Station Name: UXBRIDGE (Belmont Road)

[Source: Nick Catford]

A train of Standard Tube Stock, destination Wood Green, waits at Belmont Road sometime in 1933 after, of course, the Piccadilly Line had replaced the District service to Uxbridge. The problem of tube trains using platforms designed for normal height trains is evident. The train is a 3-car unit formed Driving Motor - Trailer - Control Trailer (DM - T - CT) with 'Control Trailer' being Underground parlance for what everybody else called 'Driving Trailer'. For many years it was the practice to uncouple train formations during what we now call the 'Off Peak' period, with the remainder of the sets being stabled until required again for the evening peak. A full 7-car Piccadilly Line train of Standard Stock being formed DM - T - CT + DM - T - T - DM. Standard Tube Stock (TS) began life in 1922 when some prototype cars, none of which were DMs, were evaluated. The production run began in 1923 and continued through to 1934. At first glance all appeared identical but there were numerous detail differences according to who built the cars and when - too many to describe in an image caption. Standard TS was quite characterful and relatively simple with motor bogies fitted only to DM cars and control equipment in a compartment behind the driving cabs, witnessed here by the ventilation louvres behind the cab. Modern tube trains and indeed from the experimental 1935 stock onwards have most equipment beneath the floor and spread along the train providing, as was the intention, more passenger space but at the cost of the loss of formation flexibility as offered by the Standard TS. Another problem with Standard TS and indeed previous tube stock was when two DMs were coupled together there were platform areas where no passenger doors were located, causing delays. This was the main reason for the change to underfloor equipment. In an attempt to deal with the platform problem, London Transport experimented with various juggled-around formations of Standard TS but none were notable successful. The last Standard TS in London Transport passenger service was withdrawn in 1966, however a number of trailer cars, modified to work with other stock continued in service for many more years and most notably the so-called 'Bakerloo 58' cars. Other cars, mostly DM types, went on to enjoy a second life in the engineering fleet. Perhaps most famously, a number of Standard TS cars were sold to British Rail for use on the Isle of Wight and these remained in service, albeit in diminishing numbers, until 1992. The oldest cars sent to the Isle of Wight were approaching seventy years of age when withdrawn - quite an achievement and as with the 1938 TS which replaced it, credit must go to the staff at Ryde depot for keeping as many of them as possible running. There is one final twist to the Isle of Wight Standard TS story. At withdrawal five cars were selected to return to London, the intention being to restore a Standard TS unit for heritage operation in the same manner as the preserved 1938 TS unit. The five selected cars were ferried to Fratton, from where they returned to London under their own power. Not all these cars were saved, however. At the time of writing, 2023, the heritage train remains under restoration at Acton using some ex-Isle of Wight cars and some which had been in the engineering fleet. In addition, 1927 built DM car No. 3327 which had entered preservation straight out of London Transport service is also at Acton.
Photo from John Mann collection

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