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Panel Overview
South Croydon to East Grinstead

Panel Overview

South Croydon to East Grinstead

In this description landmarks are referenced for trains travelling in the down direction. Trains from South Croydon enter at the bottom left of the screen, passing through Sanderstead and Riddlesdown stations on the way. You as the signalman will be aware of their rough location by way of the Train Describer. Trains on the Down will enter your control area 200 yards beyond Riddlesdown station, and trains on the Up leave the control area 200 yards beyond Upper Warlingham. Trains then continue on the Up and Down East Grinstead lines through the stations at Upper Warlingham and Woldingham, passing over a crossover controlled by a Ground Frame at the latter. Trains will then enter Oxted Tunnel (1 mile 501 Yards), note there are no stop signals located within this tunnel. Immediately after trains leave the tunnel they pass under the M25 motorway (not marked on the panel), which marks their approach to Oxted station itself.

Oxted station comprises 3 platforms. Platforms 1 and 2 are both capable of holding 12 car trains while platform 3 can only hold a maximum of 4 coaches. Please note that only diesel trains are permitted to use platform 3; any electric traffic routed to this platform will find itself gapped and as drivers of electric trains will not accept a route to this platform. Access is only from the south end; any service which is due to depart from platform 3 must shunt via signal 306 to reach this location. Platforms 1 and 3 are permissive . Below the station are the Dock Siding to the left and the Up Siding to the right, which would normally be used for berthing on track machines during the day between possessions. Warner routes are available for trains entering platforms 1 and 2.

Leaving Oxted, trains pass over Oxted viaduct which has a speed restriction in place for locomotive hauled trains. Please see simulation operation for more information on timetable writing to get these to take effect. To see a picture of this and the other viaducts on the line visit http://www.semgonline.com/structures/struct_57.html

Once trains have traversed the viaduct they then enter Limpsfield Tunnel (565 Yards) on their way to Hurst Green. Hurst Green station is the second station with this name, the original was a simple wooden halt located nearer the junction which closed on 12 June 1961, with the current station opening at the same time. In current timetables there is one train per day that originates from here in the mornings. Please see the simulation operation section for details on how to perform this move. As trains depart Hurst Green they pass over Hurst Green Junction where the non-electrified lines to Uckfield diverge to the left. A shunt signal is provided on the Down East Grinstead line to allow trains to reverse.

Once clear of Hurst Green Junction, trains head towards Lingfield passing over Sunt Farm Occupation Crossing and below the original South Eastern Railway main line from London to Dover just after the site of Crowhurst Junction (these are not marked on the panel). As trains arrive at Lingfield station they pass over the Ground Frame at the north end of the station. On leaving the station, trains pass over the Racecourse Occupation Crossing. Shortly after passing through Dormans, Cookspond Viaduct is crossed, before passing the site of St. Margaret's Junction and the crossovers for East Grinstead station.

East Grinstead comprises two platforms, both of which are capable of holding an eight car train. Permissive working is permitted in both platforms. A simple auto-working function is provided at East Grinstead, which will route trains in and out of platform 2 on a one-in, one-out basis. Trains booked to use Platform 1 must be routed manually. Trains may not be stabled (i.e. parked and left by the crew) in platform 2, as a brake failure could result in the train running away on the main line.

Leaving East Grinstead, trains pass onto the Hill Place viaduct, also known locally as Imberhorne Viaduct to terminate in the Up Siding. In 2013 mode, trains may exit the area here, passing onto the preserved Bluebell Railway, which extended to East Grinstead in that year. All lines on this journey are electrified using conductor rails at 750V DC.

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Hurst Green to Uckfield

Returning to Hurst Green Junction, we now take the left hand divergence and head towards Uckfield. Trains head towards Edenbridge Town passing through the two Little Browns Tunnels as they do so. Between the two tunnels, the former South Eastern Railway crosses the Uckfield line. Just to the south of the station is a clipped and padlocked emergency crossover. After passing Edenbridge Town, trains head into Hever Station with Hever Junction located to the south of the station.

Hever Junction was formed when various sections of the Uckfield line were reduced to single track in the January of 1990, and the first of these single line sections starts here to pass through Mark Beech Tunnel (1341 Yards) and the station at Cowden to reach Blackham Junction. This portion of single line is equipped with direction of flow indicators.

As we pass Blackham Junction we enter a short stretch of double track line, which acts as a unidirectional set of passing loops through Ashurst station. At Ashurst Junction the line once again becomes single track.

Shortly after, at the former Birchden Junction, we encounter another recently-extended preserved line in the form of the Spa Valley Railway, which runs from Tunbridge Wells. The two single lines run parallel into Eridge station.

Beyond Eridge, we continue towards Crowborough Junction. This section of single line is equipped with direction of flow indicators.

Passing Crowborough Junction our journey takes us back onto double track as we approach the station at Crowborough. Crowborough Station has two platforms both of which are reversible for the purpose of terminating trains. It must be noted that trains can only terminate from the Oxted direction. As we leave Crowborough, we pass the connection to the (very overgrown) engineers Siding, entry to which is controlled by a Ground Frame. Shortly after leaving Crowborough Tunnel (1022 Yards) we pass over Sleeches Viaduct to approach Greenhurst Junction.

At Greenhurst Junction we enter our final stretch of single line to make our approach to Uckfield. It should be noted that direction of flow indicators are not provided for this section of single line. Immediately after passing the junction we then pass over Greenhurst Viaduct. Our journey then takes us through Buxted Station to pass over Hempstead Crossing and finally arrive at the single platform of Uckfield Station.


Last edited by Steamer on 19/07/2017 at 18:56