On 13 Jan, 12:54, Colin McKenzie wrote:
Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article
,
() 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have stayed red until withdrawn when the C77 stock came in (around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).


There was red stock on the District till the early 1980s when it was
replaced by the D78 stock (D78 started being introduced in 1980).

The main route of the District was run by a mixture of R stock
(silver) and CO/CP stock (red).

The Edgware Road line was run purely by CO/CP stock (red) but there
was no separation of fleets, ie CO/CP stock that ran to Edgware Road
would also find itself at Upminster etc.

The difference was that R stock was always formed into seven-coach
trains by then, while the CO/CP stock could be formed into seven or
six-coach trains. On the Edgware Road line there was only room for
six coaches, so it was always CO/CP stock.

On the main route, you did sometimes see a six-coach train of CO/CP
stock*, but they were usually seven.

C77 stock allowed the CO/CP stock to start being withdrawn, but some
of it was still needed for the main part of the line, which couldn't
be covered by the R stock alone.

It was first to go when the D78 stock came in.


*and a few on the Circle on Sundays