Cravens Heritage Trains
Cravens Preservation Group was formed in 1995 with the intention of preserving a 1960, three car Cravens-built ex London Transport tube train. By 1999, it was time to rename and formalise the group as Cravens Heritage Trains Limited (CHT). It was incorporated as a company with no shareholders and is constituted as a company limited by guarantee.
CHT was able to run a number of rail tours over a wide range of the Underground network and even provided the Sunday morning service on the Chesham branch, took over the Mill Hill shuttle service and ran a whole night rail tour in 2000 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Central London Railway (CLR). The success of the rail tours enabled CHT to take out a lease on the demised Epping Signal Cabin.
As the expansion of Automatic Train Operation spread across the tube network, the non-ATO Cravens set had fewer and fewer lines it could run over. The rail tours had become unfeasible and the set was stabled on an outside siding at West Ruislip awaiting its fate.
This photograph was taken on 9th June 2024 and shows the set has recently been moved to an inside road at West Ruislip. It was reported that the movement went without a hitch and all three cars rolled smoothly into the depot.
Discussions have now restarted about its future and after a long, long period where things looked rather bleak, there is again an air of optimism about what might happen..... It's still very early days and no firm decisions have yet been made but as talks progress, we will try to keep this page up to date, as well as the Cravens Facebook group
We invite anyone who is interested in continuing the work of preserving some of the history of London Underground to become a member of Cravens Heritage Trains. The annual membership is a very modest £15 per annum and entitles you to vote at the AGM as well as allowing you to become a Volunteer at Epping and work on the Cravens Unit (subject to LU conditions of Depot Access). If you would like more details about how to join, please send an email to our usual address: eppingmuseum@gmail.com
Notice of Annual General Meeting
For those members unable to physically join us at Epping, we will also hold the meeting online using the Microsoft Teams platform. We hope this will be more successful than last years attempt! Members will receive joining instructions with the 2024 Annual Report which is currently in production.
CHT is the parent Company of Epping Signalling Museum, which has gone from strength to strength and is now able to open to the public as a museum of historical London Underground exhibits, including a 'real' LU locomotive as well as a fully functioning 47 lever signal frame, signals and a set of working points.
