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Electrified reopened lines

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Gloster

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In 1980 the Clapham Junction-Olympia service had a two coach loco-hauled formation (BCK + TSO) in the morning and a 4-TC in the afternoon. The train just used to run to Olympia in the morning and from Olympia in the afternoon: all the rest of its working (half the mileage) was ecs. At times the service was also worked by DEMUs, normally Central Division ones, although this may have been temporary ‘borrowing’. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, dating back (I think) to the last days of steam on the line, the one-off fibreglass-bodied suburban coach S1000S was regularly used in the train.
 
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Rob F

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Old Dalby test track
The section of Nottingham Express Transit beyond Wilford is on the route of the GC mainline.
 

Snow1964

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There is a short section in Northam, Southampton
Originally electrified towards the docks for Boat trains
Third rail and some tracks removed
re-electrified and new track laid when the Siemens Northam depot was built for 444 and 450s
 

Beebman

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In 1980 the Clapham Junction-Olympia service had a two coach loco-hauled formation (BCK + TSO) in the morning and a 4-TC in the afternoon. The train just used to run to Olympia in the morning and from Olympia in the afternoon: all the rest of its working (half the mileage) was ecs. At times the service was also worked by DEMUs, normally Central Division ones, although this may have been temporary ‘borrowing’. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, dating back (I think) to the last days of steam on the line, the one-off fibreglass-bodied suburban coach S1000S was regularly used in the train.

I've found a cine film on YouTube of the service in the last days of steam, the leading coach in the first shot has a much lighter coloured roof and I'm pretty sure it's S1000S:

 

swt_passenger

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There is a short section in Northam, Southampton
Originally electrified towards the docks for Boat trains
Third rail and some tracks removed
re-electrified and new track laid when the Siemens Northam depot was built for 444 and 450s
The line towards the docks itself is not electrified, only the parallel long depot headshunt/sidings, the third rail stops at the relevant junction. There’s no over-run if an EMU was accidentally misrouted.
 

steamybrian

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Although it was mentioned that new lines (HS1) does not count but..

Fawkham Jn - Southfleet was closed to passengers in 1953 and freight around 1976.
Track was relaid, electrified and reopened as part of HS1.
 

Tester

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Picture on Flickr dated 7.7.1967. Caption says it shows S1000S behind 82019 at OOlympia Picture here
I was on the last steam hauled Kenny Belle from Clapham to Kensington (ecs), and to the best of my knowledge nobody else was (apart from the crew of course!). The last Kensington to Clapham on the other hand was very well loaded. It certainly never crossed my mind then that it would become what it has!
 

Dr_Paul

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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.

I used this service when I worked in the government warehouse on Brooke Green in the mid-1980s. It was advertised -- or at least it was by then -- in the timetable and it was sometimes a WR DMU or a 4TC hauled by a 33 diesel. It was a right pain when waiting on platform 2 at Clapham Junction to be told that the train was late and would be starting from platform 16, when the train arrived from (I think) Streatham Hill sidings.

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.
I recall when I was a kid that there were plans to close the North London Line as it was insufficiently used! I think also there has been a change in employment patterns, that a larger proportion of people in London travel across the area rather than go up to central London. Having a regular metro-type service certainly helps too: look at the remarkable use of the Croydon Tram from Wimbledon, compared to the barely-used moribund BR service it replaced.
 
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Richard Scott

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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.
By the time it finished believe it was 4-TC with top and tailed 73s, definitely had it in early 90s with that formation, 73130+73134 if memory serves me correctly.
 

JBuchananGB

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Where did the 2-car DMUs originate?
They were based at Stratford. The service operated from North Woolwich to Camden Road, and commenced on 14 May 1979. Subsequently the line to North Woolwich was electrified with third rail. Although as the line had been closed to passenger traffic in 1942, it doesn't really meet the OP's requirement as closed by Beeching or since then.

Another piece of line closed long before Beeching, but subsequently reopened and electrified is Old Kent Road Junction to Silwood Junction, closed on 30.6.1911 with track lifted in 1913. This was re-constructed and energised for trains on 24.6.2012, with services operated by London Overground commencing on 9.12.2012. Does it hold the record for a length of railway closed an subsequently re-opened. Just over 100 years of closure.
 
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Dr_Paul

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Another piece of line closed long before Beeching, but subsequently reopened and electrified is Old Kent Road Junction to Silwood Junction, closed on 30.6.1911 with track lifted in 1913. This was re-constructed and energised for trains on 24.6.2012, with services operated by London Overground commencing on 9.12.2012. Does it hold the record for a length of railway closed an subsequently re-opened. Just over 100 years of closure.
I'm amazed that this trackbed stayed unused for a century, seeing how much of London has been built on during that time. Was it pure luck, or was it kept in reserve? Did the land stay in railway ownership all that time?
 

JBuchananGB

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Part of the trackbed was in use as a cycleway. Part of it was incorporated in Bridge House Meadows Park, but the most difficult part was installing a new bridge across Surrey Canal Road. This resulted in a 1 in 29 gradient for the railway, apparently acceptable for the intended metro service.
 
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As a station Dalston Kingsland must be in the running, but perhaps that’s for another thread on longest time closed for a station which has re-opened.
 
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DanNCL

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The majority of the Tyne & Wear Metro reopened as electrified lines after closure by British Rail, or in one case by the original LNER:
Jesmond - Tynemouth via Benton. Closed in 1978, reopened electrified in 1980 as part of Metro. Was previously third rail electrified between the early 1900s and 1967.
Tynemouth - Chillingham Road via Wallsend. Closed in 1980, reopened electrified in 1982 as part of Metro. Was previously third rail electrified between the early 1900s and 1967.
Pelaw - Tyne Dock. Closed in 1981, reopened electrified in 1984 as part of Metro. Was previously third rail electrified between 1938 and 1963.
Sunderland - South Hylton. Closed to passengers in 1964 (freight continued until some time in the 1980s), reopened electrified as part of Metro in 2002.
South Gosforth - just south of Newcastle Airport. Closed to passengers in 1929, remained open to freight. Reopened electrified as part of Metro in 1981 (South Gosforth - Bank Foot) and in 1991 (Bank Foot - Airport)
 

alangla

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Airdrie to Drumgelloch. Shut, reopened as a one train working single track electrified stub, shut, rebuilt again, this time as a through route with double track, electrified and with a much larger park & ride station in a different location. Both rebuilds happened within 20 years of each other
 

Strathclyder

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Argyle line is a fairly major one!
For those unaware: what now forms the 'core' section of the Argyle Line (Finnieston - Rutherglen) closed in 1964 & was reopened in 1979 (15 years all told). Possibly the most notable example of this in Scotland, especially given the key role it now plays in both the Strathclyde network and the Scottish network as a whole. I'm aware that hindsight is just that and that circumstances were wildly different in the early 60s, but it just seems barmy to me that it was ever shut at all.
 
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