Talk:Enfield Town branch line

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Thornbury Branch Line which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 00:17, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

Mix of two lines

As stated in the introduction the Enfield Town branch is actually a mix of two distinct lines. This is a clear indicator that instead the Southbury Loop reaches down to Hackney Downs and the section up to Bury Street Jn should be covered by that article.--PhiH (talk) 17:03, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

Disagree - the original Enfield Town line as built way before the Southbury Loop and the article explains how the railway serving Enfield changed primarily in 1872 when the line from Hackney Downs joined the original branch. The Southbury Loop was added in 1891 but the bulk of the train services have operated Liverpool Street to Enfield Town for many years. I am interested to hear how you justify that the two parts of the Southbury Loop (which I have ever understood to be Edmonton Green to Cheshunt) opened in 1872 and 1891 presents a more coherent picture that the present arrangement. Operationally Edmonton - Cheshunt is a branch as few trains (if any?) work north of Cheshunt unless there is a possession on the Lea Valley line.--Davidvaughanwells (talk) 15:23, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

The situation in the Lea Valley is quite complicated because the historic lines don't align with today's lines. Strictly speaking in terms of history there would be

• Angel Road Jn–Enfield Town
• Bethnal Green Jn–Lower Edmonton Jn
• Bury Street Jn–Cheshunt Jn

There is actually an article about the second one, but it was quite hard to find: Stoke Newington and Edmonton Railway. The problem with that one is that until Hackney Downs it is today part of the West Anglia Main Line although the original route to Cambridge was built from Stratford (sometimes called Temple Mills branch).

Alternatively we could organise the lines by the nomenclature issued by Network Rail:

• Angel Road Jn–Lower Edmonton Jn
• Bury Street Jn–Enfield Town
• Hackney Downs Jn–Cheshunt Jn

The problem with this article is that it covers two distinct branches which have coexisted for quite a long time. So that alignment cannot be considered one single railway line.

Regarding the branch line: Currently there are 2tph to each station (Enfield Town and Cheshunt) with most trains terminating there. There are peak services that run via Seven Sisters and Cheshunt that continue on the main line.

I would be fine with both systems but a Hackney Downs–Enfield Town line together with an Angel Road branch doesn't seem reasonable to me.--PhiH (talk) 04:58, 23 September 2020 (UTC)