Wight tube duo prepare for South Wales ‘first’
WALES is soon to get its first two London Underground trains. The two tube train sets – Nos. 483006 and 483008, which were delivered to the Underground in 1940 and latterly saw service on the Isle of Wight's Island Line as BR Class 483 – were acquired by the London Transport Traction Group following their withdrawal.
The group has now reached agreement with the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway at Cynheidre for the sets to be based there, and will deliver them in the coming months.
While No. 483008 requires significant work to make it accessible to the public, it is hoped that No. 483006, which formed the last Class 483 service on January 3, may be opened for inspection by visitors soon after its arrival. It is believed that this will be the first time that a tube train will have visited Wales.
At first, both units will be placed on disconnected track, but the new owners aim to run them on the railway at a later date. The group's plan is to use one of the cars from No. 483008 to carry batteries; as built, they ran using current taken from conductor rails.
Earlier hopes that they could have been based on the Epping Ongar Railway, a former tube line, did not materialise.