Hello and welcome to another 'Rush Hour' route suggestion and this is one that I am particularly excited to talk about as we are finally going to talk about the London Underground in this thread series. Of course, when doing a massive thread talking about a bunch of possible 'Rush Hour' routes to come to what is now TSW3, it would be rude to not have a London Underground line be one of those possible routes. So with that, the big question is, what line are we going to cover? While there are plenty of options out there, we will be covering the line that runs from the south of London in Morden, up to north of the city to either Edgware or High Barnet, with the branch to Mill Hill East. A line you and I know simply as the Northern Line... with a twist. You see, what I'm about to suggest here is not the Northern Line as it is today, but rather a period Northern Line, specifically set in the time-era between 1989 and 1991. Which of those years it is set in, you can decide for yourselves, but I have feel like we are in for a very fascinating suggestion, so without further ado, let's get into it. ...or we will right after this. What he said in that post Click here to go see all the other routes that featured and vote in the poll if you haven't already. Right, I think it's time for a little story I feel... How the route ended up like this Now you're probably looking at all this and thinking 'How on earth did you come up with an idea like this?'. Well, I might have stated this in the reminder of what I said in the big 'Rush Hour' suggestion thread, but this was mainly to solve one of the biggest problems I have with any London Underground suggestion. You see, while I'm not against the idea of having another London Underground in TSW, a lot of the lines over the past couple of years have seen the installation of more modern signalling systems which means most of the operations on most lines nowadays are automated. Some of these new systems might be cool to see in TSW, but they might also be quite complicated to implement. Plus, they take so much out of the driving experience as all you would be doing if just pressing some button to stop/start the train and open/close the doors, with maybe the rare occasion to manually operated the train if needed (something I think that would only happen in scenarios). It's just not as fun as when you are hands on and actually behind the control of a fully-laden train. Now some might argue that you could avoid this by either having the route be set before these signalling systems were fully implemented, or have the route be set during the role out, like a possible adaptation of some of the sub-surface lines during that time and I've even suggested a route like that before with IRT Flushing Line. Now I have no problem with that, but on the subject of setting the route before automation was rolled out, a thought came into my mind... 'Period London Underground Route... who anyone be interested in that?' Which leads me to the other inspiration for this suggestion, Rivet's 1938 stock for the Bakerloo Line. You see, that add-on brought an extra timetable that allowed you to run that unit on it. While it was mainly the same as the old timetable at the time, but with less services to fit the slower train, it did give somewhat of an impression of the Bakerloo Line during the time those trains ran, even if the route was set in modern times. So if we wanted to try and have somewhat of a more vintage underground experience, a full-on period underground would be the next logical step, in order to truly get a full period underground experience in TSW. So the question here is, if we are gonna do a period underground line, what line would be fit that mantra? Well some could make the case for adapting the sub-surface lines before the introduction of the S-Stock (coming with stuff like the A, C & D Stock trains) but I decided for this one to go with the Northern Line before the 1995 stock came in service, starting with a time period around the early 90s, before settling with a period around 1989-1991, for reasons that you will see. Now I know at this point that I would typical share a map of the route, but should I just share a tube map here, or should I just go into Google My Maps and waste time making a map of the route that is so familiar to loads of you?... You know what? Let's just go ahead a show you a map I made of the route! Map of the Whole Route Section between Morden & Stockwell Section Between Oval & Camden Town (via both Charing Cross & Bank) Branches to Edgware, High Barnet & Mill Hill East As for stats, not that it particularly matters, the route is 37.8 Miles (60.8 km) long in total, including the two paths via Bank & Charing Cross and the branches to Edgware, High Barnet and Mill Hill East, along with any other trackage that makes with the various depots along the route and the Kennington Loop. There's also 50 stations, 4 depots (Morden, Highgate, Golders Green & Edgware) and 1 additional siding at High Barnet. Seems like I quickly went through the stats there, but to be honest... it's the Northern Line. There's no real point for me going through the routes stats or pointing out any interesting features of the route, because I'm pretty sure you've heard to all already. You have the two branches to Edgware and High Barnet (with Mill Hill East also included), you have the two paths the line takes through the heart of London via either Bank or Charing Cross and you have the icon loop at Kennington where terminating trains turn round in order to head back in the other direction, along the route carrying on all the way to the southern terminus at Morden. There's no real point going through this information as I don't want to repeat saying the same old stuff that has been said so many times regarding this line. So with that aside, let's now put a late 80's/early 90's filter on this route. What would be different about this version compared to the route we see today that is so familiar to millions? Well, I can think of three keys area about where a period Northern Line of this time-period would different compared to what you see nowadays. The first area is one that should be pretty obvious from looking at the map, there is no Battersea extension on this route. The reason is simple, it didn't exist back then. In fact, I don't think the idea of extending to Battersea was even thought up of at the time. There might have been proposals about extending to somewhere like Peckham, but never Battersea as far as I could tell. I wouldn't until around 2006-2008 time when the idea first came to light, with it being approved in 2014, construction start a year later and the finally opening last year in September 2021. But even without that part, you still have the Kennington Loop to drive around for those wanting to know what it was like before the branch was added onto the loop, especially in the timeframe this route is set in. The second area is actually one of the biggest points of contention regarding this route and that is Angel station. You see, Angel used to have an island platform, but this became incredibly dangerous, as the tiny platform suffered from overcrowding, causing fear for many passengers that used it. So in the early 1990s, the station was rebuilt, with a new northbound tunnel & platforms being built, and the existing southbound platform was expanded with the old northbound platform being filled in, which is why today, the southbound platforms at Angel are massive. All this, along with a completely revamped station, eventually opened in 1992. This detail is important, as I want to have the route be set before the station was renovated, when it had the dangerous island platform. This is why it put the time frame as 1989-1991, as this around the time when the island platform still existed, just before it was closed and filled in. This would help at least to make the route a little different compared to what you see nowadays. I know Bank station recently got a brand new platform, but that's not quite on the same level as the situation we have with Angel here. But probably the biggest area that this line would different compared to what it is now, isn't regarding a section or station that existed back then, but isn't there today, it's rather regarding the general vibe of the line. I can guarantee you one thing here, this would not be a clean route. It would be dirty, grimy and have a feeling of being antiquated and outdated. Not just in terms of the rolling stock that run on this route, but also considering the condition of the stations, the depots and the infrastructure along the route. There's a reason why the Northern Line was called the 'Misery Line' at the time, as it was just crying out for a renovation back then, which wasn't too far away from happening. It would make this route somewhat of a time capsule, capturing what life was like on the Northern Line, before it was refurbished into the route that we know today, and help it differentiate itself from the Bakerloo Line that we have now. Even if the rolling stock that runs on that line is very similar to what ran on this one it wouldn't be in the same condition I can guarantee you that. Pictures of the route in real life Usually at this point, I would share a bunch of images of what the route looks like in real life, mainly of the stations along the route. But since trying to get those kinds of images for this time-era has been quite difficult, I'm just going to plop down a bunch of images that I could find of the Northern Line during this time. So without further ado, here is a glimpse of what like on the Northern Line was like during the early 80s/late 90s. Available Locos One benefit of the period setting is that this route can come with more than one loco. While it is still the same 'One is the new and the other is reused from something else'. It means you'll see a bit more variety on this Underground adaption, compared to a more modern one that comes with just one loco. Even the reused loco here is far from the same one we already have in TSW, nor would it come in the same condition, which gives a hint as to the locos that we are about to talk about here. London Underground 1959 Stock For the star of the route, from some of the images that you have already seen, you have this underground train dating from the late 1950's (hence the name 1959 stock). These were built by Metro-Cammell and were originally intended for the Piccadilly Line, but ended up serving multiple lines on the network, including the Northern and also on the Bakerloo & Central Lines. They were the first underground trains to be built with unpainted, aluminium alloy bodywork, which is how they would come with this route. By the time of this routes setting, the majority of them were being transferred to the Northern Line, and were really starting to look dirty, out-dated and in desperate need of attention. A minor refurbishment work was undertaken around this time, but due to the haphazard nature of it, they quickly became dirty again. They lasted all the way into the new millennium, with the last one being withdrawn in January 2000, which was also the last operating tube train that had a guard on it. I'm not going to talk about what they would do here just yet, as that would be the same as the next loco that I have for you. London Underground 1972 Mark 1 Stock The best way to describe this unit is that it is an older version of the Mark 2 we currently have. They have a similar design to that of the 1967 Stock that came 5 years earlier, as a result of being ordered in a hurry to replaced the life-expired 1938 stock. The main differences between the two versions of 1972 stock was the interior, having guard and door controls in the real car and having a number box to display the train number in the cab door, unlike the Mark 2 stock, which had it displayed via an LED on the driver's desk. But the main difference visually is that this would come in the unpainted grey bodywork livery that's in the vain of the 59 stock, unlike the Mark 2 of the time, which had red doors with an LT roundel on the side when it first came into service. As for the services that both of these units would be taking on, they would be very similar to each other, from running up and down the lines via the two branches, to serving the Mill Hill East Branch, along with any other empty stock/depot move and much more that might happen during the time this route is set. On the plus side, there would be lots of these services, granted that this timetable is done right, with a constant presence of trains across the entire length of the route, with more running at peak-times. Maybe it would be as busy as it is nowadays, due to the time-period and the fact that these are slower trains, but more than enough to class this as a 'Rush Hour' route in my books. I don't think there's anything else that can be added from what we already have (unless you want to try and put the 1938 stock on some rail tour service, if that even was a thing back then) so let's move on the final part, talking about future loco add-ons. Future Loco Add-Ons For this final section, I have 3 locos for you. But I'm doing this as two add-ons for reasons that you see later, but all would help either bring more variety to the route, or bring something a bit more modern compared to the available locos we have here. But first, let's get the obvious out the way... London Underground 1995 Stock Yep, had to find a way to include this one at some point. But in serious, this is the unit that, not only replaced all of the old stock that ran on this line at the time, but is also more importantly the train that runs on this route today. They were built by GEC Alsthom around the mid to late 1990s, with them entering service between 1998 and 2001. They are very similar in design to the 1996 stock that runs on the Jubilee Line, but with differences regarding the mechanical and electrical equipments of each train. The most noticeable being the traction motors which funnily enough, are more modern than the slightly newer 1996 stock (which the later was derived from a Class 465/466 'Networker', meaning the 1995 stock doesn't have the gear-changing sound of the 1996 stock). As for how you could implement this onto this route adaptation, you could make it come with a modernised version (with you could throw the Battersea extension in aswell), but I also feel like it's possible to just simply have it sub into the existing services and have it run alongside the 1959 & 1972 Mk1 stock, as it did during it's first years of service. Not only does this create some diversity to the route, but also shows the changing times of transitioning from the old stock of the past, to the new stock that runs here today. London Underground 1956/1962 Stock You could do these are separate loco add-ons, you could have them come together as one expansion pack, but because both of these trains are very similar in design, I'm going to talk about them both together here. The 1956 stock can basically be described as the prototype of the 1959 stock. Three of them were built in the mid-50s and spent most of their lives working on the Piccadilly Line. But towards the end, they were moved over to the Northern Line after the introduction of the 1992 stock, before being withdrawn in 1995. The 1962 stock originally worked on the Central Line, but after the introduction of the aforementioned 92 stock, a handful of them were transferred over to the Northern Line, before finally being withdrawn in 1999. They are very similar to the 1959 stock available with the route, but had a number of improvements such as using motor alternators for auxiliary supplies, rather than sets of motor generators. Regardless of how either of these two locos come out, they would mainly sub into the existing services on this route, running up and down the line, via the two paths towards the two destinations, along with any other task that this route may provide. Conclusion This is actually been quite a fun route to write a suggestion about. Some might argue that it's the Bakerloo Line, but with a late 80s/early 90s filter on it, but I feel like this route that could be just as interesting, if not more so than what the Bakerloo Line offers right now. It's a much longer route, plus it's length is split up across various paths, branches and more, rather than it being a simple A to B route, could offer a very interesting and busy timetable (if done correctly to the period of this route), would come with one extra underground train than compared to a modern adaptation (even if one of them is reused from the existing TSW underground adaptation) and the whole late 80s/90s setting would help bring a lot of character to this route. Couple that with a few promising loco add-ons, and you have probably the most diverse underground line adaption in TSW, with lots of different underground trains running on it. The best to sum up this route is that it would be something of a time capsule, a glimpse into what like was like on the underground back then, similar to what many period routes in TSW have already done like Northern Trans-Pennine, Tees Valley Line, Clinchfield Railroad, West Cornwall Local and more recently with Spirit of Steam: Liverpool–Crewe, only this time, we are applying the period filter to an underground line, to create a line that is a far cry from the adaptation that in TSW right now, and probably would succeed far more in being a period underground experience than say, just making a separate timetable to run a 1938 Stock on a relatively modern Bakerloo Line. Do I think we will ever see another London Underground route in TSW? I would never say never to it, but I also think it's highly unlikely right now, but if anyone does decide to do another line one day, whether that be DTG or another third-party, from what we've gone through here, this one wouldn't be too bad of a choice, capturing life on the underground in an era gone-by. So if you think you have any ideas for this route, or you feel like there's something that can be done differently here, then feel free to let me know in the replies below. That's all from me, and I'll see you all for the next route suggestion.
Image Sources https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/209276713919871110/?mt=login https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/59-...ring-x-branch-northbound--301107925071864943/ https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/photographs/item/2001-16222 https://www.flickr.com/photos/25347284@N04/4296069296 https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/london-underground-station-passengers-were-21639215 https://www.squarewheels.org.uk/rly/stock/1959tubeStock/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/markcarter/25657629405/ http://happysnapper.com/unseenlondon/northernline.html https://www.flickr.com/photos/rstelex/23247444323/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/2848254243 https://www.flickr.com/photos/metromadme/8718742395/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_1995_Stock https://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/6584284795 https://www.flickr.com/photos/36034969@N08/21966482912
