The London Underground 1960 Stock was a class of electric multiple unit for the London Underground Central line. Twelve motor cars were supplied by Cravens, and pairs were made up to four cars by the addition of two converted standard stock trailers. A production run of 338 motor cars was shelved, due to the time needed to assess the new features and the cost of converting the trailer cars. Some of the pre-1938 trailers were later replaced by 1938 stock trailers.
The trains were used as a test-bed for automatic train operation, where control signals were picked up from the running rails, and all control of the moving train, apart from the initial command to start when leaving a station, was managed by a "black box" controller. The Woodford to Hainault section of the Central line was used for these tests, in preparation for the introduction of the system on the Victoria line when it opened. In 1986, three trains were converted back for manual operation, and a 3-car unit worked the peak-only Epping to Ongar shuttle service, until that line closed on 30 September 1994. One train still works as a track recording unit, while a second is in private ownership and has been used for railtours on the Underground.
Background
London Underground has a history of building small batches of prototype trains in order to try out ideas, prior to building a large production run of new trains. Thus in 1935, four six-car trains were supplied by Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company, which were used as a test-bed for ideas which would be incorporated into the later 1938 stock, while in 1986, three trains, each of four cars and built by different manufacturers, were ordered with subsequent larger orders in mind. The 1960 stock was part of a similar solution, and consisted of twelve motor cars, built by Cravens of Sheffield, incorporating a number of features which it was anticipated would form the basis for a major batch of vehicles to replace the pre-1938 stock then in use on the Central line. If the plan had proceeded, a further 338 motor cars would have been built. However, assessment of the new features took longer than the time available, and the Central line refurbishment was achieved using 1962 stock, which was based on the previous batch of 1959 stock. Many of the design features of the 1960 stock were eventually incorporated into the 1967 stock built for the opening of the Victoria line.
Driving Motor cars
thumb|right|Inside 1960 tube stock Driving Motor car.
thumb|right|1960 tube stock trailer at Hainault station. The D signifies that it was fitted with de-icer equipment for use during the winter.
thumb|right|1960 tube stock trailer at Hainault station. This is one of the two cars built with no end doors.
thumb|right|Inside 1960 tube stock trailer No. 4905.
The twelve aluminium-bodied motor cars were ordered from Cravens in 1958, and each was equipped with four traction motors, instead of the two which previous stock had used. They were controlled by a Pneumatic Camshaft Motor (PCM) controller, where an air-operated camshaft controlled the switching of the motors, which was itself governed by an accelerating relay. This system had proved reliable in the control of two motors. In order for it to control four, without a major re-design, pairs of motors were wired together in series, and the controller switched between all four motors operating in series, and the two pairs operating in parallel. In order to protect against wheel-spin, the controller automatically reset if one motor of a pair began to run faster than the other. Whereas previous bogies had been asymmetric, to ensure that more weight was carried by the axle driven by the motor, the pivot was central as every axle carried a motor. One further innovation was that the fully automatic couplers at the outer ends of the trains were not "handed". Previously, trains were designated with 'A' and 'D' ends, and could only be coupled together by joining an 'A' end of one train to a 'D' end of another. This could cause operational problems, particularly on a line such as the Central, where operating a train right round the Hainault loop resulted in it facing the wrong way. The 1960 stock avoided this problem by duplicating most of the connections in the automatic coupler, so that trains could be joined either way round. The cars also included a flat floor for the first time, rather than having a raised section over the motor bogies (previous stock had flat floors at the centre section only, with a rising transition in the two double doorways to a steeply curved floor 4 inches higher at either end over the bogies).
The first of the new trains entered service on 9 November 1960. Two further four-car trains were refurbished in 1980 and 1981 at Hainault depot. One visible difference was that the trailers were painted white, rather than silver.
Demise
thumb|right|The Track Recording Train formed of 1960 Stock Driving Motors and a [[London Underground 1973 Stock|1973 Stock trailer, passing Notting Hill Gate on routine track measurement on the District Line.]]
One unit was used to trial a system of fully automatic train control on the Woodford to Hainault branch in the early 1980s. The original ATO equipment had reached the end of its life by 1986, and three trains were converted for manual one-person operation. In the 1990s, one of these 3-car trains operated the peak-only Epping to Ongar shuttle service. The 1960 stock was withdrawn when that line closed on 30 September 1994. The original 1960 track recording cars were scrapped because of asbestos contamination, and two of the retired motor cars were converted to replace them.
{|
|
{|class="wikitable"
!width=45|DM
!width=45|T
!width=45|NDM
!width=45|DM
!Location
|-
|align=center|3907
|align=center|4927
|align=center|-
|align=center|3906
|LUL Northfields Depot (4927 actually 1938 Stock)
|-
|align=center|3911
|align=center|-
|align=center|-
|align=center|-
|Buckinghamshire Railway Centre (Cab Only)
|-
|}
|colspan=15 valign="top"|
{|class="wikitable"
!colspan=2|Key
|-
!DM
|Driving motor
|-
!T
|Trailer
|-
!NDM
|Non-driving motor
|}
|}
Bibliography
References
External links
- London Transport Museum Photographic Archive