Q stock restoration
We’re restoring a unique piece of transport history - the last three 1930s Q stock Underground carriages
Introduction
We are restoring the last three 1930s Q stock Underground carriages, known as ‘cars’.
Q stock trains ran on the District line from the dark days of the Second World War through to the swinging sixties before being retired from service.
A team of volunteers are working with our restoration experts to get the last three 1930s Q stock cars back up and running.
Keep us on track
Campaign totaliser
Your donations could help us by...
£5 lightbulb
Light up a 1930s fluted glass lampshade. The train needs 250 lightbulbs.
£15 Poster
Decorate each car with reproduction posters appropriate to the period, which help tell the unique story of each car.
£50 panel of Lacewood
Fit one panel of original London plane wood, also known as Lacewood. It’s rare now but was plentiful years ago and covered the walls of the Q stock cars.
£100 tin of paint
Paint the train in its original colours of red, cerulean blue and gold.
£330 moquette seat
Cover a seat with a period moquette textile design. We need to upholster 120 seats.
£50,000 two brake vans
Refurbish the worn parts of the vans, including the timber work.
Thanks to a bequest from the late Bob Greenaway and individual donations made by London Transport Museum Friends, work has already begun on the car interiors. This work is being delivered by a mix of retired London Underground drivers, guards and engineers and people passionate about preserving London’s history.
We need your help to raise a further £200,000 to get the three cars back on track and operational again.
The project
We are restoring a unique piece of the District line’s heritage, the last three remaining 1930s Q stock cars:
- 08063 (Q35), formerly N stock, built in 1935 by Metro Cammell in Birmingham
- 4416 and 4417 (Q38), both built in 1938 by Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
The 1930s Q stock trains were formed from sleek new cars with flared sides, purpose-built to run with a mix of older cars with American-style clerestory roofs dating from 1923.
Unlike modern-day Underground trains with identical carriages, Q stock trains were made from a mix of cars with different styles dating back to 1923 – passengers never knew which formation would pull into their platform.
We urgently need your help to complete the restoration to mark 50 years since the Q stock was withdrawn from service.
We aim to restore the cars, held in the Museum’s collection, to operational condition and include them in our award-winning heritage vehicle events programme.
With your help we can complete the restoration of three Q stock cars and tell the transport story of:
- Life in wartime London, sharing the story of evacuation in 1939
- The rebuilding of London in the 1940s
- The growing optimism and prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s.