Электровозы лондонского метрополитена: история и развитие.

Electric locomotives were first used on the London Underground when the first deep level tube line, the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), was opened in 1890. The first underground railways in London, the Metropolitan Railway (MR) and the District Railway (DR), used specially built steam locomotives to haul their trains through shallow tunnels which had many ventilation openings to allow steam and smoke to clear from the tunnels. It was impractical to use steam locomotives in the small unvented tubular tunnels of the deep level lines, and the only options were rope haulage (as on the Glasgow Subway) or electric locomotives. The C&SLR was opened just a few years after the very first use of electricity to drive rail vehicles (trains or trams) and the primitive locomotives reflected this. Over the next 15 years, motors became smaller, gear drives and motor suspension were developed and reliable multiple unit control became available. Electric multiple unit trains became the standard, but electric locomotives were still being built. From 1903, the MR and the DR began to electrify the central parts of their lines for use by electric multiple units (EMUs). On both railways carriages were hauled by electric locomotives that were exchanged for a steam engine to run over un electrified distant sections. The last steam hauled passenger trains were replaced in 1961. When not hauling passenger trains, the electric locomotives were used for shunting and for hauling departmental trains. Some locomotives, as on the MR, were retained just for these duties. Rather than buy additional locomotives for this work, as was required with the battery electric locomotives, makeshift locomotives were created from withdrawn passenger vehicles of at least three types, which were modified to haul trains over any part of the system or shunt rolling stock at Acton Works.

Metropolitan Railway electric locomotives were used on London's Metropolitan Railway with conventional carriage stock. On the outer suburban routes an electric locomotive was used at the Baker Street end that was exchanged for a steam locomotive en route. The first ten had a central cab and were known as camel backs, and these entered service in 1906. A year later another ten units with a box design and a driving position both ends arrived. These were replaced by more powerful units in the early 1920s. One locomotive is preserved as a static display at London Transport Museum and another, No. 12 "Sarah Siddons", has been used for heritage events, most recently in 2019.

In 1905, the District Railway bought ten bogie boxcab locomotives that looked similar to their multiple units, but were only 25 feet (8 m) long. They were manufactured by the Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage and Wagon Company, and most of them had a single cab at one end. Consequently, they were worked in pairs, coupled back to back with the cabs at the outer end. The locomotives were used to haul London and North Western Railway passenger trains on the electrified section of the Outer Circle route between Earl's Court and Mansion House. In December 1908, these services terminated at Earl's Court and the locomotives were used to haul District line trains, one coupled to each end of a rake of four trailer cars. From 1910, trains from the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) were extended over the District line, the steam locomotives being exchanged for electric ones at Barking. Two rakes of carriages were provided by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, and were hauled over the District tracks by the locomotives working in pairs. Not needed, three locomotives were scrapped, leaving three pairs and one spare. Originally numbered 1A to 10A, those that were not scrapped became L1 to L7 after 1910. Their electrical equipment was reused on new multiple unit trains that were being introduced. The locomotives were equipped for working in multiple. Each locomotive had four GE69 motors, rated at totaling 800 hp. In 1922 the motors were replaced with GE260 surplus from the F Stock. L2 and L7 were scrapped in 1938, and the remaining locomotives were scrapped in 1939, after the LT&SR service was withdrawn. Their electrical equipment was re used in F stock cars which were being converted to air door operation.

For moving rolling stock around the main workshops at Acton, four electric locomotives were created out of withdrawn passenger vehicles. L10 This Bo Bo locomotive was built from two Hampstead Gate Stock driving motors. It was constructed at Acton Works in 1930 from cars 1 and 3, originally built in 1907 by the American Car and Foundry Company. The motor ends of both cars were joined back to back, and this design was the first of several similar vehicles constructed from old stock. The vehicle was fitted with adjustable couplers at each end, which could be raised or lowered to cope with tube stock or sub surface stock. Because of the layout of Acton Works, only the couplings on the southern end, known as the "Acton" end (as opposed to the "Ealing" end), were used, and those at the Ealing end were gradually cannibalised for spares for the Acton end. It was subsequently rebuilt, with flat panels on the sides, rather than the louvred ones of the Hampstead stock, and lost its distinctive clerestory roof. The GE69 motors were replaced with the superior GE212 motors, which included interpoles and roller bearings. It survived until 1978, when it was cut up on site by Cashmores. L11 Built in 1964 from two 1931 Standard Stock vehicles (numbers 3080 and 3109), this vehicle followed the same concept as L10, as both donor vehicles had some of their passenger compartments cut off and the two cabs and control sections were joined back to back. The resulting locomotive was a single vehicle Bo Bo. A small section of the passenger compartment remained, and most of the air system and braking equipment was moved into it from beneath the frames, so that it could be more easily maintained. The vehicle had four WT54A motors, which were wired so that each pair remained permanently in series. Thus they worked at half voltage, but the slow speed characteristics were better suited for shunting. Dual couplings for tube and sub surface stock were fitted at the Acton end only. The front door was blocked off, but had a low level screen, to enable the driver to see the couplings more easily. When first built, it carried a maroon livery, but was painted yellow in 1983. The train underwent restoration and a repaint in 2014, and will eventually be opened to the public as part of a planned London Transport museum at Epping Tube Station
L13A/B Created in 1974, this locomotive consisted of two 1938 Stock Driving Motor cars coupled back to back. Modifications included the addition of high level air pipes to allow coupling to other Departmental vehicles, reciprocating compressors, and the addition of power lines between the two cars. These gave the locomotive a very long shoegear span, since all four bogies were fitted with shoe beams, enabling it to cross gaps in the current rail at very low speeds. The locomotive was built so that L14A/B, which had proved the usefulness of a long shunting locomotive, could be scrapped. L14A/B Two of the flat fronted 1935 stock prototype cars were rebuilt to create this locomotive. The donor cars, numbers 10011 and 11011, had been displaced from the Epping Ongar shuttle in 1966. They were transferred to Acton Works for articulation experiments, thought being given at the time to the articulation of trains on the Northern line. and both were mounted on a single steel bogie. The outer bogies were replaced with new lightweight ones, constructed of aluminium, and the unit was ready for testing to begin in August 1970. After a year of trials, engineers had collected sufficient data, and as it was never intended for the vehicle to enter passenger service, it was transferred to Acton Works as a shunting locomotive, where it was particularly useful, as the shoes spanned 64 feet (20 m). The experimental lightweight aluminium motor bogies were removed in 1975, and fitted to 1972 MkII car No. 3363, so that long term testing of the design could be carried out. This ended the life of LT's only articulated locomotive, which was scrapped at Acton later that year.