[MOC] 1959 Tube Stock

[Hod Carrier]

Something a little bit different from me. This my design for London Underground's 1959 tube stock which could be found operating on many of the Underground's deep tube lines.

1959 Tube Stock by bowroaduk, on Flickr

The train on the left is in original condition. Admittedly these trains were delivered in unpainted aluminium finish, but that's a difficult colour to replicate in LEGO so I've opted to design it in white. Next to it is a train in London Underground's corporate red, white and blue livery which some trains received towards the end of their operating lives. The train on the right is the "Heritage Train" in the red and cream livery of London Transport which would have adorned the older Standard Stock but was a livery never previously used on the 1959 stock.

The face of the tube showing some of the detail incorporated into the cab.

Building the cab doors studs forward does create a livery issue as it means that I cannot carry the blue band forward across the bottom of the door. This can be easily corrected on one side of the car though, as only the top half of the door needs to be studs forward and the bottom half can be studs up which would correct the problem. The problem persists on the other side due to the need to use a panel piece to accommodate the larger end of the binocular part, though. I guess you can't win them all.

[zephyr1934]

Those look really nice. Such a classic design (on the prototypes) recreated exceptionally well (on the MOCs).

I do see the cab door being a bit of a bother on the red/white/blue scheme not so much for the blue stripe, but because it disappears into the wall and you cannot tell that it is a door in that livery. If anything, the premature ending of the blue stripe is a hint that there IS a door there. Is there any chance you could set the cab door in by half a plate?

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Very well done!

[Hod Carrier]

Thank you, gentlemen. It's always nice to get such positive feedback.

7 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

I do see the cab door being a bit of a bother on the red/white/blue scheme not so much for the blue stripe, but because it disappears into the wall and you cannot tell that it is a door in that livery. If anything, the premature ending of the blue stripe is a hint that there IS a door there. Is there any chance you could set the cab door in by half a plate?

That is kind of how the trains looked in real life when they carried that livery.

1959 Tube Stock at Finchley Central by bowroaduk, on Flickr

I think the idea was that public doors should be obvious and are therefore painted a contrasting colour (something that has later become a requirement under equality legislation to aid visually impaired users) whereas the non-public cab doors could be blended with the rest of the livery. I have hinted at the shape of the door by the arrangement of the bricks, the different shape of the window and the dark bley tiles showing the treadplates, but I don't want to indent it when this was not a feature of the real trains.

If anything, the improvement that I perhaps should make is to tone-down (or even do away with) the handrails on the cab front as these are waaaaay too heavy.

[Selander]

LOL ..I read "Tube sock" 

Nice realization anyway 👍

[zephyr1934]

15 hours ago, Hod Carrier said:

I think the idea was that public doors should be obvious and are therefore painted a contrasting colour (something that has later become a requirement under equality legislation to aid visually impaired users) whereas the non-public cab doors could be blended with the rest of the livery. I have hinted at the shape of the door by the arrangement of the bricks, the different shape of the window and the dark bley tiles showing the treadplates, but I don't want to indent it when this was not a feature of the real trains.

If anything, the improvement that I perhaps should make is to tone-down (or even do away with) the handrails on the cab front as these are waaaaay too heavy.

That makes total sense. I've just taken to half plate insets to highlight doors that are actually flush with the walls to highlight their existence. The fact that you turn to snot at the doors will do that much more subtly.

You could easily preserve the blue line using studs up for the lower half of the door and just use snot for the window, but then that loses the snot defining the door shape, but you could preserve it by breaking the brick line there. Avoid the fingernail groove in the tiles using this panel for the non-stud top as you convert to studs forward of the door,

Another thought is that you could redo the door on the R/W/B livery- top unchanged, 1x2 trans clear brick studs forward, below another row of 1x plates studs forward, with a white 1x2 x 2x2 bracket studs down (or even the new 1x1 x 1x2 bracket), then a white plate and a blue tile

[name-already-exist]

Looks really great. You did a very nice job.

[Hod Carrier]

On 12/6/2021 at 10:24 AM, Selander said:

LOL ..I read "Tube sock" 

LOL!!! Can't imagine that a LEGO tube sock would be very warm or comfortable. 

On 12/6/2021 at 10:24 AM, Selander said:

Nice realization anyway 👍

 

On 12/7/2021 at 6:14 AM, name-already-exist said:

Looks really great. You did a very nice job.

Thank you, gentlemen. That is very nice of you to say.

On 12/6/2021 at 3:26 PM, zephyr1934 said:

That makes total sense. I've just taken to half plate insets to highlight doors that are actually flush with the walls to highlight their existence. The fact that you turn to snot at the doors will do that much more subtly.

It's a good idea. Features like doors do sometimes have a habit of disappearing in designs and sometimes you need to do something to bring them out, whether it's by indenting them, making them a different colour or using tape/stickers to pick out the edges. My own personal view is to be lead by the prototype and see what the original designer did. Sometimes the doors really do disappear, as with this train, which makes it OK to follow that principle too.

On 12/6/2021 at 3:26 PM, zephyr1934 said:

Avoid the fingernail groove in the tiles using this panel for the non-stud top as you convert to studs forward of the door,

That's a very good idea, thank you. I shall make the necessary change.

**EDIT**

Argh!! Not available in red. Looks like I'll have to pony up for tiles without grooves. 

On 12/6/2021 at 3:26 PM, zephyr1934 said:

You could easily preserve the blue line using studs up for the lower half of the door and just use snot for the window, but then that loses the snot defining the door shape, but you could preserve it by breaking the brick line there.

Another thought is that you could redo the door on the R/W/B livery- top unchanged, 1x2 trans clear brick studs forward, below another row of 1x plates studs forward, with a white 1x2 x 2x2 bracket studs down (or even the new 1x1 x 1x2 bracket), then a white plate and a blue tile

Thank you for these thoughts too. I shall have a little tinker and see how it looks. 

**EDIT**

I've had a play but I keep hitting a wall on the headlight side. The problem is that the binoculars are too big inside the cab to permit anything other than a panel at the lowest half of the door. That in itself isn't a major issue except that it creates a half plate step in the blue band and is a problem to attach to the rest of the model. With enough time and coffee I'm sure I could come up with a solution better than colouring the lower part of the door with blue vinyl. But if I was going to build any of these liveries I don't think it would have been this one anyway.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Hod Carrier

[zephyr1934]

On 12/9/2021 at 7:07 AM, Hod Carrier said:

That's a very good idea, thank you. I shall make the necessary change.

**EDIT**

Argh!! Not available in red. Looks like I'll have to pony up for tiles without grooves. 

Oh, I was suggesting to use that panel studs up on the bottom of the door, with a blue 1x2 plate on the bottom, then white 1x2 plate, then that panel in white. The top of the operator door would still be studs forward, but you might need a 2x2 plate in there so that you could secure the stack from inside.

[Hod Carrier]

On 12/11/2021 at 3:27 PM, zephyr1934 said:

Oh, I was suggesting to use that panel studs up on the bottom of the door, with a blue 1x2 plate on the bottom, then white 1x2 plate, then that panel in white. The top of the operator door would still be studs forward, but you might need a 2x2 plate in there so that you could secure the stack from inside.

Oh right!! Sorry. When you mentioned the fingernail groove you get from using a tile I thought you were referring to the cab front over the headlight. Apologies for the misunderstanding.