Tyneside IECC

Gateshead Workstation

Introduction

Gateshead workstation fringes with Darlington workstation to the south, Blaydon signal box to the west, Newcastle workstation to the north, and Sunderland workstation to the south. It is a complex workstation with Tyne Yard at its centre and all the crossing of traffic to, from, and over the East Coast Main Line.

This workstation gets the most phone calls, mostly dealing with Tyne Yard.

Note that abbreviations of KEB have been used for King Edward Bridge for brevity.

Signalling Notes

Tyne Yard (South)

A hollow green circle adjacent to points 2572 turns solid white when they are released to move to the reverse position. Tyne Yard will grant that release if a train is to leave Tyne Yard at signal T188 or enter via T181.

Tyne Yard will phone you to inform you of a departure to the south. Do not accept the train if a train is already routed towards the yard.

Tyne Yard (North)

Slot indicators adjacent to T196 and T198 allow access to T5548 and then into the yard complex.

Tyne Yard will phone you to inform you of a departure to the north. Only accept the train if nothing is routed into that train's line. Also ensure the section between Low Fell and the yard is sufficiently clear to avoid Mexican Stand-offs.

Royal Mail Terminal

The person in charge at the Royal Mail terminal must be telephoned in order to obtain the slot on signal T217 or T228 (as appropriate). The train should not be signalled towards either of these signals until the necessary slot has been given.

Blaydon

There is a slot control which Tyneside grant to Blaydon signalbox. This allows Blaydon to set a route from B10 (siding exit signal) to T5482 (Swalwell Jn).

Swalwell Junction

For the purposes of reversing trains, Swalwell Junction is located between signals T267 and T5482, and signals T5481 and T262. Normally the reporting location is the protecting signal (T266/T261) but this is different for simplicity.

Newcastle/Gateshead Loops

Many trains can, and do, get diverted between KEB South Junction and Newcastle via Greensfield Junction, and between Park Lane Junction and Newcastle via Greensfield Junction (other possibilities also exist). This is okay if it's a multiple unit with driving cabs at both ends and no restrictions on reversing in Newcastle station. Loco hauled trains are a different matter depending on their journey after Newcastle. Trains that can divert will do so without stopping at the diverging signal and will correct their direction when stopped at Newcastle.

Trains that cannot reverse at Newcastle (or must otherwise follow their booked route) will be marked as such in the timetable and the simulation will make those trains call a wrong route at the diverging signal. They can be overridden but check their timetable for any manual corrections that may need to be made by going into the Train List and Edit Timetable.

Beware that the track around Gateshead is effectively a single line from Newcastle South Junction via Greensfield Junction to High Level Bridge Junction. It is therefore easily possible to have two trains safely signalled near to each other but unable to pass each other.

Trains diverted off their planned path in this manner cannot be made ARS until the train regains its booked routing.

St. James Jn

Signal 84 will be held at red unless signal 76 is off or track GTC is occupied due to the short distance between 84 and 76.

Tyneside Central Freight Depot

Signal T5348 has routes to T5341, T5343, and T5349 only. There are no routes to the Up or Down Sunderland.

T5348/T5349, T5342/T5341, T5342/T5343, and T88/T5327 each have opposing locking omitted - both signals can be showing proceed towards each other and do not cancel when a train passes - for shunting purposes.

Bi-directional signalling

The whole ECML within this section is equipped for bi-directional running. Note however that south of Low Fell Junction (towards Darlington) the signalling is of the SIMBIDS variety, which means that wrong-line running carries a severe speed penalty (50 mph max) and usage is allowed only for planned engineering works or to work around emergencies like failed trains, broken rails etc.

Train Describer Notes

Generally, setting a route out of a siding or yard without a train description present will cause a NDSD to appear. This acts as a reminder to correctly describe the train before it gets too far. This is per real life.

Interlockings

There are three interlockings in this area:

TYNEYARD - Chester-le-Street to Low Fell
GATEWEST - Swalwell Jn to KEB North and Low Fell (exclusive)
GATEEAST - Greensfield Jn to St. James Jn

Tyneside Contents

Last edited by Steamer on 26/05/2019 at 16:37