Running on the left line?

[Castle-Man]

First question is would the normal layout for a GWR line to be for a train to run on the left hand track when looking at the roadway?  So for instance when standing on a station with two rails and two platforms one up and one down I would stand on the platform for the direction in which I wish to travel and the train would always approach from the right.

Second part of the question I have just laid out the standard Honby layout as per the sticky 'Getting Started with track Extension Packs using A-F extensions and two DC controllers.  Just looking at the two main loops and adopting what I have said above  The outside loop would travel clockwise and the inside loop would travel anti clockwise.  This seems to make sense and go well with most of the layout.

The bit that seems a bit strange is that when traversing between the two loops by the joining points you would have to have the controllers set in opposite power dirrections.  A little counter intuative but it seems to be the only way.  Is this what others have done and how they have wired everything up.

Hope that all makes sense.

[Castle-Man]

Apologies just read on another thread the problem with breaking paragraphs and the need for a double return.  Now I understand why I spend ages formating my posts to appear as I want them only tofind that the board has just joined everything together.  😢

 

Wonder how long I remember?

[2e0dtoeric]

First question - yes, the left track. If you stand on a bridge, looking down at the track, the train in the left goes away from you.

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Second part - yes.

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Third question (of a sort!) - Yes, that is why you should have the IRJ's (Insulated Rail Joiners) between the two sets of points, and you would have to set the 'other' controller for the reverse direction - unless of course you use DCC!  😛

[Castle-Man]

Thanks for the confirmation 2e0dtoeric.  Yes I kept the wiring page of  Chrissaf 's document  in front of me when laying down the track and remembered to fit the insulating rail joiners to those points.  Also fitted the extra wiring to the top of the outside loop.  Made all my connections in each case with fishplates with wires soldered to them.

 

I am using DC only.

[LCDR]

As a general rule in the UK trains always travelled on the left, much as motor cars are driven on the left.

 

There are as always exceptions.

 

On a single line of course trains can travel in either direction.  Where there are loop lines for trains in opposite directions to pass left hand running is the general rule.

 

Some lines are designated as 'reversible' and on multiple track lines approaching large stations the tracks may all be reversible, good examples of this are Manchester Piccadilly, and Paddington.

 

In the early days a few lines ran on the right hand, the best known being the London and Greenwich Railway.

 

The Ffestiniog Railway between Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog uses right hand running at loops.

 

French Railways also adopted left hand running except in the Eastern Region which abuts Germany, who adopted right hand running on double lines.

 

Certain main lines in the UK in the last 20 years have been given reversible signalling to be used in emergencies. The ECML from Northallerton to Newcastle upon Tyne for example.

[LCDR]

The side of the cab from which a driver drove the locomotive however could vary from railway to railway. In the UK nowadays the driver is usually situated on the left hand side of the cab, but this was not always the case.

 

The GWR for example put the driver's controls on the right hand side of the cab.  The South Eastern & Chatham Railway did likewise, and so did the Midland Railway.  The Fowler 4F 0-6-0 built by the Midland were right hand drive, but the locomotives build after Grouping by the LMS were left hand drive.

[Castle-Man]

Thanks for all the interesting information.

[81F]

 Interesting, in the days whern I had two analogue controlled loops I wired both so that trans travelled in the same direction. This seemed logical at the time because I had the old contreoller with a centre off so you turned the knob clockwise for one direction and anti clockwise for the other, which matched up with the direction of travel on the loop.

 

Workede well with the centr off type control knob but not whenl I had to change to a more modern controller with a reversing switch.

 

As an aside, if you ever get to running a four track mainline, the westerns mainline from Paddington to Didcor operated as two parallell double tracks. Facing Paddington from left to right went UP (to Paddington). DOWN (to Diudcot) then UP and then DOWNt. I believe that this was a peculiarity of this line wich still exists to this day (or it seemed to last Tuesday!) with the leftmost being for local trains.

[LCDR]

 Allocation of multiple tracks vary all over the country. 

Taking four parallel lines as perhaps the most typical then if we regard all lines leading away from London as "Down", and all lines leading to London as "Up", then there are both Down, Down, Up, Up, and Down, Up, Down, Up. configurations.

 

North of Harringay the East Coast main line from London to Scotland is Down Slow, Down Fast, Up Fast and Up Slow all the way to Huntingdon. After Huntingdon the slow lines were discontinued many years ago, and goes forward to Peterboroiugh as double track, apart for some stretches where there are three lines with either an extra down or an extra up line.

 

From Peterborough northwards there are five lines, Down Slow, Up Stamford , Down Fast, Up Fast, Up  Slow, until Werrington where the Stamford lines turn off. From there until Stoke Tunnel the lines revert to Down Slow, Down Fast, Up Fast, Up Slow.

 

From there through Grantham and on to Decoy south of Doncaster it reverts to double track, although there are a few parallel loops, where freight trains can be bypassed. Doncaster area is multiple tracks, many reversible. After Doncaster until Colton Junction south of York it is double track again, but from Colton to York the Leeds lines rune side by side and here it is Down Leeds, Up Leeds, Down ECML and Up ECML into York.

 

After a bit of bi-directional through York the Down/Up/Down/Up arrangement continues to Skelton Junction, just after the Harrogate lines turn off and the railway crosses the river Ouse.  At Skelton the Down/Up/Down Up arrangements changes and becomes Down Slow, Down Fast, Up Fast and Up Slow to Northallerton, where from there northwards double track continues to  Ferryhill  where the line becomes four lines again, but this time arranged Down Fast,  Up Fast, and Down Slow,  Up Slow.

 

So this route can demonstrate both forms of four track arrangement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2e0dtoeric]

Don't forget the Southern - the Dawlish line is an odd one too. The 'wet side' trains run left to right (the correct direction) when looking offshore, but the nearer 'dry' (haha!) side is bi-directional! Not often used unless the traffic is heavy going Plymouth-wards, and they need to get something past a stopper on the normal line.

I think the bi-directional extends from Exeter to Newton Abbott.

[LCDR]

 There were some odd arrangements.

 

For a period the line between East Grinstead and Haywards Heath, normally double track but one line (the down) between Ardingly and Horstead Keynes was used for carriage storage and single line token arrangements put in to work traffic bi-directionally on the other. The new 4Cep electric stock was stored there prior to the Kent Coast electrification (Phase 1) . Condemned wagons were similarly stored north of Horstead Keynes, before being hauled away for scrapping..

 

For a while I worked at Barrow Hill near Staveley, and in my area between Seymour Junction and Markham Colliery there was a double line, BUT the northernmost line was worked bi-directionally, (Direction lever with track circuits) and the southernmost line was a no-block line ending in the sidings at Seymour. From Markham to Bolsover was a proper single line with tablet instruments.

[Jimbo1707820979]

I wonder what our American friends would think of all this ? 😆   Maybe just another example of "those nutty Brits".      I myself am surprised there were not very many head-on collisions. Must be a tribute to our hard working railwaymen.

[LCDR]

 Actually the signal engineers and signalmen are just as important in keeping the railways running safely on a day to day basis.

 

The rules which govern safe working are observed religiously by drivers, guards, signalmen, and all other front line staff, and the safe working systems have been developed over 200 years. There are such things as track circuits, block telegraph, single line tokens and a host of other technical inivations to prevent trains crashing. The safety record of railways is remarkable, so much so that when something DOES go wrong . and a accident occurs it is always headline news.

 

Read any of the books by Stan Hall about railway safety and you will discover just how important these things are.