The unrefurbished D-stock trains on the District Line, that is. I took a picture of this silver beast against a suitably grey sky. While I shan't ultimately miss their old-style wooden slat flooring, horrible bright silver lighting, installed about 2002 - and what exactly was wrong with the pinky-peach fluorescents they came with? - and their garish "pizza topping" seat covers, I will miss their PROPER comfortable seats, which are not like tea-trays with a small amount of token padding and their quite seriously good heating which caused a wonderful dry, used smelling fug on cold winter days to fill the train.
I've been on these since 1980 or so, when they were first introduced to the tube and so I can't help but feel a little nostalgic about them passing. Another year or so and that'll be that for the unpainted silver tubes. Which were only introduced to save money on paint. Until then, most tubes were painted either red or white. The silver tubes, as can be seen here, were also a graffiti magnet, hence the re-introduction of painted bodies.
I'll miss their shabby comfort. But like ELO, a band I love to this day, am I glad we've moved on? To quote a certain nodding dog, ohhh yes.
And finally, these are by far the most reliable tubes on the network with old fashioned tried and trusted "garden shed" technology tucked beneath. I hope TfL think long and hard before replacing them technologically advanced depot-hogs. And while they're about it, get the dreadfully iffy signalling sorted out. I wonder, now Metronet is out of the way, whether we'll notice a difference in station and track refurbishment. After a promising start, it looks as though MN just gave up. So they deserved to not be handed over any extra money - they were not cheap and provided an inefficient, slow maintenance program. Anyway, we're drifting off elsewhere.
Inside....
...and out
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