Piers Connor & Christopher Westcott
CRAVENS Heritage Trains Limited (CHTL) has revealed that its three-car unit, has passed initial tests as part of plans to restore the unit to working order. The unit is formed of two 60 Tube Stock (TS) Driving Motor cars and a 38 TS trailer vehicle which last carried passengers in 2014 and has been stabled for many years on an outside road at Ruislip depot.
Prior to any assessment to restore the unit, during the first week of January the unit was shunted around the Ruislip Depot site in order to undertake a full brake test. CHTL confirmed the unit passed these tests. The next stage will be to assess the overall condition of the unit, when decisions can then be made about its long-term future. Timescales when any of this work might be undertaken is unconfirmed. CHTL has confirmed that in time it would like to return the three-car unit to working order so they can operate railtour services. However, such aspirations are a long way off.
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The two 60 Tube Stock Driving Motor (DM) cars are now approaching 66 years of age. Many aspects of what was back then, a revolutionary design, for example the passenger saloon windows and vents, have influenced subsequent rolling stock.
60 Tube Stock (x-head)
Twelve examples of 60 Tube Stock Driving Motor cars were constructed by Cravens of Sheffield in the early 1960s. The first two examples were delivered as car Nos. 3000 and 3001. However, before they entered service on November 9, 1960, renumbering to 3900 and 3901 had taken place, with the remainder of the fleet being numbered up to 3911. They were introduced as four-car units at either end of two rebuilt pre-1938 Standard Stock trailer cars. Two units coupled together, forming an eight-car train, operating across the Central line, before, they were cascaded on to the Hainault loop. One of the main factors influencing the use of 1962 stock for the Central line upgrade, rather than a production run of 1960 stock, was the cost of refurbishing the Standard Stock cars to run with the new driving motor cars.
Two 60 TS cars were retained for engineering purposes, in time becoming part of the Track Recording Vehicle, which also utilises a 73 Tube Stock (TS) trailer car TRC666. Today this unit continues to assess the condition of track across the Underground system. The remaining five units were then converted for use for Automatic Train Operation (ATO) trails conducted between Woodford and Hainault for the Victoria Line. The system went live in April 1964, remaining in operation until 1986, by which time the two pre-1938 Standard Stock trailer cars in each unit had long been replaced by a single 38 TS trailer car painted white.
By 1990 just three units remained in service. One was retired for spares, with the surviving two being overhauled, repainted red and then primarily used for shuttle trains between Epping and Ongar. This continued until the closure of the line on September 30, 1994. The
final in-service three-car unit was purchased by Craven Heritage Trains Limited (CHTL). Since then it has been used across the LU network for occasional railtours and also for filming.
Since the unit was last used during the ‘End of Tube’ 20th anniversary event hosted at the Epping Ongar Railway in September 2014, CHTL have loaned the traction motors from the 60 TS cars to LU. This has allowed LU to overhaul the identical driving motors used on the Track Recording Vehicle.
Reopening of the Epping Signalling Museum (x-head)
Cravens Heritage Trains Limited is the parent company of the Epping Signalling Museum. The cabin was originally constructed at the entrance of the goods yard, which is today at the far end of the car park at Epping station. Every winter the signal cabin, which originally housed a 47-lever frame, closes for maintenance, undertaken by members. The original frame was removed following the closure of the cabin in July 1996, now houses the 83-lever frame recovered from Hainault. Meanwhile nearby, a small section of track is home to former depot shunter, Locomotive No. L11, which can be found adjacent to Epping Station.
The signalling museum is due to reopen on March 28 following the winter closure, with the Mayor of Epping due to attend as part of the event. Visit eppingmuseum.com for more information.
This article originally appeared in Rail Express Magazine. To subscribe please visit https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/rail-express?source=digital22
