London Transport Museum is 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.

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We urgently need your help to complete the restoration to mark 50 years since the Q stock was withdrawn from service.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.

Previous Museum restoration projects have delivered the much-loved 1938 stock, Metropolitan Railway Jubilee carriage No. 353 and the First World War Battle Bus, which are all operational.

Keep us on track Help us raise the £200,000 needed to keep our restoration on track and get the last 1930s Q stock cars running again. Donate Join the journey Curator Katariina Mauranen shares how we plan to bring the story of the Q stock to life for visitors. Read the blog Get involved Join our Q stock volunteer team. Help us repair the cars at our Museum Depot in Acton. Get in touch



Your donations

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.

Your donation can help us in the following ways:

£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.

Make a donation and help us reach our final destination

If we raise more money than is needed for this project, any additional funds will go to care of the Museum’s collection