (albeit more a sort of brownish-grey by the time the last clapped-out units were scrapped!).

I can just about remember travelling, at a single-figure age, on the last units in service prior to the final scrapping in 2000, and my main impression was that they were filthy, noisy and uncomfortable, and waiting for one of the new swooshy ones was a much better idea. Nowadays you can be lynched in public for saying that sort of thing on a public transport forum.

@DG: If it's Routemasters you want, you should have gone up to Chesham on the bank holiday weekend, when there was engineering between Wembley Park and Northwood. One of the replacement buses was a Routemaster, and I got to ride on it!

swirlythingy | Homepage | 12.09.11 - 9:26 p.m. | #

Another update to Journey 5, thanks, to reflect Sarah's undimmed haulage power.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 12.09.11 - 9:37 p.m. | #

I have only had cause to travel on the Metropolitan line twice in the past five years, and I was terribly grateful to the designer of the A Stock on my way back from Amersham this weekend...I'm short enough to be able to lie down comfortably on the big seats, and have a little snooze (sitting back up properly, of course, when we hit Baker St and suddenly the carriage was fuller).

Beth | 12.09.11 - 11:09 p.m. | #

It's so long since I've been in that neck of the woods that I didn't realise the rolling stock wasn't red any more!

Oh dear.

Chris | 13.09.11 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Blimey, the possibility of nostalgia for 1959 stock makes me feel very old. And I'm only 32.

Carlbob | Homepage | 15.09.11 - 11:11 a.m. | #











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