Maintenance Aspects of London Transport Rolling Stock

Abstract

This paper sketches the background to early electric railway operations and shows how the relative cheapness of labour against materials was responsible for the maintenance pattern. It goes on to describe briefly the basic maintenance system and operations involved in the early years and the developments between the wars, including the electrical and mechanical improvements resulting from developing technology. The post-war era and the major change in economic forces, particularly the relativities between labour and capital costs, and the constant pressures to ‘design out’, maintenance requirements are then dealt with rather more fully, with particular reference to the elimination of wearing parts and the increasing periods between inspections and repairs. The paper continues with the counter effects of competition from private transport and higher office and domestic environmental standards on vehicle sophistication. The present picture of London Transport railway rolling stock, with particular reference to the maintenance patterns and requirements of the latest types of tube and surface stocks, conclude the paper.