"MIG" wrote in message

On Jan 11, 6:26 pm, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:
In article

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.


I always assumed that the years in the stock codes were based on
orders rather than introduction. Like the D78 stock first being
introduced in 1980.

Actually, I think the date numbers represent the earliest envisaged date
of introduction; the actual entry into service is usually a year or two
later. The orders would have been placed years earlier (it takes much
more than two years from order to introduction). Of course, there are
some anomalies, like the 1995 and 1996 stocks, which actually entered
service in the opposite order, or mark 2 batches.

Maybe the dates are now more realistic -- after all, the 2009 stock
started testing on the Victoria line in 2007. But I'm not sure when it
will enter pax service.