Happy birthday Richmond electrification, you turn 21 today! On 17 August 1991, the Riverstone- Richmond section of the Richmond Line saw electric trains introduced. Three 2 car L-sets provided shuttle services between the two stations, providing connections to through trains to the city from Riverstone. A shuttle arrangement was necessary because power supplies were initially inadequate to allow more than one 8-car train north of Riverstone at any one time, surely a strange set of affairs for a new electrification project, however the initial project did not include platform lengthening to a full 8- car length, so the 2 car shuttles simply plodded along to the same timetable as the 2-car diesels that operated previously. The line had been served by fairly dilapidated 2 car 600 class trains, two sets of which were shunted off to the Hunter after their time had finished on the Richmond Line.
The electrification of the Richmond line had a long gestation, with the section to Riverstone electrified in 1975 and seemingly little thought about doing the rest until some masts appeared in the mid 1980's. The newly elected Greiner government in 1988 halted the (slow) work, until work restarted in March 1991, with completion by August. It took another year or so until power supply and platform lengthening allowed 8-car running from Richmond through to the city.
