• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Last day of A-Stock RAT?

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Muzer

Established Member
Joined
3 Feb 2012
Messages
2,773
Today is in theory the last day of the A Stock RAT (the WTT notes that the RAT ceases running after its afternoon run on Friday 16th December). I was out earlier to day at Harrow-on-the-Hill (11:20) to see if I could catch it heading towards Amersham, but it didn't turn up. I assume that particular trip wasn't deemed necessary.

Anyone know if its later, much longer trip will be running today? I'm talking about the one that gets into Uxbridge at 16:26. I'm currently bashing HSTs but I'll head from Reading to West Drayton and bus across from there next unless anyone tells me definitively it's not running today.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

bluegoblin7

bluegoblin7

Established Member
Joined
10 May 2011
Messages
1,381
Location
JB/JP/JW
It's just (1556) departed Rayners Lane running eastbound to Ealing Common. From there it should return to Uxbridge.
 
M

Muzer

Established Member
Joined
3 Feb 2012
Messages
2,773
I did eventually find it, though only long after it had eventually got dark! I didn't see it at Uxbridge in the end but I got a shot of it at Watford and one at Northwood, both in the dark.

However, I did receive word from the driver that it will run tomorrow IF they haven't run out of sandite.
 
L

Lrd

Established Member
Joined
26 Jul 2010
Messages
3,018
Are the D stock RATs available for use yet? Or are they still testing?
 
S

swt class 450

Guest
Joined
9 Apr 2016
Messages
1,909
Does anyone know what will happen to the A stock RAT train when it gets withdrawn? Are there any plans to preserve it?
 
Dstock7080

Dstock7080

Established Member
Joined
17 Feb 2010
Messages
2,768
Location
West London
swt class 450 said:
Does anyone know what will happen to the A stock RAT train when it gets withdrawn? Are there any plans to preserve it?
Click to expand...
The London Transport Museum Depot already has an A Stock DM car.
i would guess that the current RAT, spare unit at Neasden and spare unit at Acton Works will be disposed of.
 
i3lu

i3lu

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2016
Messages
22
I saw right now (16:20) the train departing Harrow on the Hill southbound. On timetable the train should be in Neasden Depot at 16:12.
 
J

jopsuk

Veteran Member
Joined
13 May 2008
Messages
12,773
swt class 450 said:
Does anyone know what will happen to the A stock RAT train when it gets withdrawn? Are there any plans to preserve it?
Click to expand...

The LT Museum has what it wants. Unlike the 38 stock and the potential Standard Stock set the A-Stock is limited in where it can go and thus limited use for tours. If anyone else wanted to buy a set they had plenty of opportunity
 
Nym

Nym

Established Member
Joined
2 Mar 2007
Messages
9,174
Location
Somewhere, not in London
jopsuk said:
The LT Museum has what it wants. Unlike the 38 stock and the potential Standard Stock set the A-Stock is limited in where it can go and thus limited use for tours. If anyone else wanted to buy a set they had plenty of opportunity
Click to expand...

So why are they spending a lot of effort getting the Q Stock to work?
 
M

Muzer

Established Member
Joined
3 Feb 2012
Messages
2,773
I'd love for the A stock to be preserved. The four non-RAT coaches looked in good condition internally. But being realistic I can't see it happening.
 
317666

317666

Established Member
Joined
4 Sep 2009
Messages
1,771
Location
East Anglia
Nym said:
So why are they spending a lot of effort getting the Q Stock to work?
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in theory the Q Stock should be able to traverse the entire sub-surface network. A Stock were wider than most LU rolling stock and were/are banned from running on some sections of the SSL, bottom half of the Circle springs to mind.
 
S

swt class 450

Guest
Joined
9 Apr 2016
Messages
1,909
I wish TFL would preserve more full sets of trains to operate railtours on the network. Surely at the very least they could preserve a four coach set (two driving cars and two centre cars) of A stock (and hopefully of D stock as well). I wish they had done this with the C stock as well. The A stock might be limited on where it can go but it could still do railtours on the Metropolitan Line network.
 
M

MatthewRead

On Moderation
Joined
21 Nov 2014
Messages
1,636
Location
West london
swt class 450 said:
I wish TFL would preserve more full sets of trains to operate railtours on the network. Surely at the very least they could preserve a four coach set (two driving cars and two centre cars) of A stock (and hopefully of D stock as well). I wish they had done this with the C stock as well. The A stock might be limited on where it can go but it could still do railtours on the Metropolitan Line network.
Click to expand...

They were going to preserve a train of C stock but decided against it due to their lack of popularity:cry:
 
bramling

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,776
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
swt class 450 said:
I wish TFL would preserve more full sets of trains to operate railtours on the network. Surely at the very least they could preserve a four coach set (two driving cars and two centre cars) of A stock (and hopefully of D stock as well). I wish they had done this with the C stock as well. The A stock might be limited on where it can go but it could still do railtours on the Metropolitan Line network.
Click to expand...

It falls in the 'it would be nice' box, but as usual the problem is money. Someone has to pay for maintenance.

I hope at least one manages to sit around long enough that something happens, but sadly I have my doubts it will happen. The only consolation is there is less pressure on siding space at the moment, but sadly it would be easy enough to add them to the D stock disposals in February or whenever.
 
321over360

321over360

Member
Joined
17 Jul 2015
Messages
199
317666 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in theory the Q Stock should be able to traverse the entire sub-surface network. A Stock were wider than most LU rolling stock and were/are banned from running on some sections of the SSL, bottom half of the Circle springs to mind.
Click to expand...

From what i recall, A stock were banned outright from running on most of the District Line in passenger service and can only run at certain speed limits if they are running on the District Line unlike the C stock which could go anywhere and would have made a good RAT for the entire SSL network. I would love a preserved A stock unit, i hated the C stock by the time they went and was so glad when the S stock took over as they were horrible for passenger use as very stuffy trains (even with the amount of doors they still turned into sweat boxes).

Q stock was a variant of the SSL fleet ordered by London Transport which basically could go anywhere, there were previous SSL stock fleets which were pretty much identical but on different routes, just the A, C and D stock changed that until the S stock came where they had a unified fleet again (just a shame all S stock doesnt come the S8 way with mixed seating as longitudinal seating is a bad idea for the entire train - look at London overground, limited hard seating on the 378s, saying that SEs 376 chairs are much comfier than a LO 378
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top