For the last time in this series we head back to the Tyne and Wear Metro for another photo of one of the original Metrocars in service – and it doesn’t get more original than this!
That is because we include an image of 4001 – the lowest numbered of all the units and one of the two original prototypes built ahead of the system opening and used for extensive testing. After the system was opened it because a more regular member of the fleet and has been announced as the first of the trains to be preserved with it set to find a new home at the Stephenson Railway Museum in the future. Its currently carrying a special 40th anniversary livery (including samples of the main liveries of the past) and is withdrawn with it being stored at Gosforth Depot.
But on 27th June 1989 it was very much still in service and is seen at Ilford Road at the back of a double unit with a service heading to St James (via The Coast). Its carrying the original Cadmium Yellow and White fleet livery.
Photograph by Robert Woolnough, 27th June 1989