The stock was the oldest on the Underground until September 2012, and also on any Subway system in Europe. It was the only stock to have luggage racks and separate motoring and brake controls, and the last to have no automated announcements. The A Stock has since been replaced by the S Stock on the Metropolitan Line.
The design was formulated by W S Graff-Baker of the London Passenger Transport Board as part of the electrification of the Metropolitan Line from Rickmansworth to Amersham and Chesham under the 1935-1940 New Works Programme, and owes much to the smaller 1938 Stock. The work was delayed due to World War II and also the lack of funds after the war. In 1946 two experimental trailers similar in exterior appearance to the production trains were built using underframes from the T Stock, but they were scrapped when the trials finished. Unfortunately Graff-Baker died in 1952, before the trains were built.
Electrification commenced in 1959; therefore London Transport placed an order for 31 trains A60 Stock trains to replace T Stock on services to Watford and Rickmansworth. Also, loco hauled services to destinations north of Rickmansworth. 5004 and 5008 were the first units and entered service to Watford in June 1961. The Amersham/Chesham services began later that year. London Transport then ordered another 27 trains, A62 Stock. These replaced 63 F and P Stocks on the Uxbridge service. By December 1963, the roll-out was complete and the whole Metropolitan Line had A Stock.
The trains were A Stock to mark the electrification of the Metropolitan line to Amersham.
The stock was a compromise between the needs of longer distance "outer suburban" passengers on the outer reaches of the line and short distance "urban" passengers over the heavily used Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. Therefore the trailer cars have three sets of doors per car.
A feature that made the stock distinctive was the use of transverse seating throughout the train. This is very uncommon on the Underground. The Stock was built like this because it was designed for journeys which may last over an hour. Most of the transverse seating was high capacity with a 3 + 2 arrangement. There were four tip-up seats located at the rear of the driving motor. Despite each 8-car train seating 448 passengers, the stock provided fewer seats than the locomotive-hauled T stock trains that they replaced, but more seats than the S Stock, which started to replace them on 31 July 2010. The stock had luggage racks and umbrella hooks, they only Underground stock to have these features, very distinctive!
A60 and A62 stocks were nearly identical in appearance. The most significant differences were the border around the destination window on A62 motor cars and the make of compressor under the trailer cars: A60 stock used the Westinghouse DHC 5A, A62 cars the Reavell TBC 38Z.
At 116" they were the Underground's widest trains. Refurbishment took place between 1993 and 1998 by Adtranz (now Bombardier) Derby. Car end windows were installed , the seating was reupholstered, and the livery was updated. At the time of refurbishment the Metropolitan line had a low priority for receiving new trains.
Each unit consisted of four cars: two powered driving motors at each end and two non-powered trailers in between. Each unit was further divided into two semi-permanently-coupled sets, a driving motor and trailer. Although the intention was to operate four-car trains in the off-peak, this practice was short lived, except for the Chalfont & Latimer-Chesham shuttle which was always operated by a single four-car unit. For its main services the stock operated in a two-unit formation of eight cars between Aldgate and Amersham, Chesham (peak hours only), Uxbridge and Watford.
It was the world's fastest 4th-rail train with the top speed of 70 mph, but from the late 1990s/early 200s it was restricted to 50 mph to improve reliability.
London Underground held the final public trip, organised by the London Transport Museum on 29 September 2012. Starting at Moorgate it travelled the whole Metropolitan line, including Watford, Amersham, Aldgate, Uxbridge, Chesham and the Watford curve. The tour ended at Wembley Park: on the final stretch from Finchley Road, the trains was unofficially recorded at 74 mph.
A60 Stock reached 50 years of service on 12 June 2011. The age of the stock made spare parts harder to obtain and vehicles had to be cannibalised to keep the rest of the stock in operation. S8 Stock replaced the stock, with the first unit being introduced in July 2010. The main differences between the S8 and S7 Stock are the layout and number of seats and the provision of two sand hoppers for each rail due to the different conditions at the country end of the line. The withdrawal of A Stock commenced on 9 October 2010.
London Transport Museum began offering luggage racks from withdrawn A stock for sale in February 2012.
The last train ran in passenger service on 26 September 2012, formed of 5034 + 5062. The same train was used on 29 September 2012 for the final ticket-only railtour. One of the driving motor cars, 5034, was part of the first (as 5008) and also the last A Stock train, giving it a life of over 51 years. It was sent to Northwood sidings on 8 October 2012 and was loaded on trucks to be scrapped: 5034 was taken to the Acton Museum Depot to be preserved.
At ITV News report stated that a car later identified as 5034 would be preserved by the London Transport Museum. The stock outlasted many former British Rail EMUs: the Scottish Class 303 managed 43 years, the Class 309 Clacton Express units 38 years and British Rail Class 312 only 28 years. The former Southern Region 4CIG and 4CEP managed 46 years and 49 respectively. The stock was one of Britain's longest-serving types of train, although far from the ex-1938 Stock still in use on the Isle of Wight around 75 years after construction, or the 81 years of Glasgow Underground rolling stock between 1896 and 1977. The stock may be outlasted by the InterCity 125 HSTs.
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