Southern Electric - New rolling stock for the Waterloo & City

A film from November 1940 showing new the cars being delivered to, and the original 1898 stock removed from, the Waterloo & City line which runs underground from Waterloo Station to Bank in the City of London.

The Waterloo & City, colloquially known as The Drain is a unique part of the underground network in that for most of its existance it has been administratively seperate from the London Underground. Built for the London & South Western Railway to provide a convenient link from their mainline terminus at Waterloo to the business centre of London, it became a part of the Southern Railway in 1923 and upon nationalisation in 1948 became part of British Rail's Southern Region. With privatisation of British Rail in 1993, the W&C was something of an anomaly and by agreement was taken over by London Transport. It is not connected to any other part of the London Underground and uniquely for tube lines in London is entirely sub-surface.

The 1898 vintage wooden cars being removed in the film were built by Jackson and Sharp of Wilmington, Delaware, USA, using Siemens electrical motors and control equipment. The new electric multiple unit cars were manufactured by the English Electric company and would be used (classified as Class 487 under TOPS) until 1992 when, just prior to privatisation, they were replaced with replaced by new Class 482 units - these being virtually identical to the 1992 stock used on the LT Central line. The vehicles are seen being moved by an Armstrong Lift, adjacent to the north wall of the mainline station, which was the W&C's only connection to the rest of the rail network. This, along with the entire western siding complex, was demolished to make way for the the construction of Waterloo International, the former Eurostar terminal. Vehicles are now moved when neccessary by road crane via a shaft south of the station.

The W&C stock rarely ventured outside the confines of Waterloo-Bank, although they were to be seen on test on the main line from time to time. The link below takes you to a picture of just such an event:

http://steveroffey.fotopic.net/p58770389.html

One W&C Car of this type has been saved for the nation - it belongs to the National Railway Museum and is currently at the LT museum's Acton Depot:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/487-DM-NRM-York.jpg

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• southern electric
• english electric
• british rail
• class 487
• waterloo and city
• the drain
• london underground
• tube
• british
• electric
• waterloo
• LSWR
• london
• south
• western
• bank
• city of london
• 1940
• waterloo & city

[stellarartwars07]

I can remember travelling on this stock in the 1980s!

[SouthernRailwayFilms]

@stellarartwars07 So can I, just. The 1940 units lasted until early 1993, by which time they were the last Southern Railway built units in service by a considerable margin.

[steveforder]

From memory the lift has now gon and when they replaced these units a few years ago they had to crane out the old and in the new.

[SouthernRailwayFilms]

Coming soon - a clip of these units circa 1990, including the Armstrong lift, before it was all swept away for the Eurostar platforms. As you say, the stock now gets moved in and out via another hole near the depot using road cranes.

[ianbillericay]

There are 2 motor coaches that I know of. 1 is at the NRM york and the other is at the museum depot, Acton

[SouthernRailwayFilms]

I'll think you'll find that's the same vehicle, which was moved to Acton after a period at York. DMBSO no. 61 is the one in question.

[spiccybaby]

I'm just wondering if the slightly-built gentleman with the attache case from 1:42 might be Oliver Bulleid himself?

[wordsmith52]

Great footage. These units look almost as modern as the stuff they turn out now. And to think that London was being bombed almost every night and they still managed to carry on doing things like this and commissioning new rolling stock etc. Now LUL rarely seems to run properly every day.

[LikeMindedIncident]

Wow 1940? What a contrast of stock. People must have thought aliens have landed!

Amazing footage and design.

[foxcell]

fantastic :-D

[kev5176]

wonderful footage - for a line that has carried so many people in its life and is only its 3 fleet of units - this is pure history, thank you for allowing it to be viewed

none of the original units exist - only one car from the 1940 replacement is alive and well and living in the large store

[edgarpulik]

In 1940, this new stock must have appeared incredibly modern. There is a similarity in lines with some of the contemporary SNCF Nord stock. I remember seeing these in the Lancing carriage works sidings awaiting repair.

[edgarpulik]

The W & C was an early example of integrated transport by the LSWR to get their commuters from the suburbs to the city. A lasting legacy of this was that it remained part of BR until 1990 or so. The old 1940 stock (with later builds) had Southern Railways and later Southern Region cut into the coach end ventilators. Paul Kidger