Crewe

Start-Up Options

Scenarios

Normal

No special scenario. All lines are open.

Salop Goods Junction Closed

Salop Goods Junction signal box is closed. All freight which is booked this way must be routed via Crewe Station. Traffic booked via Salop Goods for Basford Hall Yard must be routed via Crewe Station and the South Yard connection at Signal CE543.

Trains booked to enter on the Up Manchester Independent will instead be routed via the Up Wilmslow (And notifications will go to the Crewe PSB North Signaller).

Eras

1985 - 1990

This era represents the old layout of Salop Goods Junction, pre-rationalisation, simplification and removal of access to the Down Chester Independent.
Many sidings lines at Gresty Lane are also present.

1990 - 2007

Salop Goods Junction has been remodelled, along with the rationalisation of Gresty Lane.
A new trailing connection to Crewe Works has also been provided via the Up Chester.

2007 - 2015

Weaver Junction has lost its passenger loops, and in part these have been turned into the main passenger lines, giving higher line speeds for trains to and from Liverpool.
The Up and Down Passenger Loop and associated sidings down from Winsford has also been removed and signalling simplified with auto signals.
The trailing crossover and associated signalling between the Up and Down Fast at Crewe Coal Yard, as well as the sidings have been removed.
A fourth line, acting as the Down Fast has been added between Hartford Junction and Acton Grange station.
The MOD siding at Barthomley Junction has been removed, along with associated signalling.

2016 - 2023

Gresty Lane Signal Box has been closed, and replaced with a new panel located within Crewe SCC. This has led to the abolition of Absolute and Permissive Block sections between Nantwich, Salop Goods and Sorting Sidings North. Please note that this era does not chain to Shrewsbury.
Hartford Junction again received some remodelling work, giving higher line speeds to trains coming from Hartford CLC Junction, with Signals WD152 and WD254 becoming controlled, and their overlaps extending onto the Up Slow to Up Fast Crossover.

Other Options

TORR

When TORR is disabled, only Crewe PSB (North & South), and Gresty Lane (2016 era only) will have TORR. All other areas are either Mechanical signal or boxes without TORR.

Level Crossings

Level Crossings can be disabled on startup. When disabled, you’ll see the locations of crossings, but will have no controls, workstation indications or phone calls.

Extra Auto Buttons

Much of the Crewe area is worked by either lever frames or panels which do not have any auto functionality. To aid the playability for a reduced number of players, extra auto buttons have been placed throughout the simulation.

These are provided for Basford Hall Junction, Steelworks, Coal Yard and Winsford for the straight ahead routes.

The modern post 2016 Gresty Lane panel has auto buttons, and of course are available irrespective of the startup option.

Absolute Block Fringes

Uncheck this option to remove the absolute block controls at the fringes of the sim to the external signal boxes.

Absolute Block

Uncheck this option will remove the AB controls within the sim. (The fringe AB controls will remain there unless the AB fringes options has been unchecked).

Scale of problems

Choose the scale of train delays and infrastructure failures. The normal SimSig options of “None”, “Low”, “Medium” and “High” are available. Select which one you wish to play from the drop-down menu. Note that through the manual, “None” and “Low” will be referred to as Easy, and “Medium” and “High” referred to as Difficult.

Last edited by Hap on 21/02/2024 at 23:44