In a peculiar act of recycling, a tube train from the 1970s was relaunched in West London yesterday but not on the tube, and everyone said how cutting edge it was. [10 photos]
This is a Class 230 train with pioneering battery-charge capability, finally entering passenger service on the GWR branch line between Greenford and West Ealing. It's a very short line and also woefully underused, indeed its three intermediate stops are all among London's least-used stations. Nobody'll ever invest money in electrification here so GWR's plan is to electrify the train instead, running off a regularly recharged on-board battery. If it works here it could work on their other short diesel-operated branches in the southwest, boosting the railway's green credentials, and it seems to work here because they've finally let passengers on board.
These three carriages were once to be found shuttling back and forth on the District line. After being decommissioned ten years ago several units were bought up by Adrian Shooter's company Vivarail, which planned to reuse the bodywork to create modern electric trains. They managed to send five sets to the Isle of Wight, five to the Welsh Borders and three to Bedfordshire but underestimated the complexities of the operation and went bust in 2022. GWR then took on some of the units and have been using one set here at Greenford to conduct their battery charging trial, kicking off as long ago as March2024. You might thus have seen it packed with measuring equipment and engineers but never passengers, not until yesterday when the line was suddenly busier than it'd ever been for years.
The Greenford branch is ideal for a trial because it's been completely separate from other scheduled service since 2016 when they lopped off the Paddington end for Crossrail. It's also twelve minutes end-to-end which means a half-hourly service can be operated with just one train, which is good because just one train is what they've got. Most of the brief turnaround at each end is taken up by the driver walking down the platform from one cab to the other. But GWR's cunning plan has been to also use the 3½ minutes spent at West Ealing to rest the train on specially adapted rails and fast-charge its on-board battery. With an extra boost every half an hour the train need never run out of juice and can continue to rattle back and forth all day. GWR staff were a bit worried on Day One because unusually high passenger loadings were delaying the train by 1½ minutes, thus shortening the recharge time, but the batteries coped admirably and still "had days in them", from what I overheard.
When rolling stock makes its debut a certain crowd turns up. There are the devoted Must-Be-On-The-First-Trainers, which was a pain yesterday because the debut was at 5.30am. There are the Men Who Work In Rail, here to see what their competitors are up to. There are the Excitable Children, also the Quiet Men Sitting By Themselves, also the People Who Still Believe In Using A Camera. There are the Overenthusiastic Teenagers talking to each other loudly or approaching strangers and asking "did you know this used to be D Stock?", oblivious to the fact that everyone present knows. There are the Droning Pessimistic Men who've heard that the doors slam with a nasty clunk, oh yes listen to that, they're going to break soon aren't they? There are sometimes Documentary Makers You Must Have Seen On TV, here to refresh their rail credentials. And there are always Content Creators Insistent On Filming Everything For Immediate Upload Accompanied By A Woefully Unengaging Commentary, often accompanied by an entourage, so best keep out of their way as they pass.
It's easiest to recognise the train's former tube incarnation from outside. The bodywork still has that memorable District line shape, if part-disguised with a coat of GWR's drab dark green and a big yellow flash on the front. Also the doors are still those single-leaf sliding things, both slow and narrow, which is one reason why the S Stock's dwell time was a big improvement. Step inside the clinically white carriages and you have to look much harder, what with new flooring, forward-facing comfy seats and tables and power points added underneath. Yes those telltalle large windows are still there, but not the overhead grabrails, plus now there are bins and a chunky toilet carved out of the middle carriage. An unusual difference is that the doors closest to the driver's cabs are permanently out of service, or rather 'for Emergency Use only', so don't wait there if you intend to alight.
Along with dozens of others I went for a battery-driven ride from West Ealing to Greenford. I may have done this more than once. The route curves away from the Great Western mainline and passes over a level crossing inside the local rail depot, then dives through an artificial tunnel underneath a council estate. Some of the stations are so close together that the "We are now approaching Castle Bar Park' announcement plays before the doors have fully closed at Drayton Green. Local residents who would normally catch the train on a Saturday were bemused to see a completely different train approaching, and even more surprised to have to search for a seat. Most of the journey is completely straight, including a lengthy viaduct over the A40 and River Brent, then at the northern end the track finally curls upwards to terminate between the Central line platforms at Greenford. And repeat.
For now the battery train is only making an appearance on Saturdays. Come midweek and you'll get the usual 2-car diesel and on Sundays the service never runs at all. Also be warned that Saturdays 14th February, 28th February and 7th March are off the cards due to engineering possessions involving West Ealing sidings. Also be aware that if the train has technical difficulties the usual train is sitting waiting on standby so can be resuscitated at a moment's notice. But if you want to experience District line déjà vu in a groundbreaking FastCharged train then next Saturday should be ideal, plus you won't have to suffer such large crowds of First Day hangers-on. And who know, battery trains might well turn out to be the long-term future on non-electrified lines, and then you can tell your grandchildren that you remember going on the first one through the anodyne suburbs of Ealing back in 2026.
