On Apr 11, 5:59*pm, "Tim Roll-Pickering" T.C.Roll-
wrote:
Boltar wrote:
I never understood why it was part of it in the first place.

It wasn't. It was more like the third place.

Thameslink was supposed to be a north to south express route. Not a
north to obscure-suburb-in-sw-london local train. I mean why Sutton?

I think it was a by-product of available routes - and also I don't think it
was part of the original set-up in the late 1980s, which nixes the idea it
was a Holborn Viaduct inheritance. Until about 1994 (?) the second
Thameslink branch ran via West Croydon, Sutton, Epsom and Guildford, whilst
I recall the "loop" didn't really operate as such but rather South London
Lines trains ran from the terminuses to Wimbledon, Sutton and then West
Croydon (and possibly back up to the centre), with the Sutton to Mitcham
section covered by trains to/from Victoria.

Then between 1994 & 1996 (?) the second Thameslink branch was cut back to
West Croydon. Then from about 1996 (?) it was replaced with the Sutton loop.

It has changed around quite a lot. The Holborn Viaduct to Sevenoaks
service was more consistent, and was originally taken over by
Thameslink.

Where the other Holborn Viaduct trains went swapped around more, and
the swapping around continued with Thameslink, so I think the
inheritance idea is valid.

For a few years in the early 1990s, trains ran in a partial figure of
eight, going from London Bridge to Wimbledon, then Sutton, then
Selhurst and on to Victoria.

I think in the past some trains from Holborn Viaduct may have ended up
at Victoria as well in a similar way.



I presume the reasoning was to cut down the amount of track it shared with
what was then Connex South Central and also the problems of congestion - in
early 1994 I started commuting Epsom to Blackfriars but my recollection is
that the through service was never a viable option, possibly because it took
far too long, perhaps because the timetable didn't fit well with my
departure and arrival needs.

Why not Wandsworth or Dulwich or Chessington or ..... If anyone
suggested the northbound thameslink had a terminus at Barnet everyone
would laugh, but for some reason if its in south london no ones bats
an eyelid.

Well yes - but the rail routes long predated Thameslink. And also the
limited number of tubes in South London means that a through service that
can reach North London is not undesirable - and the Sutton loop is about as
far west from the Croydon mainline as Thameslink could reasonably do (any
further would still need to go as far as Wimbledon and then clash with both
whatever was serving Wimbledon to Sutton and the south west lines).