Moquette in Motion: Step Aboard a Bygone Era of Tube Design

This September, Londoners and visitors alike have the rare chance to step aboard a beautifully restored 1938 Art Deco-style Tube train. The four-carriage set, complete with burgundy-hued moquette seating in green and red, polished wooden-framed windows, gleaming grab handles, and distinctive Deco light fittings, evokes the glamour of a bygone age of travel.

Lovingly restored 1938 Moquette. Image: London Transport Museum.

The interior design and layout were carefully improved for passenger comfort. New flexible grab handles for straphangers and deep-cushioned seating, covered in woollen moquette with specially commissioned designs by Enid Marx and others, combined functionality with style. Everything was highly practical but looked surprisingly luxurious, right down to the Art Deco lampshades. Varnished floors, paired with the red and green panels and seating, created a warm, inviting atmosphere — a unique combination of quality and everyday efficiency that defined the Tube experience for decades.

Sample of moquette as used on the refurbished 1938-tube stock. Image: London Transport Museum.

The 1938 Stock itself was a pioneering design — the first Tube train to house all electrical equipment beneath the floor, merging cutting-edge technology with quintessential late-1930s style. These trains served London faithfully for fifty years, and some were even recycled on the Isle of Wight’s Island Line before being retired in the 1980s...

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Image Credits:

Lead: Interior of 1938 tube stock carriage, by Dr Heinz Zinram, 1962. Image: London Transport Museum.

All other images as credited in photo captions.