A Stock withdrawals - Discussion

Maybe it will shock everyone and might be in 50 years time?

Doubt it though ;D ;D ;D

..... but a new Timetable Notice may be issued for anything that is left - after the Olympics

Hi There!

You are of course entitled to your opinion and whilst I am a die-hard A Stock fan, I do also like the S Stock a great deal.

As a totally blind person though, I must admit that I've never got lost on A Stock after over 20 years of independent travel on them. In recent years, since the introduction of audio announcements on LU rolling stock, many Met drivers (but certainly not all) have been far more vocal on the PA giving out passenger information about the train destination etc. to compensate for the lack of audible announcements.

Admittedly due to the state of repair of some of the PA systems, these driver announcements varied from very clear and coherent information, to the same thing but broadcast at deafening high volume, through to crackling and broken up audio, but nevertheless the effort was being made!.

With regards to your problem about knowing where your train is going northbound when you reach HOTH, please use the following rule of thumb which has stood me in good stead for many years. If the doors open on the left hand side of the train (in direction of travel) then you're on platform 4 bound for West Harrow, Rayners Lane and Uxbridge. If the doors open on the right then you're either on platform 1 or more likely platform 3 these days bound for North Harrow, Moor Park, Amersham/Chesham/Watford. Of course there are always exceptions to this rule in times of service disruption etc. and if you're not facing the direction of travel, then you need to reverse this rule.

Finally might I say that the audible announcements on modern LU rolling stock are not entirely fail safe. I still get on trains where the announcements are either barely audible, are not working at all or are giving out incorrect information, so you still need to have some idea where you are and where you're going.

Well! enough said for now me thinks, but happy and safe travelling to all!.

Best Wishes

Green Lion.

Ah yes sorry about that, I just thought you were addressing my post because the quote was left in that’s all. The mentality Redsetter raises of rejecting the notion that units shouldn't to be scrapped, is backward. And indeed it is being done for a reason (well where else are they going to be useful at their age other than soft drinks cans) letting sentimentality get in the way of the fact these trains are mechanically had their day is certainly not very constructive, I agree.

But as a compromise we've still got to keep at least a unit or two, not just for their centimental value but the fact they are very unique trains of an excellent design.

sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward.

I like a good argument but let's be honest here. We live in times of austerity most of us have never experienced before. People are losing their jobs and some are losing their homes as a result.

In light of this, please understand that preserving a non-operational underground train is a costly undertaking and, to the majority of non-enthusiast taxpayers, not something worth bothering with in comparison to their current financial struggles and privations.

Redsetter, I admire your devotion to such a long lost cause and in an ideal world, whilst I'd not get quite so worked up over it, I'd also be calling for preservation orders on all sorts of engineering icons, but let's be honest, we don't live in an ideal world anymore do we?

It's time to grasp reality.

Take as a blessing the one preserved unit, whatever it maybe. The rest are glorious history, and to be remembered with affection by those who feel that way.

As a confirmed atheist I'll offer no biblical quotes but instead a worthwhile remembrance in verse. Shakespeare can be corrupted thus:

"What a piece of work is an A Stock,
How noble in reason,
How infinite in faculties,
In form and moving; how express and admirable,
In action; how like an angel,
In memory; how like a god..........."

RIP

Hi there!

Well! as I said, it's year's of practice and to an extent trial and error! but do try out that rule of thumb when you're next in Harrow, it does work!.

As for drivers making announcements at Aldgate prior to departure, that really does depend on the individual. Dwell times there during the day are usually around 10 minutes, but of course at peak times they're quite a bit less than that, but they usually have a few seconds whilst preparing the train after having opened up the DBVIC etc. to make an announcement. Maybe you've just been particularly unlucky, but in my experience this has become more the rule than the exception in recent years, as have announcements at the major stations en route e.g. Kings Cross St. Pancras, Baker Street and of course HOTH.

It will certainly make life "interesting" when all subsurface lines are operated by S Stock, as the clearly, audible distinctions between A, C and D stock will be gone. Let's just hope that the audible information systems are working correctly, otherwise VIPs may find themselves pitching up in all sorts of places that they hadn't intended to go!. We'll just have to wait and see I guess as to how it all pans out.

Take care and happy and safe travels.

Best Wishes

Green Lion.

I think the plan is to replace the A Stock RATs with D Stock ones, once D Stock withdrawal begins in earnest. This should be good news for you though, as it'll mean that some D Stock will be preserved to keep your sadness at bay. It might otherwise have all gone for scrap. There's obviously much logistical, operational and doubtless financial sense in having one standard fleet of trains for the SSLs, although it makes life for the enthusiast much more mundane. I think it's the shape of things to come and I'm pretty sure that when the Bakerloo and Piccadilly Line stocks are up for renewal at the end of the decade, they'll be replaced by a standard type of tube train, possibly known as "T Stock"?. This would mean that history repeats itself on LU metals, as there used to be a T stock on the SSLs many years ago from what I understand.

Best wishes to all

Green Lion.

The replacement of A stock RATs with D stock RATs will mean three units will be kept permenantly on heritage use?

a60, if that happens I will be very happy, 150's are total rubbish!

I see the S stock replacement of the D stock being a retrograde step.

That's great then! the more A Stock preserved the better!

Best Wishes

Green Lion.

i can very well remember a couple of years ago there was severe delays on the jubilee line,when the train eventually arrived at kilburn everyone was eager to move.
unfortunately the train did not move very far at all and came to a halt on the bridges' at kilburn.it was like a sardine can on a curve facing the july afternoon sun.

with 5016 at the South?