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Electrified reopened lines

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nw1

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As a counter to the current thread on closed electrified lines, how about lines that have reopened in modern times after having been closed to passengers in the Beeching era or immediately after, and which are now electrified. Brand new lines (e.g. HS1) do not count, the line must have been formerly closed to passengers.

This includes lines which went through a phase of being unelectrified, together with those which were reopened as electric (which I suspect is much less):

OTOH, Can think of:

- Thameslink, though this is different in character to the rest
- Corby
- Edinburgh-Bathgate
- Bathgate towards Glasgow (straight to electric)
- Larkhall
- Paisley Canal (though this was only briefly closed for a few years in the 80s, IIRC)
- Chase Line

A lot in Scotland by the looks of things, and few anywhere else. Any others?
 
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Jorge Da Silva

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As a counter to the current thread on closed electrified lines, how about lines that have reopened in modern times after having been closed to passengers in the Beeching era or immediately after, and which are now electrified. Brand new lines (e.g. HS1) do not count, the line must have been formerly closed to passengers.

This includes lines which went through a phase of being unelectrified, together with those which were reopened as electric (which I suspect is much less):

OTOH, Can think of:

- Thameslink, though this is different in character to the rest
- Corby
- Edinburgh-Bathgate
- Bathgate towards Glasgow (straight to electric)
- Larkhall
- Paisley Canal (though this was only briefly closed for a few years in the 80s, IIRC)
- Chase Line

A lot in Scotland by the looks of things, and few anywhere else. Any others?

Do previous National rail lines that were closed in the Beeching era then reopened as trams count?
If so then you can add the South Manchester Line which is now Metrolink but used to be a railway line that closed in the 1960s. Its the lines between Deansgate Castlefield and East Didsbury.
 

steamybrian

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Dalston Jn- Shoreditch closed as an electrified line in 1986, track removed, track relayed then reopened in 2007
Dalston Western Jn- Stratford closed in 1944 reopened 1980
Clapham Jn- Willesden closed 1940 although continued in use for special passenger trains, etc. Electrified with regular service in 1986.
Stratford- Tottenham via Lea Bridge closed in 1985, electrified and since reopened.
 
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S&CLER

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Weren't Liverpool Central to Garston and Garston to Hunts Cross closed for a while before being reopened and electrified?
 

507020

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For about 5 years I think
There are pictures of the stations showing the track had actually been lifted. I think it was closed 1972-1978, from the closure of Liverpool Central High Level and the cessation of the Gateacre service until the reopening of Liverpool Central Low Level - Garston.

Technically Garston - Allerton Junction itself counts as a separate section, as this remained closed for a further 5 years until the Merseyrail electric service was extended to Hunts Cross in 1983, with this being the only interchange with the rest of the CLC line until the opening of Liverpool South Parkway in 2006.
 

contrex

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Clapham Jn- Willesden closed 1940 although continued in use for special passenger trains, etc. Electrified with regular service in 1986.
I always thought electrification was in 1993, when North Pole Depot was opened. 3rd rail to Westway, then 25 kV to Willesden. Regular passenger services from 1994. 1986 was when regular services resumed on the District to Olympia.
 

nw1

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Do previous National rail lines that were closed in the Beeching era then reopened as trams count?
If so then you can add the South Manchester Line which is now Metrolink but used to be a railway line that closed in the 1960s. Its the lines between Deansgate Castlefield and East Didsbury.

They can count as long as they are clearly indicated as such, to distinguish them from regular heavy rail lines.
 

507020

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Do previous National rail lines that were closed in the Beeching era then reopened as trams count?
If so then you can add the South Manchester Line which is now Metrolink but used to be a railway line that closed in the 1960s. Its the lines between Deansgate Castlefield and East Didsbury.
Don’t forget that this was the northern section of the Manchester branch of the Midland Main Line, which ran via Bakewell, so this also comes under the scope of MML electrification!
 

steamybrian

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I always thought electrification was in 1993, when North Pole Depot was opened. 3rd rail to Westway, then 25 kV to Willesden. Regular passenger services from 1994. 1986 was when regular services resumed on the District to Olympia.
Yes- you are right. Regular services commenced 1994
 

steamybrian

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Blackfriars to Farringdon.
Mentioned in the first post (above) as "Thameslink"


Are Light Rail schemes included..?

Tyne and Wear Metro
Croydon Tramlink
Docklands Light Railway
Nottingham
Sheffield
Manchester
Birmingham-Wolverhampton
 
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181

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Clapham Jn- Willesden closed 1940 although continued in use for special passenger trains, etc. Electrified with regular service in 1986.

I always thought electrification was in 1993, when North Pole Depot was opened. 3rd rail to Westway, then 25 kV to Willesden. Regular passenger services from 1994. 1986 was when regular services resumed on the District to Olympia.

Yes- you are right. Regular services commenced 1994

I seem to remember travelling by d.m.u. from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction in about 1996 (and by e.m.u. a couiple of years later). I have a vague idea that it may have been because the connecting line to the high level platforms at Willesden wasn't yet electrified.

With the Clapham Junction to Kensington rush hour shuttle on the southern part, Motorail on the northern part from 1966-81, and the infrequent long distance inter-regional trains, much of the line would have had (limited) passenger services for significant parts of the 1940-1994 period, but quite likely not all of it.
 

topydre

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The Aberdare line was reopened in the 1980s and is currently undergoing electrification works
 

contrex

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With the Clapham Junction to Kensington rush hour shuttle on the southern part, Motorail on the northern part from 1966-81, and the infrequent long distance inter-regional trains, much of the line would have had (limited) passenger services for significant parts of the 1940-1994 period, but quite likely not all of it.
I believe that there were regular morning and evening trains between Clapham Junction & Olympia to carry workers to & from the Post Office Savings Bank headquarters at Blythe House, near Olympia. They were not publicly advertised.
 

Taunton

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I believe that there were regular morning and evening trains between Clapham Junction & Olympia to carry workers to & from the Post Office Savings Bank headquarters at Blythe House, near Olympia. They were not publicly advertised.
They were, just not (for some reason) in the BR timetable. They appeared in the ABC timetable, which was widely purchased in London. It took a lot more than post office staff and was wholly public; staff from Lyons, the catering conglomerate of the era with an HQ at Olympia, used it commuting from down the Waterloo lines.
 
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Springs Branch

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I believe that there were regular morning and evening trains between Clapham Junction & Olympia to carry workers to & from the Post Office Savings Bank headquarters at Blythe House, near Olympia. They were not publicly advertised.
Was this train formed of a loco (Class 33) plus a couple of Mk1 coaches?
I think I remember seeing photos back in the day and thinking it would involve a lot of uncoupling and running around for such a short distance shuttle doing a couple of trips each morning and afternoon.
 

Taunton

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Was this train formed of a loco (Class 33) plus a couple of Mk1 coaches?
I think I remember seeing photos back in the day and thinking it would involve a lot of uncoupling and running around for such a short distance shuttle doing a couple of trips each morning and afternoon.
That's what the job entailed in those days ...

Sometimes it was a 4-TC set instead, if Clapham Yard had a spare one, which obviated the run-round. Sometimes it was a WR Pressed Steel dmu from the Paddington services. Sometimes a Thumper demu. I think it had everything in its time. It was apparently the same back in steam days, the formation was whatever was spare. John Betjeman wrote a typically atmospheric account of travelling on it in the late 1950s.
 

Taunton

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Wasn't the electric service prior to 1940 between Earls Court and Willesden?
It was, 4th rail electrified with onetime LNWR Euston-Watford trains, stored in WW2 and then converted for Lancaster-Morecambe when that was redone in the 1950s. The intermittent Earls Court-Olympia District Line shuttle is a further part of postwar replacing the service. Reversing in Earls Court would have been a right nuisance for the District Line even then. Clapham to Olympia, a regular service, was always steam in that era. Both services abandoned in WW2 (theoretically replaced by a bus) to give capacity on the West London line for military freight traffic, it was by then pretty sparsely patronised anyway.
 

Irascible

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Blackfriars to Farringdon/Thameslink is a wierd one - the passenger services stopped sometime around WW1, I think? and then it ended up closing completely in 1971, so I'm not sure that was a Beeching thing so much as just a redundant bit of track.
 

Springs Branch

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That's what the job entailed in those days ...

Sometimes it was a 4-TC set instead, if Clapham Yard had a spare one, which obviated the run-round. . . . .
Since posting, I've found a reference to a one-off 6-TC formation, which at least would have avoided the run-arounds.

This image on Flickr seems to show the 6-TC + Class 33 at Kensington Olympia with the Kenny Belle.

And this one shows a more conventional 4-TC + Class 33.

Both formations provide the requisite handful of exclusive First Class compartments for the benefit of bowler-hatted senior managers.
 
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nw1

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That's what the job entailed in those days ...

Sometimes it was a 4-TC set instead, if Clapham Yard had a spare one, which obviated the run-round. Sometimes it was a WR Pressed Steel dmu from the Paddington services. Sometimes a Thumper demu. I think it had everything in its time. It was apparently the same back in steam days, the formation was whatever was spare. John Betjeman wrote a typically atmospheric account of travelling on it in the late 1950s.

According to Wikipedia, the Clapham-Kensington shuttle started (as the unadvertised private service) in 1946 so looks like it was only briefly totally closed, during the war.

Nonetheless for a good while there were presumably no advertised services. When did the shuttle become advertised? I remember by around 1983 it was in the public timetables; I seem to recall seeing it on one or two occasions in the 80s as a 33+4TC. Wondering if the timings allowed it to then go empty to Waterloo for a late peak (e.g. 1830-1900) Salisbury service? That could have been an efficient use of the stock.
 
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Journeyman

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Since posting, I've found a reference to a one-off 6-TC formation, which at least would have avoided the run-arounds.

This image on Flickr seems to show the 6-TC + Class 33 at Kensington Olympia with the Kenny Belle.

And this one shows a more conventional 4-TC + Class 33.

Both formations provide the requisite handful of exclusive First Class compartments for the benefit of bowler-hatted senior managers.
Yeah, the 6-TC was used to prove the concept of high-speed push-pull operation before the Bournemouth line electrification.
 

Taunton

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The Inner London suburban lines are their own interesting study of closures (often passenger only) and reopenings, the latter quite often coinciding with electrification. From when buses became practical they lost much of their patronage, and became passenger backwaters. What seems to have happened in recent times is that typical journey lengths have increased beyond a comfortably short bus trip for all sorts of reasons - people don't move house when they change jobs nearly as much; schoolchildren are now allowed a wide choice rather than having to go to the nearest school, etc. The North London from Dalston to Stratford was another wartime loss, it came back in the 1980s with 2-car diesels, nowadays it's packed out all day 5-car emus running at Metro frequency.
 

nw1

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The Inner London suburban lines are their own interesting study of closures (often passenger only) and reopenings, the latter quite often coinciding with electrification. From when buses became practical they lost much of their patronage, and became passenger backwaters. What seems to have happened in recent times is that typical journey lengths have increased beyond a comfortably short bus trip for all sorts of reasons - people don't move house when they change jobs nearly as much; schoolchildren are now allowed a wide choice rather than having to go to the nearest school, etc. The North London from Dalston to Stratford was another wartime loss, it came back in the 1980s with 2-car diesels, nowadays it's packed out all day 5-car emus running at Metro frequency.

The Dalston to Stratford is an interesting one, as the point at which I developed an interest in the railways was that brief window when it was open, and so too was Broad Street, so I don't remember it being closed.

Where did the 2-car DMUs originate? I'd presume Willesden Junction as at that time, Richmond was still Broad Street. Presumably they went through to North Woolwich?

On closure of Broad Street, this obviously got took over by the Richmonds running through to North Woolwich with 2EPBs and later 313s.
 

30907

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I seem to recall seeing it on one or two occasions in the 80s as a 33+4TC. Wondering if the timings allowed it to then go empty to Waterloo for a late peak (e.g. 1830-1900) Salisbury service? That could have been an efficient use of the stock.
By the mid 70s it was 33+4TC morning and evening, and the set formed part of the 1810 Salisbury, being replaced by another 4TC ex Weymouth late evening.

In steam days it had a dedicated set (whose actual stock changed over the years) that had no other duties.
 

contrex

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The 6-TC that people are talking about was the push-pull set put together in Jan 1965 out of 4 redundant PUL/PAN trailers and a RES motor car at each end, minus motors, with the end corridor connections removed and plated over. Used on rush hour Oxted services from Jan 1966 until about July 1967 and then Clapham Jn - Olympia until damaged in a buffer stop collision at Olympia in Nov 1970. Formed the 18.00 Waterloo to Salisbury (propelled) on 28th August 1967. Picture and story https://www.bloodandcustard.com/BR-6TC.html
 
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