please empty your brain below
DG, I like it when you "Twitter & Blog". It's informative entertainment!
- still a fan

kabinga | 12.06.11 - 1:53 a.m. | #

It's a sad end. Always felt so strange when a Met train pulled up at Kings Cross St Pancras at all -so alien compared to the rest of the trains running in central London.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 12.06.11 - 9:25 a.m. | #

Ahh nostalgia; I also remember when the Metro line past Rickmansworth was still a steam line. Between 1957-1960 nearly every weekend I would travel to Chesham. I would have to change trains at Rickmansworth, all that steam and soot at the time I hated it.
I remember how the 'A' trains looked so much like the future, the Piccadilly trains were all small red standard stock. On the line from Uxbridge you just tell by sight if it was a Metropolitan/Piccadilly train. I also remember the step up into the train was also something new.
Now of course I have the nostalgia thing going, I travel thousands of miles to ride on a steam train.

Michael | 12.06.11 - 9:53 a.m. | #

Yes I remember those old slam door trains too. Leather straps to open the window, real luggage racks that you get up on to like a bunk bed and I think little brass plaques on the doors saying Metropolitan Railway.

popartist | 12.06.11 - 10:29 a.m. | #

Happy 50th birthday 'A' stock! I hope a unit is preserved in working order, like the LT Museum's 4-car unit of 1938 stock, but I've yet to hear of any plans to do so. Does anyone know of any?

THC | 12.06.11 - 10:35 a.m. | #

Yes, the plan is for a 4-car set of A-stock to be set aside for the LT Museum collection.

Moe Quette | 12.06.11 - 10:48 a.m. | #

I travel on these from Liverpool Street to Euston Square every morning (indeed I make a point of waiting for them as you can get a seat as it's only the second stop) and will miss them, thier sounds and smells and the memories of childhood trips to Amersham (to cath the Aylesbury train.

Thank you, old friend, I will enjoy my last journeys on you all the more.

CF)

ChingfordFlaneur | 12.06.11 - 1:59 p.m. | #

One oddity that i've since discovered after making that comparison video:

Saw an S-Stock at Baker Street the other day (It was an Uxbridge Service, which then became a Watford Service, which then turned back into an Uxbridge Service).

As I walked over the bridge to get it, i saw its doors close. "Bugger, missed it" i thought - but no... to keep all that air conditioning IN of course, the doors close themselves automarically, and don't remain open whilst waiting as a terminal for passengers to board - most unusual for a tube train.

And then.. (once on board) when ready to leave, ALL the doors open, and the close again as if to make sure that they're all shut before it heads off to start. Nothing wrong with this of course, just... an oddity. Will the S-Stock-7 [good name for a pop band] trains do the same thing for the District/Circle, i wonder?

geofftech | Homepage | 12.06.11 - 2:23 p.m. | #

As one getting uncomfortably close to my 50th birthday too, I for one appreciate having more seats available!
I hope the new S Stock trains have had that awful braking screech fixed since the comparison video was made.
The second thing that struck me was having our ears assaulted by the "welcome" message!
However did we, and millions of tourists, manage to find our way around before they started this infernal notification? Even when dozing I was always acutely aware of where I was, by counting the number of stops!

CornishCockney | 12.06.11 - 7:21 p.m. | #

On a recent trip to London, I tried to get a little ride on one of the new trains on the Met.

Air-con will be a great treat.

But I'll miss the nice high-backed seats on the A Stock.

Happy 50th...

Gimme Rugga | 12.06.11 - 11:04 p.m. | #

Oh DG, that makes me so sad. The Met Line trains are the only ones I can ride without pain, being a bit of a cripple - I always breathe a sigh of relief when they pull into the platform. Having already lost most of the old comfy Victoria Line trains I really don't know what I'm going to do.

misspiggy | 13.06.11 - 4:17 p.m. | #

geofftech - I think the automatic door closing timer is set to something well beyond a normal station dwell time, a minute perhaps, so although it will happen on S7s on the D&C lines it should only ever be seen at a terminus.

OTOH if you are significantly delayed in a through station...

Paul | 13.06.11 - 5:06 p.m. | #

Back in the late 60's I used to start my journey into London on the Bakerloo Line from Kingsbury. The trains were the familiar red 1936 Cammell Laird stock. However, the last but one carriage before the guards van was quite often a carriage dating from the early 1920's. Quite weird, it was like entering a time warp. Used to then cross the platform onto the Metropolitan Line at Wembley Park. The silver trains seemed so modern and spacious. Always remember going under the Iron Bridge just before Neasden the Met Line trains trains used to jump all over the place.

DG, have you ever covered the Northern Heights? This is reference to the 1935 planned extension of the Northern Line past Edgware to Bushey Heath. Fascinating stuff!
Here is an excellent vid explaining it all...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anHLOwH2HWU

dg writes: Northern Heights? One day, not yet.

Bernie | 14.06.11 - 12:30 a.m. | #

Excellent post on Mill Hill East DG.
Have you ever covered the Stanmore "Rattler" branch line?
I'm sure you have!

Bernie | 14.06.11 - 7:24 p.m. | #











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