# London Underground 1959 Stock

The 1959 Tube Stock was a type of London Underground tube train constructed in the late 1950s. They were intended for use on the Piccadilly line, but also saw use on several other tube lines. It was the first production tube stock to have unpainted aluminium alloy bodywork.

## Construction

The 1959 Stock was built by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and were closely based on the prototype aluminium alloy bodied 1956 Stock. As with the 1956 stock, the Driving Motor (DM) cars seated 42, the Non-Driving Motor (NDM) and Trailer (T) cars both seated 40.
They were initially built for service on the Piccadilly line, where they first entered service on 14 December 1959. Initially the 1956 and 1959 stocks' introduction allowed for the newer types of "Standard stock" trains to transfer to the Central line, replacing the worst equivalents due to their unreliability. However, with not enough trains to cover the Standard Stock, together with the delayed construction of the 1960 Stock trains, 59 of the 76 ordered trains were first introduced on the Central line, entering service in July 1960. This was followed by an order of additional Trailer coaches to lengthen the trains to 8-car formations.
With the 1962 Stock being ordered as a follow-up design, their introduction allowed the 1959 Stocks to transfer to the Piccadilly line as their intended routes.

## Transfer from the Piccadilly line

The Piccadilly line extension to Heathrow, which opened in the late 1970s, coincided with the introduction of new 1973 Stock. Therefore, the 1959 Stock was transferred to the Northern line between 1975 and 1979, allowing the scrapping of the oldest 1938 Stock on that line. The 1959 Stock also saw service on the Bakerloo line from 1983 to 1989, again to facilitate withdrawal of 1938 Stock, before being replaced by the 1972 Mk2 Stock in 1989. Although never assigned to it, the 1959 trains are also known to have run occasional service on the Jubilee line following its 1979 split from the Bakerloo.
When new, the 1959 stock was seen as distinctive because of the clean 'silver' exterior. Over the years, however, the trains' unpainted exteriors became jaded and dirty. The blue and grey interiors dated quickly. Stylistically the 1959 stock looked worn, but without the aesthetic red and green charm or old-fashioned thirties ambience of the more celebrated 1938 stock.
In the early 1970s, red stabling lights were added next to the units' twin headlamps when the use of oil tail lamps were withdrawn.
In the aftermath of the King's Cross fire on 18 November 1987, the 1959 Stocks had their sundela boards and hardboard interior panels removed for aluminium panels, London Underground citing their wooden material psoing as a fire risk.
By the mid-1990s, these units were getting old and were in need of works attention. By this time, all the remaining 1959 Stock was concentrated on the Northern line. Minor refurbishment of the stock took place, painting the blue/grey interiors white and replacing some of the seat moquettes, while safety modifications and line identity schemes were retrofitted to the units. This was done in a haphazard manner, the white interiors becoming very dirty inside by 1998, and with a failure rate that had risen to 1 in 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometres), the 1959 Stock was in urgent need of replacement.

## Replacement

New trains in the form of 1995 Stock were built as replacements for both the 1959 stock and the 30 trains of 1972 stock also operating on the Northern line. Originally it had been planned to keep the 1972 stock running with the new trains, with the same extensive refurbishment as done to the 1972 stock on the Bakerloo line, but after one trial refurbishment of a Northern line 1972 stock carriage it was decided that it would be more cost-effective in the long run to have the line operated by one type of train only. Withdrawal of the 1959 Stock was a drawn-out affair, and when the last example was withdrawn on 27 January 2000, it was the last remaining tube train to be crewed with a motorman and a guard. One unit was repainted in "heritage" red and cream livery in 1990 to commemorate the line's 100th anniversary. One trailer forms part of the Central Line Sandite train, the other cars were the 1962 stock.
On 21 May 2018, one car of the heritage unit (DM car 1031) was delivered to North Weald on the Epping Ongar Railway with the intention of becoming a permanent display.
Several vehicles have been preserved, at various locations, including one complete 4-car unit (1304). The complete list is shown below.
| DM | T | NDM | DM | Location |
| 1018 | - | - | - | Privately owned, Motcombe, Dorset |
| - | 2018 | - | 1304 | Privately owned in the care of Southern Transit buses, Beeding, West Sussex |
| 1030 | 2044 | - | - | Mangapps Railway Museum |
| 1031 | - | - | - | Epping Ongar Railway |
| 1044 | - | - | 1045 | Alderney Railway |
| - | 2304 | 9305 | - | Privately owned in the care of Southern Transit buses, Beeding, West Sussex |
| - | - | - | 1305 | Sutton Hall Railway, Rochford, Essex |
| 1306 | - | - | - | Police Training School, Gravesend |
Key :
| DM | Driving motor |
| T | Trailer |
| NDM | Non-driving motor |

## Accidents and incidents

* On 14 December 1972, unit 1012 overran the stopping mark at Rayners Lane siding, colliding with the buffers and demolishing the eastbound signal immediately beyond.
* On 25 June 1973, a 1959 stock train leaving Uxbridge sidings and heading empty to Hillingdon, passed the siding's reception signal (which was at danger) and, with the points being set against the main line, ran into a bridge abutment.
* A 1959 stock train was derailed leaving Morden tube station for the Depot at 19:00 on 26 September 1978. In consequence, only one platform remained available at Morden for the reversing of trains for the rest of the day. The offending car (1243) was rerailed later that evening and the train was able to proceed into the depot.
* In the early hours of 19 February 1984, a 1959 Stock train stabled overnight in the southbound platform at Queen's Park ran away, eventually stopping just south of Regent's Park. Investigations later revealed only two of the four required handbrakes (of which one was defective) were applied.