Cheshunt is a

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

and

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

station in

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

, England. On the National Rail network it is on 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 ...

, 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 situated between and . On the London Overground network it is one of three northern termini of the

Lea Valley lines The Lea Valley lines are two commuter lines and two branches in north-east London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway, now part of the ''Anglia Route'' of Network ...

History

Cheshunt's first railway

A railway existed in Cheshunt before the station and the main line from London were originally opened in the 1840s. The horse-drawn Cheshunt Railway was opened on 26 June 1825. Based on a design by

Henry Robinson Palmer Henry Robinson Palmer (1795–1844) was a British civil engineer who designed the world's second monorail and the first elevated railway. He is also credited as the inventor of corrugated metal roofing, still one of the world's major building m ...

, this line ran for from the town's high street to the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of ...

, near where Cheshunt station is today. This long-defunct railway is of interest as it was the world's first passenger-carrying

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...

and the first railway line to open in Hertfordshire.

Early years (1840-1862)

The line from to Broxbourne 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. Initially a temporary station was opened on Cadmore Lane to the north of the current station but that only lasted for a couple of months between April and 1 June 1842. The existing station was opened by the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the ...

who had leased the N&ER from 1 January 1844,on 31 May 1846 and was located near the level crossing on Windmill Lane. The two platformed station was of timber construction with a two-storey station building and platforms either side of the level crossing. In November 1861 gas lighting was provided. By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when 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 ...

was formed by amalgamation. Thus Cheshunt became a GER station in 1862.

Great Eastern Railway (1862-1922)

In 1881 a footbridge was provided. With the development of horticulture in the Lea Valley during the early 1880s a small goods yard was provided. A new line from Bury Street Junction, north of Lower Edmonton High Level railway station, to Cheshunt was opened by the

on 1 October 1891 and known as the Churchbury Loop. Around this time the station was rebuilt with both platforms located south of the level crossing and additional bay platforms being provided on the up and down side of the station. brick and tile station buildings were provided and a new signal box was provided. In 1905 the platforms were extended and the station was repainted the following year. In 1907 a short siding on the up side south of the station to a ballast pit operated by Boyer & Son was opened. Expansion of the horticultural industry saw the goods yard extended in 1909. Inwards traffic was manure and coal for the horticultural industry. Falling passenger numbers saw the Churchbury Loop passenger services withdrawn on 1 October 1909 and the then President of the Board of Trade,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, had to answer a question on the subject in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

as a railway closure was, at that point, a rare occurrence. During World War I the Lea Valley was a centre of the munitions industry and the government called on the GER to restore passenger services which served the original stations. but once the war finished demand again fell off and services were withdrawn on 1 July 1919.

London & North Eastern Railway (1923-1947)

On 1 January 1923 the GER became part of 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 ...

. In 1932 a new down loop was added south of the junction for the Churchbury Loop line. At this stage the signal box which was located south of the station on the up side had 63 levers for the operation of points and signals.

British Railways (1948-1996)

The nationalisation of Britain's railways saw the operation of Cheshunt station pass to British Railways Eastern Region. from 1958 local passenger services between Cheshunt and London via Tottenham Hale were normally operated by Class 125 diesel multiple units. The lines from via Seven Sisters to and , including those through Cheshunt, were electrified on 21 November 1960. This saw the restoration of passenger services to the former Churchbury Loop line which was renamed the Southbury Loop. Because the Lea Valley local services were diesel operated the down side bay where these normally terminated was not electrified. The goods yard was closed on 1 June 1966. In preparation for the new Lea Valley electric services the area was re-signalled on 11/12 January 1969 although Cheshunt signal box was retained. The lines south via were not electrified until 10 March the same year with electric passenger services starting on 5 May 1969. When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was 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 ...

until the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...

ways.

The Privatisation Era (1996-present)

With the privatisation of the UK's railways in 1994 operation of the station was initially allocated to a business unit which succeeded the old British Railways structure 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. In August 2002 signalling control was transferred to the Liverpool Street Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC), although the signal box officially closed on 24 May 2003. WAGN operated the station from January 1997 until 2004 when the UK

Strategic Rail Authority The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry. Its motto was 'Britain's railway, properly delivered'. I ...

made changes to the franchise arrangements and the line became part of the Greater Anglia franchise which covered the whole of East Anglia.

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 ...

fulfilled a commitment to extend the

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. Overview Bay and islan ...

at Cheshunt to accommodate eight-coach trains (previously it could only accommodate six coaches). The works also involved replacing all existing station buildings, and replacing the station footbridge. Construction commenced in December 2005 and was largely complete by August 2006. Abellio began operating the franchise, then known as the Greater Anglia franchise, in February 2012. Initially it traded under the same name until it rebranded as Abellio Greater Anglia in December 2013.

Ticket barriers In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...

were installed in 2011. The through platforms (platforms 1 and 2) were extended to accommodate 12-coach trains in December 2011, though initially no 12-coach trains were scheduled to call. During the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

, Cheshunt and Waltham Cross stations were the main access point for the Broxbourne whitewater canoe and kayak slalom. An Oyster Card extension to Cheshunt was introduced in January 2013, with the station in

Travelcard zone 8 The Travelcard is an inter-modal travel ticket for unlimited use on the London Underground, London Overground, Elizabeth line, Docklands Light Railway, London Trams,_ "type":_...,_London_Buses_and_National_Rail.html" ;"title="London_Buses.html" ...

. The Liverpool Street–Cheshunt via Seven Sisters service is run by

, after a change from

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 ...

in May 2015. All other services remain under Abellio, which also retains responsibility for the station management.

Services

The typical off-peak service of trains per hour (tph) in September 2019 is as follows: Trains operate in both directions.

Facilities

In 2019 the station consists of two 12 car platforms and one 8-car bay platform used by Southbury Loop services. The modern ticket building is located on the down side and a footbridge links the two through platforms. The station is staffed on all days of the week and a small coffee kiosk is located in the station building. Bike racks and a 184 space car park are provided. Buses pick up from outside the station.

References

External links

{{London Overground navbox, Serving=y, SevenSisters=y Railway stations in Hertfordshire DfT Category C2 stations ategory:Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1891 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1891 Greater Anglia franchise railway stations 1846 establishments in England Cheshunt Railway stations served by London Overground