London Underground D78 Stock

The London Underground D78 Stock, commonly referred to as D Stock, was a type of sub-surface rolling stock which operated on the District line of the London Underground, except on the Wimbledon to Edgware Road service. The first units were withdrawn in January 2015 with the last withdrawn on 21 April 2017.

"D Stock" redirects here. For the 1912 Metropolitan District Railway Stock, see London Underground D Stock (District Railway).

London Underground D78 Stock
D78 Stock units 7032 and 7007 on the last day of service
The interior of a refurbished D78 Stock
In service	28 January 1980 – 21 April 2017
Manufacturer	Metro-Cammell
Built at	Washwood Heath, England
Replaced	O and P Stock R Stock
Constructed	1978–1981
Refurbished	2004–2008
Number built	75 sets (450 cars)
Formation	6 cars per trainset
Capacity	821 per trainset
Line(s) served	District
Specifications
Car length	DM 18.37 m (60 ft 3 in) UNDM/T 18.12 m (59 ft 5 in)
Width	2.85 m (9 ft 4 in)
Height	3.62 m (11 ft 11 in)
Weight	DM 27.46 tonnes (27.03 long tons; 30.27 short tons) UNDM 26.11 tonnes (25.70 long tons; 28.78 short tons) T 18.40 tonnes (18.11 long tons; 20.28 short tons)
Traction system	Pneumatic driven camshaft (GEC Traction)
Traction motors	LT118 DC motor (Brush Traction)
Seating	280 per trainset
Stock type	Subsurface

History

The D stock was ordered in 1976 to replace the pre-war CO/CP Stock and post-war R Stock on the District line.[1] Seventy-five six-car trains were built by Metro-Cammell, Washwood Heath, the first entering service on 28 January 1980 with last delivered in 1983.[2]

Details

D78 stock interior as built, photograph taken during press run, 9 January 1980. Moquette was orange/brown rectangle pattern. Windows were non-opening; hopper ventilators were fitted after complaints of poor ventilation. The trains were the last ones with "bobble springs" hanging from the roof.

Single leaf doorway of D78 stock; photograph taken on press run.

D78 stock in pre-refurbishment condition

The D Stock consisted of six-car trains, as opposed to the seven-car trains of CO/CP and R Stock, whose cars were shorter: under normal operation, each train consisted of two 3-car units, and 20 of the units are double-ended to allow 3-car operations under exceptional circumstances.[3]

The traction motors were the same LT118 type as on 1973 Tube Stock, and the bogies are same, unlike other subsurface rolling stock. With single-leaf doors and transverse and longitude seating, the style is very similar to 1983 stock on the Jubilee line. The D stock and 1983 stock trains were the only trains on the underground to have their headlights positioned under the train body; many trains on the underground had only their tail lights under the body.

The trains brought many innovations. The rubber coil suspension meant a smoother ride for passengers. The driver's cab is more ergonomic, the seat swiveling to move forwards, backwards, up or down. The dead man's handle is replaced by a joystick that needs to be twisted for the dead man feature, and moved fore and aft for motoring and braking. There is a Train Management System replacing the original Train Equipment Panel that highlights faults to the driver.

The most noticeable difference between the stock and earlier trains is that the doors are single leaf. Originally, passengers pressed door-control buttons to open them. Posters explaining how to operate the doors were put up around Tube stations in English, French and German when the stock was introduced. The stock had a "POGO" switch (Passenger open/Guard's open) that could switch control of the doors from passengers to the guard (when the stock was introduced, the guard controlled the doors from the rear cab).

While this function proved useful at above-ground stations and termini (especially in winter), station dwell time was significantly increased, and passengers had trouble getting used to the new system, not knowing how to open the door. By the late 1990s, the control of the doors went to the driver. The buttons remained, but they were covered up on refurbishment between 2004 and 2008.

At over 18 metres (59 ft), the cars were the longest on the Underground. The windows had to be modified because of overheating when new, with pull-down opening windows installed in each car.

Usage

The stock was used on the District line, except the High Street Kensington to Edgware Road section, because the platforms are not long enough for D Stock.

Between April 1985 and May 1987, the stock operated the East London line service in three-car formations, there being enough stock spare because of reduced services on the District line. This allowed A60/62 Stock to be sent for One Person Operation (OPO) conversion. The A60/62 stock took over the service again in 1987. The class received the Class 499/0 designation on British Rail's TOPS system to operate on the Richmond and Wimbledon line.[4]

The stock started being replaced by S Stock in 2016.[5] It was replaced about 15 years short of its intended lifespan, as a consistent new fleet will allow for frequencies to be increased and will reduce maintenance costs.

In July 2011, Harrogate Chamber of Commerce proposed to use the stock on the Harrogate line from York to Leeds via Harrogate to increase capacity.[6] Stations in the Harrogate and Leeds urban areas are close together: the superior acceleration of the stock over the Class 150 diesel multiple units currently used, is intended to cut journey times. It was proposed that the line would be electrified with third rail, similar to the Docklands Light Railway, as opposed to the London Underground or the Southern Region network.

On 24 July 2012, car 7007 was designated as the Olympic 2012 Train with London Underground Chief Operating Officer Howard Collins carrying the Olympic Torch from Wimbledon to Wimbledon Park.[7] This is the only London Underground train to be an Olympic Torch train.

Roster

Formation	← Ealing Broadway/Richmond/Wimbledon (A) Upminster (D) →							Notes
	7xxx (DM)	17xxx (T)	8xxx (UNDM)		8xxx (UNDM)	17xxx (T)	7xxx (DM)
Facilities
Numbers	7000 ∥ 7128	17000 ∥ 17128	8000 ∥ 8128		8001 ∥ 8129	17001 ∥ 17129	7001 ∥ 7129	17035 and 17077 exchanged numbers in 1994.

Formation	← (A) (D) →
	75xx (DM)	175xx (T)	75xx (DM)
Facilities
Numbers	7500 ∥ 7538	17500 ∥ 17538	7501 ∥ 7539

• - Wheelchair space
• DM - Driving Motor car
• T - Trailer (non-powered) car
• UNDM - Uncoupling Non-Driving Motor car

De-icing equipment was fitted to trailers 17000 to 17048 (evens).

Refurbishment

Interior before refurbishment

Interior of the prototype refurbished car

Interior after refurbishment

The exterior of a newly refurbished train at Ealing Common Depot

The mid-life refurbishment was the first to be carried out under the public–private partnership (PPP), by Metronet, and was delayed until contract negotiations were completed. A prototype unit of three cars (7008/17008/8008) was prepared by London Underground's Train Modification Unit at Acton Depot in 2001.[8][9] This had some detail differences from the eventual refurbishment, and was later brought up to the standard of the rest of the stock. The refurbishment programme began in summer 2005 with the work undertaken by Bombardier Transportation's, Derby Litchurch Lane Works.[10][11] The programme was completed in 2008.[12]

The refurbishment consisted of:

• applying London Underground livery with anti-vandal paint and window film
• restyling the interiors in green and white
• replacing maple wood flooring with rubber
• adding end-of-car windows
• replacing hanging straps (bobbles on springs) with grab bars
• covering the door buttons
• adding dot matrix indicators showing the station and destination on the inside and exterior front and sides
• adding an audio passenger information system guided by GPS and odometer, voiced by Emma Clarke: announcements for each station name include connecting lines, and provide warnings to "mind the gap between the train and the platform"
• adding two tip-up seats/disabled multi purpose area
• fitting air conditioning to driver's cab
• fitting CCTV

The refurbished D Stock were the first Underground trains to have electronic dot-matrix information displays on the sides of the cars; some pre-war trains had slot-in or reversible destination or non-stopping plates.

The refurbished D Stock also had the London Underground roundel painted on the sides of all the cars; previously, only the DM cars had the roundel on them.

Withdrawal

The D Stock and its replacement, the S7 Stock, at Ealing Broadway on the final day of D Stock operation.

D78 Stock at Ealing Common Depot on 7 May 2017.

Withdrawals commenced on 19 January 2015 when the first full 6-car train, formed of units 7510 and 7058, was withdrawn from service at Ealing Common Depot and loaded onto trucks for Long Marston for the driving motors to be converted into 230s and the other cars to be either scrapped or stored for future use. The last train, formed of units 7007 and 7032, ran on 21 April 2017.[13]

A farewell heritage tour took place on 7 May 2017 operated by units 7007+7032.[14]

In February 2016, four redundant D78 cars were used by the emergency services in a mock tube accident staged at Littlebrook Power Station.[15]

One car 7012 is preserved by the London Transport Museum Depot at Acton.

Conversion

Main articles: British Rail Class 230 and British Rail Class 484

In 2014, Vivarail purchased 156 Driving Motor cars and 70 trailing vehicles for conversion to diesel-electric multiple units.[16] It is proposed to run 75 units of two or three cars per unit.[17][18] They are known as class 230 under TOPS.[19]

A prototype was produced for testing and accreditation in August 2015, with introduction to service in 2016.[20] The first Class 230 service to carry passengers operate on 19 July 2017 when a unit is used to operate a shuttle service from Honeybourne to the Rail Live exhibition at the Quinton Rail Technology Centre.[21]

The first customer for production Class 230 units was West Midlands Trains, which ordered three 2-car DMUs in October 2017. Subsequently, Transport for Wales Rail ordered a total of five 3-car sets, to be built as BMMUs, in June 2018.[22][23]

In September 2019, South Western Railway announced it would be leasing five two-car Class 484s for use on the upgraded Island Line, Isle of Wight from 2020. These will continue to be powered by electricity drawn from the third rail.[24]

References

1. "District line replacement cars authorised" Railway Gazette International August 1976 page 285
2. "Rolling Stock Data Sheet, London Underground (First Edition)" (PDF). WhatDoTheyKnow. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
3. Connor 2015, p. 142
4. LUL stock given TOPS numbers The Railway Magazine issue 1145 September 1996 page 57
5. "Transforming the Tube" (PDF). Transport for London. July 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
6. "HARROGATE LINE NEWS 1 1st Meeting supports bid" (PDF). Harrogate Chamber of Commerce. 12 August 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
7. "Olympic torch: Flame rides on London Underground train". BBC News Online. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
8. "Spellar inspects District Line stock" Rail issue 436 29 May 2002 page 16
9. D78 modernised Railway Gazette International 1 October 2002
10. "Metronet tests refreshed D stock" Rail issue 515 8 June 2005 page 26
11. D78 stock gets a fresh new look Railway Gazette International 1 August 2005
12. "D78 stock refurbishment complete" Today's Railways UK issue 78 June 2008 page 19
13. Farewell to the D stock The Railway Magazine 3 May 2017
14. https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/events-calendar/heritage-vehicles-outings#
15. "Emergency Services Stage Mock Tube Disaster" Rail Express issue 239 April 2016 page 9
16. "Viva Vivarail's D-train transformation" Rail issue 771 1 April 2015 page 60
17. D78 Stock Conversion is Go Archived 16 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine Modern Railways December 2014 pages 37-38
18. "Vivarail Homepage". Vivarail. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
19. Sam McCaffrey (1 May 2015). "'They don't make trains like this anymore'". Rail Technology Magazine. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
20. The Engineer http://www.theengineer.co.uk/blog/d-railed-old-tube-trains-gain-a-new-lease-of-life/1020946.article
21. "D-Train to carry passengers" Rail issue 824 13 April 2017
22. "Vivarail to supply three D-Trains to West Midlands Trains". www.railtechnologymagazine.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
23. "KeolisAmey reveal new-look Wales trains and services". 4 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
24. Isle of Wight line’s future secured with £26m investment Railway Gazette International 16 September 2019

Sources

• Connor, Piers (March 2015). D Stock to D-Train. Underground News. London Underground Railway Society. pp. 142–144. ISSN 0306-8617.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• D Stock Tubeprune
• Vivarail