Destination restoration
CALL FOR DONATIONS TO BRING 1930S Q STOCK CARRIAGES BACK TO WORKING CONDITION
LONDON Transport Museum is launching an appeal to raise £200,000 to restore the last three surviving 1930s Q stock carriages – known as ‘cars.’
Once in working condition, the aim is for the restored cars to run on heritage services. This will be the first time a Q stock train has operated since 1971.
Q stock trains first ran on the District line eighty years ago in 1938. For more than 30 years they carried people through key moments in London’s history – from the dark years of the Second World War, through the post-war years of austerity to the Swinging Sixties.
Q stock trains became a familiar part of daily life for people travelling to and from central London from the newly built estates in Barking and Dagenham, and the suburbs of Ealing, Hounslow, Richmond and Wimbledon. They took people to the West End theatres and museums, out to Kew Gardens and Richmond Park, and to cheer on their football teams at the Boleyn, Craven Cottage and Stamford Bridge grounds.
Londoners and international visitors will have also travelled on Q stock trains to the 1948 Olympics and 1966 World Cup.
Q stock trains represent an experimental era of pre-war modernisation on the Underground – particularly the District line, which enters its 150th year in December 2018.
Unlike modern London Underground trains made up of identical carriages, Q stock trains were formed of a combination of sleek new cars, purpose-built in 1938 to run with a range of older American-style cars dating as far back as 1923.
Passengers never knew what formation would pull into their platform. Q stock were the last London Underground trains built in this way, making the three surviving 1930s cars a rare and distinctive part of London’s transport heritage.
The interiors of the last three 1930s Q stock cars will be restored to reflect different moments from their long history running on the tracks. One car will explore life in wartime London, sharing the story of evacuation in 1939 which Q stock trains aided. The second will reflect life during the rebuilding of London in the 1940s. The third will illustrate the growing optimism and prosperity of the 1950s.
Sam Mullins, director of London Transport Museum, said: “Q stock trains with their motley formation of old and new cars helped people navigate London for more than 30 years – from aiding evacuation efforts to taking fans to see England seize World Cup glory. The last surviving cars are a distinctive part of our city’s transport heritage, which is why London Transport Museum is asking people to help bring them back to life for future generations to learn from and enjoy.”
Running together, the different Q stock cars revealed the evolution of train design on the London Underground. The Q stock car built in 1935 is the last-surviving train car in Britain to have been built with a classic American-style raised roof, known as a clerestory. This design was first brought to Britain in 1875 by American engineer George Mortimer Pullman. This car also has a first-class section, last in use on Underground services in 1941.
In contrast, the Q stock cars built in 1938 have smooth, curved roofs. They also have sleek, flared sides, a radical styling unique to the 1930s. The design of these newer cars represents an experimental pre-war period of modernisation ushered in by the establishment of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933.
Work on the interiors of the cars has already begun, thanks to London Transport Museum Friends and a legacy left by the late Bob Greenaway who served for 35 years with London Underground. Volunteers – including retired train drivers, London Underground engineers and people passionate about preserving the city’s history – are helping to get the train back into working condition at London Transport Museum’s depot in Acton. But £200,000 is still needed to complete the restoration:
■ £5 will light up one of 250 1930s fluted lampshades.
■ £15 will decorate the cars with a reproduction poster from the 1930s to 1960s.
■ £50 will fit a panel of original lacewood along the interior walls of the cars.
■ £100 will help paint the cars in their classic train red, cerulean blue or gold.
■ £330 will cover a seat with moquette in a vintage design.
■ £8,000 to repair one air compressor needed to power up the doors and breaks of the cars. Two compressors need repairing. ■ £25,000 to overhaul the mechanical engineering of a brake van to safely slow and stop the cars once up and running. Two brake vans require restoration.
You can donate at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/qstockrestoration