A Stock Farewell Tour

It was 50mph, the Chiltern was going slower than it looked.


She sure did.


We had planned to use them, we were just debating at the last minute how many. It is a long standing tradition and, regardless of these modern times, I was not going to go down in the history books as the Railwaymen who broke with it.

You will be surprised. The 'S' Stock has been designed in conjunction with Railway Engineers and Railway Operators so it isn't a bad train. The problem for you and most others is that it isn't an 'A' Stock. 'S' Stock is fit for purpose for the next 40 years and has been designed to meet the changing needs of the business and the changing needs of the travelling public. LU need cheaper and more efficient maintenance, and our growing customer base need more space to fit in and more trains per hour.

I have been working on 'S' Stock in various roles for 7 years and started working on them before we even had a design. The 'A' Stock wasn't that popular on introduction either. A new generation of travellers will now grow up with the 'S' Stock and it will foster the same feelings in them as the 'A' has done for you. My son loves the 'S' Stock and when he see's one he is proud that his Dad had a hand in its design and introduction, the kids I met on the Railtour were all very enthusiastic about 'S' Stock too.

Perhaps when the time comes for 'S' to be recycled some kind Operating Official on the final run will let an old Railwaymen such as myself (if I'm still here by then!) on the train just as we did on Saturday.

Ah yeah and the distance between stations decreased too! ;D

I was the one who was the passenger who nearly beat Rincewind (sorry cant remember the assortment of caps and non caps in the name) to operating the butterfly on an A stock but quickly told not to by you ! I recall you were the one who spotted me and a couple others who nearly got left behind at Amersham and let us to Coach A where we belonged.

I'm going to take you up on that because I am more than a little offended by the comment. 'S' Stock is new, it is a change, it is not an 'A' Stock but none of that makes it any of the things you have levelled against it. Most Train Operators like the Train and the train design has been heavily influenced by LU staff throughout the design process. It is anything but a poor show.

I was responsible for ensuring that the design was operationally acceptable and I am now responsible for the operational aspects of the introduction (including reliability). Is it perfect? No! In fairness I never claimed it would be, go and check my hundreds of historical posts on the subject. It is a damn good train though none the less. Has the introduction been without issues? No! You show me a LU train fleet that has been introduced without problems, it doesn't exist.

I know the 'A' Stock was loved by customers and enthusiasts alike, and I know that it will be missed. That doesn't make 'S' Stock a poor show though. 'S' Stock hasn't been designed for the same world that 'A' Stock was, because we are no longer in that world I'm afraid. we are carrying 4 million people a day and rising, and any new stock needs to take that into account at design stage or else we would be wasting your taxes.

Rant over!

I'll let that one go, just don't call me a trainspotter. ;D

Oui Monsieur, vous ! Ne jouez pas angéliques avec moi ; n'oubliez pas que je sais ce qui est arrivé à vos sous-vêtements. (Je remercie le Babel Fish dans mon oreille)

PRJB, firstly I'm going to look at the positives of the above quote, it's good to see mentioned that indeed the A stock was loved by many and will be missed. Also I'm glad you've been honest and admitted the S stock has not been without its problems, and isn't perfect.

Now, I'm not one of these people who will moan about something just because it has changed - for example, I like the current Circle/Hammersmith timetable (especially now the train numbers run in order), on my daily journey by South West Trains I like using the class 444 units (modern train, unfortunately their sister 450 units are a different story but hey) and now the Jubilee line has sorted itself out I use it every day, and am very impressed by it, for a long time I was VERY sceptical of TBTC and the changes there.

However with the S stock I have tried my best to get interested in it, and tried to like it, but sadly, it just doesn't do it for me. PRJB you must realise that in every aspect of life, you're not going to make everyone happy all of the time. S stock is another example of this.

I think the seating issue is a big one, there aren't enough of them and the ones that remain are, to me, not very comfortable and while ok for a short journey, are not very nice on, say, a Baker Street to Amersham run. Also the ambience is very clinical in the cars. I grew up with 1959 stock running about with nice chunky wooden windowsills and pillars, really atmospheric retro seat coverings and a characteristic grooved wooden floor. The seats were well padded and wide too. 1938 stock seats even better (though they were before my time, I have seen examples in the museum and on tours)! The S stock doesn't have these characteristics and seems very plain, the overwhelming feature to the eye being plastic.

As for Train Operators, many on the Met (that I speak to) are really sorry to see the A stock go and would have an all A stock fleet back in a flash. You say about the S being influenced by staff - I don't remember this. Which staff? Just train side or a general spectrum? I tried to get my view across at the mock up a few years ago at Euston, though I got the impression as I wasn't saying what the person wanted to hear, that nothing would get done with the feedback. It didn't give me much confidence.

I misread one of your earlier posts - I thought you said that after a while people would think the same of the S as they did the A - after re-reading it I see you meant the younger generation - was gonna say it won't happen with me. Thirteen years on (or thereabouts) I still haven't got over the withdrawal of the 1959 stock! Every time (or most times) I got on a 95 stock unit I'd think "Oh God things used to be much better than this"........

Getting back to topic (!) the way I see things is why the A stock farewell is such a big issue. I'm never going to forget them and while I was glad to see such a good send off, last weekend was a very sad time.

Not us we was right at the end closest to Rickmansworth station.

Not us, must of back the other way a little bit!!!