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[email protected] · August 8th 14, 12:33 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
06:39:29 on Fri, 8 Aug 2014, remarked:
Shenfield, while not being a dead-end, is very much the "edge of
London" (in a way that nether Harold Wood or Brentwood are) and a
lot of trains terminate there (6tph), also in future with Crossrail.

You probably know that area a lot better than me but I've never
understood why Shenfield has always been the limit of GE Main Line
suburban services. Why not Chelmsford, for example?

Chelmsford station is on a viaduct and has just two platforms and a
turnback siding. It just doesn't have the capacity to reverse many
trains, and there was a good enough main line service for those
heading for London. To get to intermediate stations it was always
"change at Shenfield", which has five platforms.

Back in the 70's, which was before Chelmsford's expansion to become a
dormitory town, many of the trains terminated at Gidea Park, which
was regarded as about as far out as commuters would normally live.

But Chelmsford is more like Bishop's Stortford, the West Anglia limit of the
1960s electrification. The fact that Chelmsford would require infrastructure
investment wasn't a block then.

--
Colin Rosenstiel