C-Stock on the Richmond Branch

[tubeguru]

Catching the tube to Richmond from Hammersmith this evening, one was surprised to find oneself on a C-Stock train. He'd obviously been diverted to help out since there were crowds on the platform at Hammersmith and announcers saying "we'll let you know" kind of things.

At Richmond he put Edgware Road up on the blind so he was obviously just routed in to help out.

The driver wasn't going slowly either, despite the wider train and we gave a few trees a good whack on the way to Gunnersbury. As Moley pointed out to me, the C-Stock drivers are trained on the District and not the Circle, otherwise they wouldn't have been allowed to go down there.

Anyone else been on a C-Stock train to Richmond?

[zeibura]

i think there are some trains that run from high street kensington to richmond in the evenings, which might explain it. never been on one though.

[barrykas]

Anyone else been on a C-Stock train to Richmond?

Can't say that I have, but a quick look at the District Line page on Clive's Underground Line Guides shows that both C and D Stock can operate over the Richmond and Wimbledon branches, though a full length (6 car) D Stock train won't fit in the bay at Putney Bridge. In addition, empty Tube stock may run between Earl's Court and Putney Bridge.

A Stock can operate over the following sections of the District, though not in passenger service:-

• Upminster to Aldgate East (and thence to Liverpool Street)
  Mansion House to Embankment (Single 4-car units only)
  Embankment to Hangar Lane Junction (West of Ealing Common)
  Gloucester Road to Earl's Court via High Street Kensington
  High Street Kensington to Edgware Road (Single 4-car units only)

HTH,

Barry

[Bunker65]

I've ridden a C stock to Ealing Broadway once
It was back in the days of the VERA announcer, it said "This is a special service train calling at all stations to Ealing Broadway."

[G Force]

There are timetabled C stock services to/from Acton Town/Ealing Common Depot during the day, but I'm not too sure if there are any timetabled C stock services to Richmond. If there are problems on the Wimbledon Branch, then sometimes the Wimbleware may have trains diverted to Richmond. If there are large gaps in the District's Richmond service, the Wimbleware may divert a train or two to Richmond to fill in gaps in the Richmond service. Ealing Broadway tends to have a more reliable service, as it's trains reverse at Tower Hill (although saying that, the District is pretty reliable considering how complicated its service pattern is). The large range of alternative reversing points allows the District to recover from problems fairly quickly.

C stocks, although wider than D stock have no major problems with the loading gauge on the Richmond branch. This is because the C stock car bodies are approx 3m shorter than D stock (15m vs 18m), and thus there is less overhang on curves.

[juice-rail]

You are right about the dimensions of C/D stock trains.

That is why the D stock can't work all the way up to Edgware Road. Although narrower than C stock, they are longer (longest cars on LUL) and thus overhang (kinetic envelope) a tiny bit too much on the tight curve north of Notting Hill Gate.

This was discovered when a D stock prototype car, whilst being gauge tested in the late 70's, struck the tunnel wall north of NHG. They thought it would fit ok but clearly they were wrong.

Anyway I once traveled on C stock out to Ealing Broadway. Unusual unscheduled workings like these are almost always caused by lack of normal rostered stock available for that service.

Ive also heard about C stock being used on Upminster runs on occasions.