A tube train built in 1938 and restored to its art-deco original interior will be running between central London and Heathrow Aiport next month.
Apart from the fun of riding in the vintage train itself, an awful lot of fun is to be had watching people when the train goes through stations as people waiting for a modern train look up in shock as this tiny little red train rumbles through instead.
The 1938 Stock was the first kind of tube train to have all of the electrical equipment underneath the floor, combining the latest technology of the era with quintessential late 1930s style. To mark the 160th anniversary of the London Underground, there will be return trips in the 1938 era train between Acton Town to Heathrow T4, and journeys via Heathrow T4 to Northfields, all operated by the London Transport Museum.
The trips take place over the weekend of 10th and 11th June 2023.
Prices
- Adults: £28.50
- Concessions: £20
- Children 4-17: £15. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult
- Children (under 3): Free, no ticket required. Must sit on an adult’s lap
There is no reserved seating for this event, but you can choose a car: Pink, Orange, Yellow or Blue.
- The Pink car will only be at the front, and remain at the front, of the train on the 1st and 3rd trip each day.
- The Blue car will be at the front of the train, and remain at the front of the train, on the 2nd and 4th trip each day.
Tickets are on sale now and can be booked from here.
Departure times
The route for this event is between Acton Town station and Heathrow Terminal 4 (return). There are four journeys per day.
Note that the second journey each day will travel from Acton Town to Heathrow Terminal 4, then terminate at Northfields station, rather than continuing through to Acton Town.
Departure times and routes Saturday 10th June
- 10:49 – 11:49 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Acton Town
- 12:35 – 13:25 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Northfields
- 14:45 – 15:39 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Acton Town
- 16:05 – 16:59 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Acton Town
Departure times and routes Sunday 11th June
- 10:57 – 11:58 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Acton Town
- 12:38 – 13:33 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Northfields
- 14:58 – 15:58 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Acton Town
- 16:18 – 17:18 – Acton Town – Heathrow – Acton Town
I can confirm that there are no engineering works in the area over the weekend, so you shouldn’t have any problems getting to/from Acton Town or Northfields.
Updated 8:50pm: The order of the train carriages by colour was changed to make it clearer how they will operate.
The 1938 tube stock actually ran on the Piccadilly line in passenger service alongside the 1959 stock too.
Yes they did. I’m old enough to have encountetered them evey day during my apprenticeship on the Underground. During my time the pre-38 stock was also running, in 1965.
yes I drove them back in 1970s
Thank you Ian.
I can’t quite believe it but I was in time and have been successful in booking a ticket. Perseverance pays off ~ you’ve just got to keep plugging away at it, I s’pose.
I have but one concern though: will it be cold enough for me to get dressed up in full fig; deerstalker n all?!
Not just the historic and engineering interest but effective design of the bodywork itself.
Externally the effortless transition between rounded front and linear profile also with the driver’s position clearly visible.
Internally the strong green colouring clearly defining the ways out principally through the main doors and secondarily through the end doors with their three-centre rounded heads reecting the tube shape of the train itself. The lights where you want them angled to illuminate edges of flooring, reading matter if you are seated or standing. The route maps above the windows are so well lit where in modern stock they are precisely shadowed by the linear handrails.
A serendipity such as often accrues to good designs that the bevelled tops of the window glass to match the closing top ventilators acted as a prism producing a rainbow on a sunny afternoon inside then Bakerloo trains skirting Barn Hill between Wembley Park and Kingsbury.
Excellent, let’s go to memory lane
A great opportunity to ride an historic car. Will Smoking be permitted? 😂 I dont smoke but recall being “smoked out” during the early 80s tube rides when smoking was still.permitted. Awful
Why do we have to pay?? It’s just like the normal Picc Line however on a vintage train! The prices are too expensive and me being 16 it’ll be the fare of Acton Town – Northfields yk!
plus £15!