London Banter - View Single Post - Last unpainted D Stock (last "silver" Underground train)

Colin McKenzie · January 13th 08, 11:54 AM posted to uk.transport.london

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article
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() wrote:
The last unrefurbished D Stock train is scheduled to operate on the
District Line on 21st February 2007. This will bring to an end the era
of unpainted aluminium UndergrounD trains which first began in 1949
(and also on the District Line with the R49 Stock).

Shame! In fact the first unpainted train entered service in 1952. The
original trial was of just one R49 car. I don't think that was as early
as 1949 either. The R stock is another case of the years in the stock
codes representing more aspiration than fact. The programme to switch all
R stock trains to silver (mostly painted) wasn't completed until 1965.

But that wasn't the end of red trains on the District. I had to check
my memory that the Edgware Road to Putney Bridge trains were always
red. These were a different sort of stock (O/P) - but apart from the
colour they looked almost identical from the outside. They seem to
have stayed red until withdrawn when the C77 stock came in (around
1979-80, it appears).

Colin McKenzie

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