Drivers

Prior to Central line drivers, it was operated by Bakerloo drivers.

There were going to be 72 Mk1 ts going down there, because the 92ts was going to be used to expanding the bretheren fleet... Unfortunately, the list of things needed to be done to the 72's meant it was just not cost effective to do the mod work... or at least thats what I have been given to understand... Plus I dinnae thing the regular pax would like being herded onto a train 20 years older than the current fleet...

It was legal action from the City Corporation that would be a consequence as well as several thousand modifications that would have to be applied to the W&C 92ts.

No, as already stated T/ops from Leytonstone cover the line, in addition to driving on the Central line.

I know there are some drivers who will stick to the W&C week in week out given the chance. Those that like it can swap their duties with those that don't.

Also, the City Corporation aparently paid towards the refurb of the stock... Not sure if they were ordered and paid for wholly by the then NSE sector or wether the City Corp funded them too...

I bow to your superior knowledge Superteacher.

I guess East London Line drivers are trained on the Met main lines -as they have to drive train btw New Cross and Neasden?

When I was a driver at Leytonstone I used to like doing the W&C once every week or 2 as a change from the Central. It might sound boring, but actually one tunnel looks very much like another and on the W&C you don't have long stretches without getting out of the cab. As drivers step back in Waterloo depot all day, and at Bank as well in the peaks, you don't go long without seeing people either - at least to say hello.

Now I've worked in the signal cabin down there as well, when I was on the District reserve, and that really did bore the pants off me. At one point I was threatened with being left down there on a medium-term basis to cover the job and the thought filled me with dread! Far too boring!!! But relatively cushy.

It took me 50 mins (20 there, 30 back) last summer. Mind you I wasn't feeling great at the time.

The cabin is only slightly less boring these days...

In BR days it was Waterloo men that covered the work. Jobs 'down the Drain' were also described as 'down the Rat'ole' by the ex-Waterloo men that I have spoken to. Apparently, it made a change from going 'Raand the 'aases'!

I believe the drivers did but the guards didn't

As an ex Waterloo main-line driver, the staffing arrangements were:

all link 2.3 and 4 drivers at Waterloo were (or should have been trained) on the W&C. for various reasons, not all were. there were 16 duties M-F, 4 Sats IIRC, plus Sat afternoon a number of drivers were booked on to walk the tunnel after trains stopped running and the juice was off. Most turns done 16 return trips.

This involved walking (in theory) from Waterloo to Bank and back inspecting the fire equipment and making sure the pump in the sump area worked, and testing the phones. In practice the tunnel walk was a tunnel run, seeing how quick we could get to the sump and back, then down the BRSA club for a pint!! Those were the days...

I believe the driver arrangements lasted until the LUL take-over. AFAIK Wimbledon men never worked the W&C. I worked on the line from about 1980 to 88. If ever you see the Dempsey and Makepiece show where a tube train is blown up (on the W&C), I was the driver on that train! a good 14 hour Sunday with lunch and evening meal thrown in at the film company's expense.

We had an industrial dispute in about 1983 after the management decided to save money by doing away with the tunnel "walk" (run) on Saturdays. This would have meant the loss of about 6 or 8 turns and of course the safety implications.

So, Waterloo ASLEF decided to close the W&C from 0730 to 0900 M-F until further notice. I was the 2nd driver to sign on on the first monday. the timekeeper and TCS asked me what I was going to do. "Obey the branch resolution" I replied. The TCS, being a good ASLEF man, told me to wait and see the guv'nor, who signed on at 0900. so I sat in the mess room till 0900 and saw the guv'nor, who told me if i wasn't going to work normally, I would be sent home without pay. He was told that I'd sat there from 0630 and must be paid for it, which I eventually was.

Others were sent home without pay for about 6 weeks. to get round this loss of pay, the drivers had a weekly whip-round, I forget how much. Drivers booked to work rest days downstairs would change for a duty upstairs, so the non-rest dat man would go downstairs, get sent home, and get an amount from the whip-rouind. The man upstairs would work his rest day as normal and get paid r/d time for it. The only cost to the drivers was whatever the whip-round was, say a tenner a week!! Cost to management was considerable.

The W&C was shut for 6-10 weeks, maybe more, I forget. but, the management kept 6 turns on the tunnel walk as a compromise. It was probably one of the most effective industrial disputes I ever took part in.

All the stock was immaculate when the line eventually reopened.

Shortly after that, "someone" tagged one of the motor cars "Into City" on the Bank end! All in the correct BR typeface too. Dunno who that was....