London Underground coaching stock London Underground coaching stock In 1989, the first 'Steam on the Met' event took place, and London Underground, hired British Rail coaching stock for the excursions. It was found that it was actually cheaper to buy the coaches instead of hiring them. Thus, London Underground has acquired numerous former British Rail coaching stock for these special excursion trains on the Metropolitan line, usually hauled by either steam locomotives, or the preserved electric locomotive No. 12 "Sarah Siddons". The fleet consisted of several Mark 1 and Mark 2 vehicles, and eight former British Rail Class 438 electrical multiple unit trailer set
East London line extension station closed permanently to facilitate work on the extension, with services from Whitechapel being replaced by buses. The rest of the East London line closed on 22 December 2007, with rail replacement buses linking the stations north and south of the Thames (but not crossing the river due to height restrictions in the Rotherhithe Tunnel). On 5 September 2006 it was announced that the line would transfer from London Underground to London Overground, branded with a version of the Underground roundel with red replaced by orange, the colour used on Tube maps for the East London Line. Three major new