London Underground Train Service Numbers

Hello, I've been wondering about the numbers for tube train services on the London Underground (see attached image, not mine), as I am making my own rail simulator and I would like to know what number is for what service. Can anyone help me? Thanks

See the "Numbering of Trains" section of each timetable towards the start.

Thank you!

FWIW set numbers don’t relate to a route number like they would for a bus, they are a unique identifier for a train on any given line.

They are actually octal, not decimal, so you should never see a train number with an "8" or a "9" in it.
Different lines use different number ranges, to avoid conflicts where lines share tracks.

District 0xx
Edgware Road branch 07x
Olympia, 113, 114 (1xx also used for some odd workings)
Circle 200-217
H&C 261-277
Picadilly, mainly 3xx
Metropolitan 4xx
Jubilee 1xx and 3xx
Bakerloo 2xx
Central 0xx and 1xx (2xx and 3xx for Night Tube)
Northern 0xx, 1xx, 2xx
Victoria 2xx
W&C 2xx
Non-passenger (all lines) e.g sleet trains, stock transfers 7xx

norbitonflyer said:

They are actually octal, not decimal, so you should never see a train number with an "8" or a "9" in it.
Different lines use different number ranges, to avoid conflicts where lines share tracks.

District 0xx
Edgware Road branch 07x
Olympia, 113, 114 (1xx also used for some odd workings)
Circle 200-217
H&C 261-277
Picadilly, mainly 3xx
Metropolitan 4xx
Jubilee 1xx and 3xx
Bakerloo 2xx
Central 0xx and 1xx (2xx and 3xx for Night Tube)
Northern 0xx, 1xx, 2xx
Victoria 2xx
W&C 2xx
Non-passenger (all lines) e.g sleet trains, stock transfers 7xx

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It is actually possibly to see 8s and 9s now, on those lines with modern signalling, though I don’t think this is done on a planned basis. Certainly some lines now use 8s and 9s in crew duty numbers, which was once octal only (on some lines at least).

norbitonflyer said:

They are actually octal, not decimal, so you should never see a train number with an "8" or a "9" in it.
Different lines use different number ranges, to avoid conflicts where lines share tracks.

District 0xx
Edgware Road branch 07x
Olympia, 113, 114 (1xx also used for some odd workings)
Circle 200-217
H&C 261-277
Picadilly, mainly 3xx
Metropolitan 4xx
Jubilee 1xx and 3xx
Bakerloo 2xx
Central 0xx and 1xx (2xx and 3xx for Night Tube)
Northern 0xx, 1xx, 2xx
Victoria 2xx
W&C 2xx
Non-passenger (all lines) e.g sleet trains, stock transfers 7xx

Click to expand...

The octal restriction is less of an issue than it used to be - it is generally adhered to, but 8s and 9s crop up - most notably the Central line RATs which operate as 488 and 489 (and also don't adhere to the 7xx convention for test trains).

A number of lines also use 8xx and 9xx numbers as part of their emergency timetable series.

Your list is broadly correct although most sleet trains now operate with 'ordinary' running numbers. The Working Timetable is the best source for current running numbers and series as these can and do change from TT period to TT period, and the patterns also are not always consistent. The Piccadilly line runs with a high number of 2xx series trains nowadays which was what led to the H&C moving to the 26/27x range.

It is also worth mentioning that most engineering trains are generally numbered in the 5xx and 6xx series, although tamping machines run with semi-permanent 77x numbers.

Some test trains (e.g. RATs as mentioned, the Track Recording Train and the erstwhile Tunnel Cleaning and Weedkilling Trains) run with permanently allocated running numbers, whilst others are often associated with the heritage fleet.

It would be a challenge to definitively list all available running numbers on any one day, particularly without recourse to internal resources.

Octal format presumably would originally have corresponded to one of a punch card's data lines?

rebmcr said:

Octal format presumably would originally have corresponded to one of a punch card's data lines?

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Older technology than that - it is based on a three relay set combinations each relay having two states 0 or 1 that yields 8 binary states 000 to 111 for transmission digit by digit. We are talking 1930s systems here!

All of the lines that are now completely centrally computer controlled can now theoretically use the full decimal range but there is no real reason to do so as any one line won't ever exceed the quantity available from octal so "don't fix what ain't broke".

After several years working at Wood Lane no-one could offer plausible reason why the 48- numbers were adopted other than there was no reason why not as the Central line is self contained and the system not octal limited.

Digressing, into main line, it is often older hardware that limited BR reporting numbers - and - analogous to LU lines - BR regions once did different things. A good example is the 1960s WR panels from Old Oak Common then Slough, Reading, Swindon. These were limited to (I think) 20 (might have been 18) letters in the second field because they used neon tubes for display in the panels and these devices could not generate 26 clearly distinguishable charecters. That kind of restriction is not obvious within the general numbering system which where published tends to show what are used rather than what can not be used.

D7666 said:

Digressing, into main line, it is often older hardware that limited BR reporting numbers - and - analogous to LU lines - BR regions once did different things. A good example is the 1960s WR panels from Old Oak Common then Slough, Reading, Swindon. These were limited to (I think) 20 (might have been 18) letters in the second field because they used neon tubes for display in the panels and these devices could not generate 26 clearly distinguishable charecters. That kind of restriction is not obvious within the general numbering system which where published tends to show what are used rather than what can not be used.

Click to expand...

Which is, presumably, why "V" ratgher than "W" was used for inter-regional trains destined for the Western Region?

norbitonflyer said:

Which is, presumably, why "V" ratgher than "W" was used for inter-regional trains destined for the Western Region?

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Possibly.

However, IIRC back in the days of Trains Illustrated / Modern Railways mags publishing *real* gen, it was the LMR's train describers - of a very different type in the Piccadilly, Sandbach, etc era - that imposed V not W. But then again an LM press release would have been promoting LM issues not WR ones. Also, read elsewhere, potential in verbal messages to confuse "U" with "double U" (phonetic alphabet notwithstanding - remember this is late 1950s - things are enforced somewhat more rigourously these days) so avoid W. Who knows, it is 60-70 years ago since all this stuff came in and that gives about 50 years for urban myths and legends to over write facts.


I found the WR list in my notes of useless gen - it was not I Q R U W Y - in an IRSE paper dated 02\03\1960. Those were also the days when Learned Society papers could produce real gen like that as opposed to todays media bytes and censored information clouded by commercial confidentiality. Speculating, 20 letters + 10 numbers = 30 characters which in the days of relay needs a 5 relay set (32 states) and allows for a null state and a cleardown - but I have no knowledge if that was how it was done for site to site transmission; exceeding 20 letters would exceed 32 states exceeding 5 relays .... if that were the transmission mechanism.


Digressing on the digression, there was an amusing joke reason why WR was V not W in headcodes. The Western bought German diesel hydraulic technology => "Der Vestern" Region". A BR SR S&T engineer told me that one: Ken Howard, who was the 1H80, 1H81, etc annual headcode book compiler.

Better get back to LU stuff else a moderator will be excommunicating me.