"Whats in the cab" I hear you say, well here it is a very basic cab.
The controller is like that from 1938 or 1959 stocks and a simple air brake.
Also the floor is in a couple of wells this is because its a tube gauge vehicle but with standard main line buffer gear so the floor would be too high so the only answer was to put a well in each side, this has been done in the past in reduced gauge steam locomotives
London Underground have a fleet of locomotives for use by the engineers which are unusual as they are of tube gauge and can operate from the Forth Rail electricity or from onboard battery
The original fleet were introduced in the 1930's with batches being built up until the 80's.
There is still a substantial fleet running today which is normally seen at night.
As a driver on the District Line over the years I have taken many shots of these locomotives from privialaged positions where the public are never allowed
I won't go into the history of these locomotives as I would just be repeating what's on the rather informative Wikipedia Page
Top Image L19,L32 & L18 are stabled at West Ruislip Depot whilst being prepared for the nights work in July 2009
This is a list of the locomotives built over the years, as you can see they were not numbered in chronological order
L15 Built Metro Cammell 1970
L16 Built Metro Cammell 1970
L17 Built Metro Cammell 1971
L18 Built Metro Cammell 1971
L19 Built Metro Cammell 1971
L20 Built Metro Cammell 1964
L21 Built Metro Cammell 1964
L22 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L23 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L24 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L25 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L26 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L27 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L28 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L29 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L30 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L31 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L32 Built Metro Cammell 1965
L33 Built Acton Works 1976, Origionally L76. Withdrawn
L35 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn, Preserved LT Museum
L36 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L37 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L38 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L39 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L40 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L41 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L42 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L43 Built Gloucester RC&W 1938, Withdrawn
L44 Built BREL 1974
L45 Built BREL 1974
L46 Built BREL 1974
L47 Built BREL 1974
L48 Built BREL 1974
L49 Built BREL 1974
L50 Built BREL 1974
L51 Built BREL 1974
L52 Built BREL 1974
L54 Built BREL 1974
L55 Built Pickering 1951, Withdrawn
L56 Built Pickering 1951, Withdrawn
L57 Built Pickering 1951, Withdrawn
L58 Built Pickering 1952, Withdrawn
L59 Built Pickering 1952, Withdrawn
L60 Built Pickering 1952, Withdrawn
L61 Built Pickering 1952, Withdrawn
A busy scene at Acton Town Where L50 is on a ballast train and in the background is L32.
Also the eagle eyed amongst you would of noticed 66714 on the bank, in 2009 when this was taken a major track replacement program was underway in 2009 GBRF were given the contract to bring in ballast and we would regularly have their trains on our network
Recently the fleet have been undergoing some cab refurbishments, this has involved sealing up the cab doors as everyone used to enter through through the front centre door also new handrails and new high intensity headlights.
L51 was one of the first to be modified and is seen at Tower Hill, I think the entire fleet has now been modified as I haven't seen any non modified ones for a while
London Underground
Battery Locomotives
Another chance photo, this time when I was going into work.
L54 is seen passing the outside of Acton Town station being moved by road in October 2015 presumably going off for refurbishment.
On a wet March Night in 2011 L22 is passing through Ealing Common on its way through to the engineering site on the District Line.
The regular formations for these trains has a locomotive each end due to lack of run round loops and are also double manned. The second person is needed as there are times where the rear locomotive has to be used as a banker and in deep tube tunnels it is impossible to safely change ends when reversing
The preserved locomotive which is kept at the museum store at Acton.
It is interesting to see how the equipment has been modified on the current fleet.
They were fitted with double hight buffer gear so it could haul tube gauge stock, so as the buffers would be in the way they were hinged to enable them to be lifted out of the way, these have been replaced by retractable buffers. Another coupler change has been fitting modern buckeye couplers, this was before the recent cab refurbs as mentioned previously
Below is a shot of L46 at Ruislip which shows some of the modifications done over the years
A chance photo in 2006 when I was sat a failed signal was this convoy of 5 locomotives.
I don't know what one was at the front but was followed by L26,L45,L24 & L52 at the rear
L 44 and L47 at Acton Town during a main engineering shutdown.
The signal above the shunt with the 3 red lights is whats known as a Rail Gap Indicator and is illuminated when the power in the section ahead is off