London Underground 1972 Stock

Infobox Underground stock


name = 1972 Stock
InService = 1972-present
Manufacturer = Metro-Cammell
LinesServed = Bakerloo
CarWidth = 2.642m
CarHeight = 2.87m
CarLength = DM 16.09m
T/UNDM 15.98m
CarSeating = DM/UNDM 44
T 36
TubeStock=true

The London Underground 1972 stock is a fleet of trains used on the London Underground. The 1972 Stock was ordered to make up the shortfall in trains on the Northern Line's 1959 Tube Stock fleet.

A total of 252 cars were ordered from Metro-Cammell and later refurbished by Tickford and Rosyth Dockyard.

In the early 1970s the 1938 Tube Stock on the Bakerloo and Northern Lines was life-expired and due for replacement. Tentative designs for a new Northern Line fleet were abandoned when the go-ahead was given for the Piccadilly Line to be extended to Heathrow Airport. That required a totally new fleet of trains to replace the 1959 Tube Stock then in use. The plan was made to transfer the 1959 trains to the Northern, to allow the worst of the 1938 stock there to be scrapped, but there were only 76 1959 Tube stock trains, and the Northern Line needed more than that to operate. Originally it was planned to refurbish some 30 1938 Tube Stock trains, but this was scrapped in favour of 30 new trains - 1972 Mk1 Tube Stock.

1972 Tube Stock was ordered in a hurry, so there was no time to create a new design; the trains were based on the 1967 Tube Stock on the Victoria Line. Although almost identical looking, the 1972 Tube Stock had a guard and door controls in the rear carriage, and was not compatible with 1967 Tube stock (though in recent years some 1972 carriages have been adapted to run with the 1967 Tube stock on the Victoria Line).

A further 33 trains of 1972 Tube Stock were ordered to provide service on the Jubilee Line. The 1972 Mk2 stock had slightly different interiors such as dark blue seating moquette (unlike the red and grey on the earlier 1972/1967 Tube stocks). Externally the biggest difference was that the doors were painted red, with a LT roundel on the side of the carriages, rather than the Johnston lettering. The 1972 Mk2 stock operated on the Northern and Bakerloo Lines prior to the opening of the Jubilee Line in 1979.

With the introduction of the 1983 Tube Stock on the Jubilee in 1984, the 1972 Mk2 stock was transferred to the Northern Line, then subsequently to the Bakerloo Line where it remains in service. The earlier 1972 stock on the Northern Line was replaced by 1995 Tube Stock in 1999. The 1972 Mk2 was extensively refurbished in the 1990s. They are due to be replaced in 2019 - 2020.

Announcer System

Emma Clarke voices the automated announcer system fitted in the 1972 stock. An example of the regular voice pattern is as follows:

"This is Stonebridge Park. This is a Bakerloo Line train, to Queens Park." "Please Stand Clear of the doors."

However, the announcer system is unreliable. It does not play quite a lot of the time and if it does play, then it is extremely quiet, especially when announcing the 'next station' as the 1972 stock is very loud while travelling between stations.

Gallery

External links

* [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/using/useful-info/technical/rolling/1972.asp Transport for London - 1972 Tube Stock specifications]
* [http://www.trainweb.org/tubeprune/72%20tube%20stock.htm Tubeprune - 1972 Tube Stock]