Brimsdown railway station is on the Lea Valley line that forms part of the

West Anglia Main Line The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Har ...

, serving the neighbourhood of

Brimsdown Brimsdown is a neighbourhood of eastern Enfield in the London Borough of Enfield, north London, on the west side of the mid-to-lower Lea Valley. Geography The east of Brimsdown, that is, east of the eastern Lea Valley line is one of the boro ...

in the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of Barnet to the west, Haringey to the south, and Waltham Forest to the southeast. To the north are the districts of Hertsmere, Welwyn Hat ...

, north London. It is down the line from

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

and is situated between and . Its three-letter station code is BMD and it is in

Travelcard zone 5 Fare zone 5 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. The ...

. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Greater Anglia. Brimsdown station was used in 1951 as a location for part of the

Alexander Mackendrick Alexander Mackendrick (September 8, 1912 – December 22, 1993) was an American-born director and professor, long based in Scotland. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and later moved to Scotland. He began making television commercials befor ...

film ''

The Man in the White Suit ''The Man in the White Suit'' is a 1951 British satirical science fiction comedy film made by Ealing Studios. It stars Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker and was directed by Alexander Mackendrick. The film was nominated for an A ...

'', starring

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1 ...

, as the station where Sidney Stratton tries to buy a ticket near the end of the film.

History

The railway line from Stratford to was opened by the

Northern & Eastern Railway The Northern & Eastern Railway (N&ER) was an early British railway company, that planned to build a line from London to York. Its ambition was cut successively back, and it was only constructed from Stratford, east of London, to the towns of ...

on 15 September 1840. The station itself (which at one time was to be named Green Street) was financed by a local landowner and developer, and built by builder W Bangs & Co. The station opened on 1 October 1884, and services were operated by the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern Ra ...

. A signal box built by

McKenzie and Holland Vulcan Iron Works was the name of several iron foundries in both England and the United States during the Industrial Revolution and, in one case, lasting until the mid-20th century. Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and smithery, was a popular n ...

was provided with 15 levers to operate points and signals, and this was enlarged in 1899 to have 32 levers. In 1928 it was recorded as having a 42-lever frame, so further expansion had clearly taken place in the intervening years. Some goods sidings were located on the up side, and a short branch to the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock joined these from the east. There was also a siding to a power station. In 1923, Brimsdown station was taken over and operated by the

London & North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It op ...

as a result of the

grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of the UK's railways into four major companies. The station was bombed on 22 July 1944; the signal box was destroyed. Following nationalisation of the railways in January 1948, Brimsdown became part of

Eastern Region of British Railways The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified from the dark blue signs and colour schemes that adorned its station and other railway buildings. Together with the North Eastern Region (w ...

. The lines through Brimsdown were electrified on 5 May 1969. Prior to the completion of electrification in 1969, passenger services between Cheshunt and London Liverpool Street through Brimsdown station were normally operated by Class 125 diesel multiple units (which had been purpose-built for the line in 1958). On sectorisation in the 1980s the station was managed and served by

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...

Since 1990

Track and signals

As with most of the UK, management of the nationally owned track and signals passed in 1994 to

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

, which was succeeded by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...

in 2004. In August 2002, signalling control for the relevant section of track was transferred to the Liverpool Street Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC).

Operation of passenger services

Following

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

in 1994, operation of the station was allocated to a business unit before being taken over by

West Anglia Great Northern West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to ''WAGN'', was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between Apri ...

(WAGN) in January 1997, at the time owned by

Prism Rail Prism Rail was formed in July 1995 to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail. It expressed interest in eighteen franchises, was shortlisted for twelve and was ultimately awarded four, LTS Rail, Va ...

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

acquired the franchise-holder in July 2000. The WAGN franchise was replaced in 2003 by the One franchise later renamed

National Express East Anglia National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...

. Oyster Card readers came into use on 2 January 2010. In February 2012 operation of the station changed once again, with

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...

taking over the franchise.

Service

There is a half-hourly service southbound to

via Hackney Downs, and two trains per hour northbound to

Hertford East Hertford East railway station is the northern terminus of the Hertford East branch line off the West Anglia Main Line in the east of England, and is located in the town of Hertford in Hertfordshire. It is down the line from London Liverpool Str ...

. Sundays there is an hourly service towards Stratford via Lea Bridge and to Hertford East.

Crossrail 2

The 2015

Crossrail 2 Crossrail 2 is a proposed hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit route in South East England, running from nine stations in Surrey to three in Hertfordshire, providing a new North–South rail link across Greater London. It would connect the ...

public consultation suggested that Brimsdown may in the future be served by trains on this route.

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes 191,

307 __NOTOC__ Year 307 ( CCCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Maximinus (or, less frequently, year 1060 ...

and 491 serve the station.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brimsdown Railway Station Enfield, London Railway stations in the London Borough of Enfield Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884 Greater Anglia franchise railway stations