Preserving the C-Stock

It's a good point. If one looks at it objectively, how many commuters would care, albeit enthusiasts will? What is the cost and where do you house them? I don't know how much space there is at Acton. I've been to New York and ridden on the shoppers special, but even Americans are an enigma, they'll demolish a beautiful building, Penn Central comes to mind, this had the grandeur of St Pancreas and then some, and in recent years the number of 20th Century steam locomotives they are now preserving is on the increase. Check out You-tube and see a 'Big Boy' in full flight.

Funnily enough, when enthusiasts are confronted with the costs of maintain and storing redundant trains, their "enthusiasm" quickly vanishes!

1 car of 'C' stock is more thane enough - it's hardly a design classic.

I would suggest the best route for preservation of an entire train is to take one in good serviceable condition out of service and hand it to the builder of the new stock to fit out with new equipment such that it will remain compatible in all operational respects with the new stock.
The purist would no doubt object to the adulteration of the original but it is better to keep an original in modified form than to scrap it altogether.
One would naturally expect a suitable agreement to be reached where the new stock builder would upgrade the old stock at cost or less as part of the new rolling stock contract to serve as a systems prototype, to remain in the fleet and thereby remain available for passenger service once the new stock is delivered. Thus no special storage facility would be required as the train would continue to be fleet maintained.

However, knowing LUL, such a train would soon be shunted into a siding and left for months on end to save the 'cost' of regular inspections and quickly become a pile of scrap. Alternatively it might be donated to an established preservation society in serviceable condition where passionate volunteers would undoubtedly lovingly keep it pristine for future generations to enjoy.

The C stock is vastly different to its "original" condition. Remember it had a mid-life refurb many years ago; fitting end windows to all cars, guards panels altered or removed, interiors nothing like the original design....so what is left "could" be preserved at great cost to one in "as withdrawn" condition. There's also loads of coats of paint to remove as they were unpainted aluminium when delivered.

It's a bit like preserving an original Dartmaster to 1962 condition..

As is the much loved A60

You didn't read what I wrote very well! As for a shocking waste of public money the government and all publicly owned and operated institutions and businesses are experts at that and have plenty of experience in the squandering of £taxpayers billions. The retrofit of a single train in an entire fleet at cost would be a drop in the ocean. Back in 1995/6 the CrossRail project spent £30 million before the project was shelved and there are plenty of examples of such waste.

You might also be interested to know that pretty much any phone ever made that still exists in working condition can be connected to a phone line somewhere in the world and work just as it did. Telephone collectors such as myself operate heritage telephone equipment over a world wide private network to which hundreds of old telephones are connected both directly and indirectly.

40 years ago, the Q stock were withdrawn and scrapped, with no full sets preserved. 40 years on, we're seeing a massive drive to scrabble together what remains, add some unauthentic parts from newer stock and get one operational again, whilst regretting not saving one when the chance was there. (Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it!)
Meanwhile, we're seeing the first fleet of LU trains for a while* completely consigned to the history books, bar a few cars. Is this history going to repeat itself 40 years down the line? I expect so! It's not quite too late for them to rethink their decision! (Although I can't see it happening)

I'd just like to add some food for thought based on the 'no space at Acton' argument. Half of the LTM's sit at Acton is taken up by their fleet of buses, using valuable space where additional preserved trains could be preserved, undercover and safe from the outside world. Meanwhile in East London, I believe Upton Park(?) bus garage lies empty, a listed building that has limited redevelopment potential. Surely the two proverbial birds could be killed with the one proverbial stone, by moving the LTM bus fleet there, providing safe cover for heritage buses, whilst embracing a historic bus garage and using it for it's original purpose. That way, you'd have more space for buses and more space for trains at Acton. Definitely a viable solution in my eyes.

*Taking into consideration the numerous 1967TS at Eastleigh, the RAT and LTM 'A' stock.

I can't speak for the current London Bus Museum, bvut I was on the committee when it was the Cobham Bus Museum, a collection of private individuals who owned buses who got together and bought a tin shed near Cobham. That developed into a registered charity, which then became the present LBM. It has nothing to do with the LT Museum financially, but has a number of members who belong to both organisations. AIUI the LBM is already full. There is an exchange of information between LTM and LBM.

I believe Upton Park was originally a trolleybus depot...do you have 180 trolleybuses to fill it with?? In my view it would be fine to preserve a complete 6-car C stock in full working order; a 6 car Q stock would have been nice too.

Upton Park was always a bus garage (opened 1907 by London Road Car Co (Union Jack), taken over by LGOC 1908). The nearest trolleybus depot was West Ham (site now Routemaster Close).

There was also a tram depot round the back of East Ham Town Hall in Nelson Street. It's still there as far as I know, converted for other uses.

Is Forest Gate garage (further up Green Street) still there?

The Acton space is more than buses vs trains TfL has a legal obligation to preserve historical relics. This is why the new building was erected as the Covent Garden site is full.

The London Bus Museum new site is almost full.

There is no point preserving whole trains if they can't be used. The new signalling systems are making the use of LUL tracks impossible.

In Paris they ran "Sprague stock" trains on metro line 14 (which is as "old" as the Jubilee line extension and entirely automatic). So I don't see why it shouldn't be possible to fit the required electronic stuff on old stock to let them run on the upgraded lines.

That's a little unfair...assuming Thales are awarded the SSR resignalling contract, the same TBTC system will be used on the Jubilee, Northern, Met, H&C, Circle & District Lines. And I wouldn't be surprised to see it being used for the Picc too given its significant overlap with the District and Met. That just leaves the Central, Victoria and possibly the Bakerloo on different systems, which isn't much worse than today. (i'm not counting the W&C!)

ATO precludes the use of 'heritage' stock in routine service. Without due attention at the design stage, it can cause major obstacles to the running of such non-ATO stock for occasional purposes. This is the factor which has seemingly been overlooked, and would be better addressed before installation than afterwards.

Although you can't really run heritage tube stock on the overground without changing the wiring on them.