Could there be stations at Pickett's Lock or Carterhatch Lane in North London?

[Instinct04]

Hi all, just wondering

Why is it that the WAML doesn't really serve Edmonton (i.e no station at Pickett's Lock)
Why is it that the Southbury Loop has no station in Enfield Highway (i.e no station at Carterhatch Lane)

Could anyone please shed some light on this, it really annoys me as I personally live in near picketts lock and must travel all the way to Edmonton Green to catch a train, when the WAML is just quietly sitting there behind my block of flats.

 

[30907]

Hi all, just wondering

Why is it that the WAML doesn't really serve Edmonton (i.e no station at Pickett's Lock)
Why is it that the Southbury Loop has no station in Enfield Highway (i.e no station at Carterhatch Lane)

Could anyone please shed some light on this, it really annoys me as I personally live in near picketts lock and must travel all the way to Edmonton Green to catch a train, when the WAML is just quietly sitting there behind my block of flats.

I suppose that, back in the day when railway companies were encouraging speculative housebuilding, the WAML had less potential because one side of it was pretty marshy? Certainly the train service reflected that. Even the Southbury loop was a failure and closed very quickly.

As a result, there are built-up areas a mile or so from the nearest station (which isn't that unusual in suburban London).

A station at Picketts Lock might be sensible, but it would require quadruple track, which is often talked about but no more.

 

[Magdalia]

Hi all, just wondering

Why is it that the WAML doesn't really serve Edmonton (i.e no station at Pickett's Lock)
Why is it that the Southbury Loop has no station in Enfield Highway (i.e no station at Carterhatch Lane)

Could anyone please shed some light on this, it really annoys me as I personally live in near picketts lock and must travel all the way to Edmonton Green to catch a train, when the WAML is just quietly sitting there behind my block of flats.

The Lea Valley route goes back near to the beginning of railway history. For most of the intervening time there was no station at Picketts Lock because there was nothing there, especially on the east (river) side of the line. Meridian Way did not exist until about 30 years ago. My 1980 A to Z shows this area as being a sewage works.

Carterhatch Lane did have a halt opened in 1916 for munitions factory workers but like Churchbury, Forty Hill and Theobalds Grove it was closed in 1919. What is now the Southbury loop then had no passenger service until electrification in 1960. Southbury (was Churchbury) and Turkey Street (was Forty Hill) are less than 2 miles apart, I don't know if consideration was given to providing another station in between.

 

[Bald Rick]

There was a one person campaign to get a station at Picketts Lock about a decade ago.

The simple reason there is no station there is that almost everyone who lives within a 15 minute walk of a statuon there already lives within a 15 minute walk of Edmonton Green, Ponders End or Meridian Water. Therefore putting a station there wouldn’t generate much ‘new to rail’ custom, but simlly transfer it from other stations.

Also, putting another stop in the services on that line is not possible without either major infrastructure works, or slowing down journeys for almost every other user of the line.

So, in short, minimal benefit, and lots of cost and disbenefit.

 

[Basil Jet]

There were proposals to build a stadium and station at Picketts Lock in connection with the (from memory) 2005 World Athletics Championships.

After the games had been awarded to Picketts Lock, the transport minister, Sheffield Central MP Richard Caborn, announced to the athletics body that they would be in Sheffield instead...

So the Athletics body stripped them from Britain completely, and the stadium and station never happened in Picketts Lock (or in Sheffield).