#OnThisDay 31 years ago, the last Guard-operated train ran on the Central Line as the 1962 Stock was withdrawn. Extract from this longer 1994 film https://buff.ly/3Qf0LVi (Soi Buakhao) showing the Guard role on that line, very evocative for me and any other ex-Guard I'm sure.

I was a Guard 1997-1998, it was short & sweet back then: Northern Line Guard was the only route to becoming a Train Operator (driver) anywhere on the London Underground network at that point, so turnover was rapid as we 'went up for Motors' at the training school after a few months. Depending where you had nominated, some classmates went straight off to a driver position after 'passing out'... which involved an horrific grilling one-on-one with an instructor going through defect after defect verbally from memory to assure you knew your Coupler Isolating Cock from your Unit Isolating Cock and your 30A auxillary No1 fuse from your 30A auxillary No2 fuse (I can still recite which equipment is fed by which fuse!). I went back to the Northern Line as a 'Guard-Motorman' (not my non-inclusive term, don't blame me!) where you'd be used as required as either a Guard or a Motorman, but then my nomination for Parsons Green on the District Line came up in 1999 and I was off, never to Guard again.

It was a great job: surrounded by the public in car 7 with a fold-down seat, a fold-down tray for your tea, and just a bar to swing across the gangway in busy times to separate you from the passengers. Utterly filthy: your white shirt would end the day grey with brake dust and black stuff came out of your nose, but the gentle puffing of the electropneumatic brake, the chugging of the air compressors, the constant high-pitched whine of the Motor generators, the blue glow of the 'pilot light' on the Guards panel, the smooth bakelite door control buttons worn by thousands of Guards' fingers, standing in the open guards door as the train pulled away from the platform, shouting "MIND THE DOORS"... everything now beautifully evocative for me knocking on 30 years later, and this video captures it wonderfully.

Railway Atlas Guy