19850223_ZD_AdrianNicols
630v DC class 487 stock car S59 at Waterloo, London, 1983.
DMBSO vehicle S 59 is seen at Waterloo station on the rear of the next departure to Bank. The Waterloo & City line had always been something of an oddity as it was deemed to be part of the national network and after nationalisation in 1947 it passed from the Southern Railway to British Railways. That was until the run up to privatisation when it was sold to London Underground Ltd on 1st April 1994 and became the pale green coloured line on the Underground Map., , The line was opened in 1898 by the L&SWR (London & South Western Railway) having seen the success of the rival City & South London line. In 1938 the original stock was deemed life expired so the Southern Railway ordered 12 new motor coaches and 16 trailers from English Electric Ltd. These were delivered in 1940 and passed into BR ownership in 1947 as class 487 stock. The units were designed to run with a motor coach either end of three trailers but they were not fixed sets so could be varied to meet demand. It was common practice to run five cars in the rush hours and two off peak. The line was an early user of track circuit block allowing 4 minute headways between trains but had no intermediate stations. With the advent of Network South East in the Summer of 1986 "The Drain" as it was known was in a dire state where little had changed since World War II with the stock in dire condition running with thread bare seating, poor lighting and dank uninviting stations. NSE went for Total Route Modernisation but with no suitable stock available to replace the aging class 487 units they were instead spruced up. The chance to change things came when London Transport ordered 1992 stock to replace the entire central line fleet. NSE was then able to buy what became class 482 stock as a follow on order from ABB Derby Works so 10 2-car sets entered service in March 1993 and the 1940 stock was brought to the surface and sent for scrap, ironically most cars being taken all the way to MC Metals in Glasgow for breaking up.
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