Island Line 1938 Stock

Following the recent announcement of new trains for Island Line, the Island Echo has reported considerable interest in the fate of the old trains, and that they will be found suitable retirement homes.

https://www.islandecho.co.uk/interior-of-new-island-line-trains-revealed/

One wonders where they might end up?

• IOWSR will certainly be offered one, but will they take it?
• Brading Station as an added attraction to be looked after by the volunteers there?
• Retained by Island Line as a heritage unit?
• LT museum for spare parts for their operational 1938 unit?
• Following past tradition, used as holiday homes on the island?

I would imagine they’ll be disposed of in similar way to the Hampshire/Sussex units. i.e an application process with the winners buying them for a nominal fee.

 

Taken from the IOWSR Strategic Vision

"• When the tube stock is taken out of service we will secure a representative example of the current Island line stock for static museum display. This may not be a complete vehicle, but could be a representative part of a vehicle imaginatively displayed"

 

A cab turned into a driving simulator, and/or one turned into a cinema coach showing the history of tube trains on the island would be an interesting exhibit for train story. That’s if space could be found of course. We’ll have to see what IOWSR have in mind.

 

Space in Train Story is not infinite. Beware of railway enthusiasts' tendency to hoard "stuff"!

 

Which is why I said if space can be found.

The IOWSR strategic vision shows that is railway policy to find room for 1938 stock in some form.

 

But it may be only a ‘representative part’ stuck on a wall.

 

Yes perhaps so.

It will be interesting to see where the others units end up, if there is this apparent interest to save them.

 

A five car train of Standard Stock (Class 485/486) returned to the mainland in 1991 after withdrawal from the Isle of Wight and moved to London under its own power before being handed over to LUL. Fred Ivey's film shows it arriving back on the UndergrounD.

Two of the trailers are now in the LT museum depot, coupled to two DMs which had survived in the LUL engineering fleet, but there is no current restoration plan. The rest sat around for years in Acton Works and were eventually scrapped.

 

Interesting to see them on their journey back to London. Were those cars repainted to LT livery on the IOW before they left?

I believe the long term plan is to restore a 4 car standard stock set to working order. Too many other projects and no funding at the moment though - the usual story.

 

Can you imagine that being allowed these days? The 1938 stock being driven back to London on the mainline!

I seem to remember that the 1938 stock was tested on the mainland before being shipped to the island.

 

Probably the last part that hasn't been ravaged by "rust moth".

Cheers, Neil

 

The seat layout shown might be appropriate if they were going back to the Underground or any similar urban system, where off peak loadings are light, so you don't need many seats, while few seats and plenty of standing room let you squeeze in more passengers in the peaks. But does that make sense for the IoW?

 

Isn’t that a similar layout to the current 1938 stock? Enough seats for the usual passenger numbers, but plenty of space for wheelchairs/buggies/luggage/bikes and standing passengers at busier times in the summer. It’s not as if it’s a very long journey anyway.

I notice Modern Railways magazine has an article this month about the potential future options for Island Line. Slightly premature, if they’d waited a month they could have written about the actual plans and investment that have now been confirmed.

Anyway this thread was meant to be more about the potential fate of the 1938 stock.

 

With the timetable now set, the 38's will be whistled down to just 2 units, possibly 3, then withdrawn as the newer stock arrives, so as it's owned by SWR, not leased, I would imagine will be tendered for scrap most likily cut up on site as the need for spares reduces so units can be stripped of usable spares and cut up, rather than kept intact in case they need to be revived if one of the serviceable units has a failure. this will no doubt take place between 2020 and 2021 leaving only probably one unit that might be offered to a museum. I honestly can not see SWR retaining a unit as a active heritage unit.

 

Martin, please see the report I linked to above. Looks like the SWR’s current intention is to find the units ‘retirement homes’ rather than scrap them.

 

How many units are either serviceable or stored awaiting parts? my point is that those units that are now earmarked as spares donors, but remained intact can now be scrapped, at most there will only be 2, maybe 3 units that are needed to operate the service, and spares requirement will reduce as after 2021 they wont be needed, I would say possibly 2 units might be saved, one as a sourse of spares for LUL MUSEUM and one preserved somewhere on the island . the finding good homes I suspect will only apply to the units that make it though to the end.