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London Underground 1972 Stock

The London Underground 1972 stock avaiable in any length from a teeny weeny 2 cars, to a overly long 12 car. For realism, it defaults to 7 cars as this is what the stock is operated at in real life currently on the Bakerloo Line.

Now, time for a history lesson:

With the 1938 stock aging, the Northern and Bakerloo lines that currently operated the '38 stock desperatley needed new trains, due to rising unreliability, costs and the stock not being up to the modern commuters standard. However, with the Piccadilly line extension to Heathrow being authorised, the piccadilly line immediantly needed new stock as the Piccadilly lines '59 stock had too few sets to operate the service and wasn't sutiable for large amounts of tourists leaving and entering heathrow through the line.

With the Piccadilly getting new trains, the older '59 stock could be transferred to the Northern line to replace the '38 stock, however, since the Piccadilly line was alot smaller than the Northern, there what not enough trains to replace the full fleet. It was decided, instead of refurbishing the '38 stock, a small fleet of 1972 stock would be produced to supplement the Northern lines '59 stock.

Since there was a rush for new trains, they decided to keep the design from the 1967 stock that was then used on the Victoria line, however, while being visually identical, they where operationally and electrically incompatible (except from a '72 stock few units modified specifically to work along the '67 stock). Shortly after, another small batch was ordered for another set of capacity increases on the Northern line, brining the total number of trains to 63 sets, with the second batch of units featuring some interior improvements and eletrical differences meaning there was 2 incompatiable '72 stock fleets, being named MK1 & MK2. Im sure you can guess which is the new fleet.

In 1977, the '72 stock MK2 trains got to see a whole new world of tube as they where transferred to the Bakerloo line to work alongside the '38 stock during the construction of the Jubilee line. However, as with the introduction of the 1983 stock, the '72 stock MK2 units had to leave their friends as half of the fleet was transferred back to the Northern line. However, the '72 stock wasn't split for long as in 1987 as the final units of the '83 stock was produced, the Bakerloo could finally recieve back its '72 stock MK2 units from the Northern line as train sets where cascaded across the network. This also meant a sad end to the '38 stock, which was finally fulyl withdrawn over a decade after their replacement was produced.

While this all went on, the '72 stock MK1 trains continued to work across the Northern line, however, their days where numbered with the Northern line. With the introduction of the 1995 stock on the Northern line in 1999, the '72 MK1 stock was deemed surplus and was withdrawn from service. A few of the cars where converted to be compatible with the '67 stock, to provide additional capacity on the Victoria line, and 2 full sets where converted to be compatible with the MK2s '72 stock, and now operate on the Bakerloo line with the rest of the MK2 stock. However, with only a few sets of the original MK1 '72 stock finding use across the network or being sent to preservation, the rest where scrapped.

Over the years, they have recieved 2 major overhauls, in 1991 and 2016, to keep them in service until their expected replacement date in 2035. They also recieved a British rail TOPS number (like the modified '38 stock on the Isle of Wight) so they can operate past Queen's Park to their terminus at Harrow & Wealdstone. Because of their age, after the Class 483 (the witness protection name of the 1938 stock) was withdrawn from service on the Isle of Wight, they officially became the oldest EMUs in passenger service in the UK, and likely will remain so, with us on the Bakerloo line for another 2 decades.

The '72 stocks replacement is already in pipeline, being designed and ultimatley produced by Siemens as part of the New Tube for London program, featuring many imrpovements from open gang ways and air conditioning. However, due to budgetry contraints, and the large amount of lines needing new stock from this program (Picadilly, Central, and Waterloo & City) the Bakerloo will not be the first to recieve the new stock. While the priority of the lines is still mostly unknown, it is confirmed that the Piccadilly line will be the first to recieve the new trains with the purchase having been placed. While the Piccadilly line operates almost identical stock (1973 stock) to the Bakerloo line, it has likely been given priority due to it linking to Heathrow Airport.

Enjoy!
~Skye[skyehaynes.me]
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