When I got wind that The London Transport Museum were running their 1938 Heritage Rolling Stock this month and that there were seats still available for the occasion I jumped at the chance. It would be Thirty pounds well spent for a two and a half hour excursion to Oakwood Station and back – all on my favourite Piccadilly line. The continued operation of this last preserved and original London Transport stock is in future doubt due to advancement in Signal development on all London Transport Underground systems and lines coming into operation in the near future.
These trains were objects of beauty – built and designed in the elegant age of Art Deco – adorned with varnished matchwood veneers, ornate brass fittings and attractive designed moquette for its seats. It was a different train of thought in design too. Today’s current fleet of Underground Tube trains are a far distant relative to their past distinctive lineage. Present trains have a soft ride with cheap hardened seats as opposed to the 1938 stock which had the harder ride but with far more comfortable seats. Our two and a half hour excursion was a sitting exercise in pure comfort. These were trains I grew up with in London and the ones I have always had the greatest affection for. When they disappeared from our world they remained in our minds. There will never be a replacement vehicle to meet its looks , durability, grace and style again. They are classics to the underground world. Only the Isle Of Wight have a small number of deteriorating 1938 stock but they all were extensively modified – these LT carriages we are travelling on the Piccadilly Line today are what’s left in their original operational specifications – we are so lucky!
I never thought I would be so fortunate enough to get prime position in the leading carriage by the open driver’s cab. I was shocked and elated as this was surely a coveted position to obtain. This was a schoolboy’s dream but of a schoolboy who never grew up! Sitting beside me were a visiting family from Michigan whose son is studying Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, London whilst his mother was raised in San Jose, California and went to U.C Berkeley.
The Piccadilly Line has quite an expanse which is on ground level in the outlying suburbs of London before its deep descent below the City. This gave its passengers time to take as many photographs as they wished in full daylight conditions before the train entered the deep tunnel system adding plenty of reflection issues to their camera skills. I was lucky to get a good number of photographs which were worth keeping. Unfortunately, my videos were too lengthy and large in file size to include in this post.
The northbound driver Kevin was super friendly to everyone and answered any question that was posed to him. It was an absolute privilege and dream come true for me to witness first hand the operation of this historic train through the open door of the driver’s cab. No member of the public has such a treat on the normal revenue service trains. To see Kevin working the Dead Man’s Handle and brake throughout our journey to North London will be an unforgettable experience. I was feeling very lucky today.
We arrived into our last northbound station Oakwood before the empty train headed up to the Cockfosters Train Depot to change directions. We changed platforms and waited for its return. When it did return to collect us for our journey back to Northfields Station. Train Driver Kevin for our Northbound journey had now changed roles into playing Train Guard in our carriage. He even had the long forgotten Guard’s barrier bar in position to give him the space he needed to move around unheeded. He was so entertaining and informative and gave a fun Quiz of Underground Knowledge for any passenger who could hear his questions over the loud din of the rolling train. I got one answer right but that was because I was sitting close to his station!
The return southbound trip was much faster in journey time as there were large portions of the route that were more on a downhill gradient. As we entered each station on the line, the driver blew the train’s distinctive whistle to alert waiting LT staff and passengers for other trains of their golden photo opportunity. There were waves and large smiles from all even if they didn’t know the age of the rolling stock they were witnessing. We arrived back at Northfields Station just after the hour of noon and everyone seemed to have joy on their faces. A wonderful morning full of wonderful people – I only wish I could meet them again! A special wave goes out to Emily!
