The London Transport Museum has initiated a fundraising campaign aimed at the restoration of some of the last remaining “Q stock” underground carriages, which operated on the District Line between the 1930s and 1970s.
Museum staff have indicated that the seats need to be reupholstered in “iconic and historical” moquette, a robust wool fabric traditionally used in public transportation.
This restoration effort, taking place at the museum’s Acton depot in west London, seeks to restore the carriages to fully operational status.
The museum is now optimistic that the public can help raise £30,000 to preserve these “rare slices of Underground history.”
Q stock trains featured a blend of carriages, each with unique seating designs, leaving passengers to wonder what configuration would arrive at their platform.
According to the museum, the three remaining carriages will be renewed to represent various historical periods in the trains’ legacy, each showcasing a distinct seating design.
The museum explained: “One will depict life in wartime London; the second will represent the post-war era of austerity; and the third will showcase the burgeoning optimism and prosperity of the 1950s, along with stories of Caribbean immigrants joining London Transport.”
To determine the accurate seating styles for each period, the curatorial team has been analyzing over 300 historical photographs from 1920 onwards, alongside the museum’s collection of more than 400 moquette samples.
Elizabeth McKay, the director and CEO of the London Transport Museum, remarked: “These iconic Underground carriages would not be complete without their signature moquette seats, which were crafted by pioneering women such as Joy Jarvis and Enid Marx.
“We have secured funding to reupholster one Q stock carriage as part of this restoration initiative, but we require public support to gather £30,000 for the remaining two.”
Since the inception of London Transport in 1933, artists and designers have been tasked with creating moquette patterns for the Tube, as well as for buses, trams, trolleybuses, and, more recently, London’s cable car over the Thames.
The museum expressed its desire to highlight “the central role” women played in shaping the appearance of train and bus interiors during the 1940s.
One of the renewed carriages will draw inspiration from textile designer Joy Jarvis, who is known for the iconic ‘Roundel’ and ‘Bullseye’ moquette designs of the 1940s, which were, until recently, mistakenly attributed to a male designer.
The other carriage will be inspired by artist Enid Marx, whose green and red “Shield” design was featured on sub-surface District Line trains toward the end of World War II.
