PHILIP SHERRATT SAYS FAREWELL TO AN OLD FRIEND
Moving Wheels
FOR EVERY rail enthusiast, there are trains which are symbolic of their earliest memories of travelling by rail. Growing up within earshot of the eastern end of the District Line, mine must be London Underground’s ‘D’ Stock, and although I can’t recall it, my first rail journey was almost certainly on a D Stock train.
The 75-strong fleet was ordered to replace the ‘CO/CP’ and ‘R’ Stock trains, and the first entered service on 28 January 1980. The design was notable for the use of single-leaf doors, a first for the Underground and, aside from the short-lived 1983 tube stock for the Jubilee Line, an exercise not repeated.
A refurbishment was carried out in the mid-2000s; before receiving LU’s corporate colours of red, white and blue, the D Stock were the last unpainted silver trains on the tube. The District had also operated the first silver trains on the network, these being the R stock introduced in 1953.
The D Stock’s withdrawal comes comparatively early – both the Piccadilly and Bakerloo tube fleets are likely to exceed 50 years in frontline service. The catalyst for the D Stock’s removal is the impending resignalling of the sub-surface lin…
