Southbury station

Image: © Marathon Taken: 12 Jul 2017

The line from Edmonton via Lower Edmonton to the centre of Enfield opened on 1st March 1849. The line from Bury Street Junction, north of what is now Edmonton Green, to Cheshunt was opened by the Great Eastern Railway on 1st October 1891 and Southbury station opened on the same day. When it was opened it was called Churchbury and the line was known as the Churchbury Loop. Construction through the relatively level land of the valley was not expensive in terms of engineering but the GER chose to spend lavishly on stations designed for heavy suburban traffic. The three stations on the loop were substantially built in stone, red brick and tiles, with all facilities, but their long, well-canopied stations looked rather out of place amongst the market gardens and brickfields. They were clearly intended to blend in with the large middle class villas that they were expected to serve. The main building of Churchbury station, sitting over the line, was the most impressive of the three intermediate stations on the loop between Lower Edmonton (now Edmonton Green) and Cheshunt. This was as it was the nearest of the three to London it was expected to have the most suburban business. There were only a few cottages between the station and Hertford Road, whilst to the west there was nothing but two brick works. In the first ten years the line was open the district lacked residential traffic as builders showed no wish to buy up the nurseries, market gardens and brickfields along the route. The low passenger revenue was disastrously eroded by the introduction of trams from Lower Edmonton to Enfield Lock. These were not only cheaper than the trains but also passed through the centre of the then thinly built-up area each side of the main road. Receipts at Churchbury fell to half what they had been which was not much in the first place. The GER decided to completely abandon passenger services, the last train running on 30th September 1909. Freight traffic continued, although just covering costs. The passenger services over the loop were briefly restored during the First World War to bring in the workforce to the arms factories in the area. The service declined rapidly after the War with the rundown of the factories, and the service was withdrawn again from 30th September 1919. The three stations were leased out for non-railway purposes. Churchbury was a joinery works for many years, the platform canopies boarded in. Later it acted as a store for a builder's merchants. In the 1950s it was proposed that the line, amongst others, would be electrified and as part of this passenger services would be resumed over the loop which would thenceforth be known as the Southbury Loop. Churchbury would be renamed Southbury. Work on rebuilding the main line started in 1956. At first it was thought the stations might be rebuilt but financial pressure and the discovery that their substantial construction remained sound led to a decision to simply refurbish. At Southbury the old canopies were repaired and the original buildings thoroughly cleaned up. Passenger services resumed on 21st November 1960. On 31st May 2015 the station and all services that call here became part of the London Overground network. This is the view from the down platform. The next station in this direction is Turkey Street.

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