This summer saw a jubilee event that brought joy to the nation and sparked pride in the
heart of every patriotic Englishman. I refer, of course, to the 50th birthday of the 1972
Tube stock trains. The 72 stock, as its friends call it, was first introduced on the 26th of June
1972 and is still in service on the Bakerloo line. Some like it for its old-fashioned
feel and classic lines. Others think it's shabby and out-of-date. Let's talk about it.
What tends to happen on the Underground is that fleets of trains are shuffled between the lines,
depending on what's needed and where. In the early 1970s, there were two issues arising. The
first was that the Piccadilly line was being extended to Heathrow Airport. The second was
that the Northern line was using 1938 stock trains, which were increasingly unreliable.
Both lines would require new trains. The solution London Underground came up with was this.
Scrap the worst of the Northern line trains, refurbish the rest. Move the Piccadilly line
trains, which were 1959 stock, over to the Northern line. Buy new trains for the Piccadilly
line. The problem was that the Northern line needed more trains than the Piccadilly line had,
and refurbishing the 1938 trains was only delaying the inevitable. The 1972 stock was the solution.
It was essentially a modified version of the 1967 stock that had been built for the Victoria line.
The main difference between the two was that the 1967 stock was designed for Automatic
Train Operation. Essentially, the train drives itself, with the driver just being responsible
for the doors and starting the train. The 72 stock was driven conventionally and included a guard.
30 trains were ordered initially. This batch was known as the Mark Is. They were built by
Metro-Cammell of Birmingham and delivered in an unpainted silver livery that was the style at
the time. They arrived over the following year, with the last entering service in June 1973.
The fact that it was based on the 67 design caused problems. The 67 stock didn't include
cab doors on the side of the train. This meant that whenever staff had to change over, they'd
need to walk through the train itself, which could be a slow process at busy times. On the plus side,
this meant that later on, some carriages could be converted to run with the 67 stock.
In November 1973, a second batch started coming on stream. These were known, not surprisingly, as the
Mark IIs. The main difference visually was that the doors were picked out in red, a feature still
used on modern Underground trains. They weren't initially compatible with the Mark Is, because
they weren't originally designed to run with them. The Mark IIs were originally ordered for the Fleet
line, the planned line that would eventually open as the Jubilee. But the new Piccadilly line trains
hadn't arrived yet, so the Northern line was still short of reliable trains, and so the Fleet trains
were sent there instead. From 1975, the new Piccadilly line trains started to arrive - the
1973 stock. This enabled London Underground to perform another of their complicated shuffles.
The 1973 stock meant that the 1959 stock on the Piccadilly line could finally be transferred to
the Northern line. This in turn meant that the 1972 Mark II trains could be transferred
to the Bakerloo line, the Stanmore branch of which was to become part of the Fleet line.
In 1979, the Fleet line, by now the Jubilee line, opened with the 1972 Mark II stock.
A new set of trains, the 1983 stock, were ordered for the Jubilee line.
Some of the 72 stock went back to the Northern line and some to the Bakerloo. In the early 90s,
the trains were refurbished by Tickfords (more famous for their work on cars). New trains arrived
on the Northern line and some of the 72 stock was moved to the Bakerloo line. And there it
stays. A couple of units are in departmental use, i.e. not for use on regular passenger services.
One is something of a celebrity, having been stored on the disused Aldwych branch of the
Piccadilly line and used for the various filming gigs on that line. As for the rest,
they now represent the oldest stock on the London Underground in passenger service. Ironically, they
are now considerably older than the 1938 stock was at the time of replacement. Between 2014 and 2018,
they were refurbished again, but the trains still suffer from issues with reliability and
their styling is distinctly dated. They now wear the standard tube livery, often rather worn out,
and their seats are upholstered with a unique brown moquette design. They have
poor accessibility by the standards of the modern underground, though they are working on this.
While I do quite like the 72 stock, it's hard to argue that it isn't overdue for replacement.
When will that replacement happen? Well, in theory, new trains are to be ordered in the
2023-2024 financial year. That is assuming government funding comes through. Then, the
hope is that the Bakerloo trains will be replaced from around the end of the decade. It's entirely
plausible that the 1972 stock will reach its 60th birthday before it disappears from the network.
Well, I do hope you enjoyed this old-fashioned Tale from the Tube. Really, it would have been
good if I'd got this video out on the 26th, but to be completely honest with y'all, I forgot
all about the anniversary. If anyone asks, I'll just say that the video is overdue - just like
the replacement of the 72 stock trains amirite?! Does that work? Well anyway.
Thanks as ever to my donors on Ko-Fi and Patreon, you are the refurbishment to my
rickety train. And I'll see you all again very soon for another Tale from the Tube.