Rail connected

Haven't seen the Mid-Hants on the list. I assume they are still connected?

 

When the lease is signed (very very soon) Swanage will have a fully signalled connection.

 

In the very first post..........

 

West Somerset Railway - not to sure on frequency but do know they have started to get a few visiting mainline charters in the last year or two and run some shuttle services to Taunton on gala days.

Bodmin and Wenford (?) - They share the station at Bodmin Parkway (Platforms 1 & 2 NR and platform 3 is theirs) so would imagine they have a connection.

 

WSR - see post 25 Re : Ballast Trains
Bodmin Yes see post 3.

 

Must be going blind as I did scroll back through the thread!

 

Since nobody else has stepped up to volunteer, if I get a chance this afternoon I will whip up a simple page containing the collected data in the thread; that should make it easier to avoid this.

Noel

 

god man, knew someone would if I kept my head down long ehough

 

MHR is also un-gated. Alton box is a fringe box to Woking (eventually will be Basingstoke). Next working scheduled for 3rd Sept.

 

I'm sure last time I was there it was gated, as shown in this pic, not mine.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/forest_pines/7223380424/

 

I agree there is a gate but that is probably not the defining factor for accepting a train between NR and MH. Trains proceeding beyond the end of the NR platform appear to have a signal. This presumably will be jointly cleased by NR and MH.

What I understand as a gated conection is where no signals exist and a gate padlocked by both parties is the physical barier between both companies. Opening the MH gate would not be an authority to procede. can a MH member of the forum confirm my belief

EDIT - checked the MH website and the crossover between MH and NR is controlled from a power pannel in Alton signal box. authority to procede is "via verbal comunication"http://www.watercressline.co.uk/article.php/640/alton-signal-box

 

Unless it's a local instruction, I wouldn't think that a train has authority to proceed based on whether the MH gate is open or not. Gates aren't listed in the RSSB rule book as being signals.

The Strathspey has a gate (or had one when I was there) between its boundary with NR, but it was always left open. Authority onto and off the network was controlled by the release of the ground frame at Aviemore, as an example.

 

There are gates at SVR and like Aviemore are always openAuthority to procede from NR to SVR is given to NR by a release lever which releases the interlocking at WMSC to allow NR to reverse the crossover and clear the appropriate platform starter/ pos light. In the reverse direction the same release lever enables the interlocking to reverse the crossover and to clear a NR signal on the SVR side of the crossover. There is a large multicore cable between SVR box and the WMSC for indications and interlocking

 

I would class Peak Rail as very frequent as every train into Matlock platform 2 is on Network Rail metals from Matlock Riverside where the connection actualy is

 

I think that you can add the Barry Tourist Railway to your list as an infrequently used connection.
Cheers,

 

OK, done (sort of - see below); here: Heritage Lines and Rail Museums Connnected to the U.K. National Network

This is really just a first pass: a lot of the boxes (e.g. connection frequency and type) aren't filled in, I was mostly trying to get the complete list collected up and onto the page. And no doubt there are a few errors of transcription, and research, as well! Please send me, or post, list of corrections/additions, and I will try to get to them 'soon'. A couple of comments/notes:

i) I didn't bother to separate out "medium frequency" and "infrequent" because I couldn't work out a clear dividing line between the two. So at the moment there are only two classes: frequent (i.e. regular scheduled service) and infrequent (e.g. railtours, etc). If we can come up with a clear distinction, and classify all the lines according to that, I'd be happy to add an intermediate class.

ii) Would it be useful to add any other columns? The most obvious would be "location of connection", but another interesting one might be 'line length'.

That's not a bad idea - it would save people having to grovel through the entire thread to find the link. Probably a short thread, with just one or two posts in it, to prevent a recurrence of the problem?


Anyway, hope the page is useful!

Noel

 

The MHR gate is definitely gone, the picture below is from yesterday. See http://www.watercressline.co.uk/article.php/641/new-works for how the connection is now operated.

 

Thanks for the correction. I'll wait a bit and see if any more come in, so that I can batch them all together!

Noel

 

Should Peak Rail be fully signalled? Signals, dollies and box are in place

 

There is no gate at Alton as of two weeks or so ago. The picture linked above is out of date. The crossover is controlled by a ground frame locked by the Alton (MHR) box which is a miniature power box and Woking on the NR side. Authority to move over the connection is now by signals. AT55 and AT57 the home signals on the MHR side will now display a proceed aspect with a route indication. The website will no doubt catch up in due course. If anyone doesn't believe me about the lack of gate, by all means come to the diesel gala this weekend and take a look.