SECTIONAL APPENDIX - DURHAM


General and History
The first station which served the cathedral town of Durham was Shincliffe, located in the nearby village of that name, just outside Durham itself.
This station was opened by the Durham and Sunderland Railway in 1839. This station was closed in 1893, when Elvet station was opened (see below).
Gilesgate station was the next station. It was opened in 1844 on a branch from Belmont off the Leamside to Ferryhill line, which at the time was the main line between Darlington and Newcastle. This station was closed for passenger services in 1857 with the opening of the present station, but it was in use as goods depot until closure in 1966.
In 1857, the North Eastern Railway, which by then had incorporated most railways is the North East, build a new station in Durham on the extension from Leamside to Bishop Auckland. This station was situated high over the town, with an impressive viaduct just south of it over the River Browney. This was the first station on the location of the present station.
In 1871, the NER build a new route from Ferryhill to Newcastle which ran via Durham and Chester-le-Street. The existing station was rebuild to accommodate the trains on this new route, which became the East Coast Main Line in 1872, and which, of course, still is the ECML today. This new route has a junction with the existing line to Bishop Auckland just south of the station and the viaduct, at Relly Mills, and a junction with the line to Sunderland just north of the station, at Newton Hall.
The final station build in Durham was Elvet, build in 1893, which was the terminal on a new extension from the Durham to Sunderland branch. It closed to passengers in 1931, and was fully closed in 1953.
Durham station, and the East Coast Main Line, still, of course, exist today.
The Sunderland to Bishop Auckland line was closed in 1964.
Over time, the layout at Durham was simplified. All bays, the North and South Docks and also the engine and turntable sidings were all lifted, leaving only the main lines.
In the up direction, the Up Slow was reduced to the section between Newton Hall and the north end of the station and renamed Up Loop, leaving only the Up Fast through the station. In the down direction, the Down Fast was maintained.
This section of the ECML was electrified in 1991.

This simulation depicts Durham station as it was in the early 1950s.

Local instructions
South Box Down Home Signals

The Home Signals on the Down line on the south end of the station had a rather unusual operation.
The shunt signal was located on the same gantry post as the main signal. According to the diagram, the levers for the shunt signals were 50(1) for the route to the Down Fast, and 51(1) for the route to the Down Slow. The levers for the main signals were 50(2) for the Down Fast and 51(2) for the Down Slow.
So, the shunt and main signals were operated by the same lever which was a three state lever. This also meant that when the main signal was cleared, the shunt signal was also cleared. This is clearly visisble in the opening picture.
In the simulation, this has been represented using levers 501 and 511 for the shunt signals, and 502 and 512 for the main signals. The shunt signals must be cleared before the main signals can be cleared.


Intermediate Block Signals

On all four lines at the north end of the station, Intermediate Block Signals (Crookhall IBS) control the section to the next box, or the first section from the next box. The sections between the last station signal and the IBS (Down Direction), as well as from the IBS to the first signal (Up Direction) are considered to be a separate blocks.
Therefore, in the Down direction, distant signals in the station area only read through the last station signal and not through the IBS, so these distant signals can be cleared even if the IBS is not off. Also, trains need not to be cautioned at the preceding signal if the IBS is still at danger. The IBS had their own distant signal, combined with and slotted by the last main signal in the station area.
In the Up direction, the distant signals for the IBS read through the IBS only and can be cleared refardless of the state of the next signal. Also, caution is not required at the IBS signal if the next signal is not cleared.

Bay Platforms

The Bay Platforms and the Docks, both at the north and south end of the station, have been allocated to a separate location. This location is also named Durham. Allocating these platforms to a separate location enables definition of properly times shunt moves between the main through lines and the bay platforms.

Engine Sidings

The two engine sidings have been allocated to two separate locations, to ensure engine are stored in correct order for their next working.

Opposite Direction working through the station

Trains working in opposite direction was allowed on all four main lines through the station. These workings were controlled by two additional levers.
The Request lever is located in the box where the train originates, this requests the clearing of the line for opposite direction working.
The other box can permit this working by drawing the Accept lever.
The Request lever locks all signals which control traffic in the normal direction out of the line for which opposite direction working is requested.
The Accept lever locks all signals which control access to the required line in normal direction, and releases signals which control access in opposite direction.
For full details please see the locking table. 

Up and Down Slow Lines to Newton Hall

The Up and Down Slow Lines only reached as far as Newton Hall.
The Down Slow line was only used to hold trains which needed to be overtaken. These trains were held at Newton Hall, so the section would not be cleared until the train was overtaken and could proceed from Newton Hall. To set this up correctly for the simulation, a station has been defined on the Down Slow, named Newton Hall, and trains will be stopped at this station until the booked time for departure from Newton Hall. All other trains ran down to Newton Hall on the Down Fast.
At Newton Hall, which was the junction for the line from Leamside, the Up line from Leamside became the Up Slow. Therefor, all trains coming from the Leamside line will approach Durham on the Up Slow. All trains coming from the main line will approach on the Up Fast.


Adaptations

Durham station was controlled from two boxes, the South box and the North box. The levers of the South Box are numbered as original, levers of the North Box are numbered as original plus 100.
On the Down Slow to the north of the station, between signals [20]5 and [1]28, there was a groundframe-controlled switch giving access to a single line siding (named Crookhall Siding). There also was an additional signal, just south of this switch, facing in the up direction, numbered [20]6.
Because no evidence was found regarding the use of this siding, this siding and the additional signal are not included in the simulation.

Track Circuits

There were only a limited number of track circuits in this area, additional track circuits have been created in the simulation to ease the control of trains.
South Box : there were no track circuits in the area controlled by the South Box.
North Box : the following track circuits are as per original drawing :
1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25.
Fringe boxes
Distance to fringe boxes:
Relly Mills : 1 mile  2 chains
Newton Hall : 1 mile 29 chains

General instructions
Rules to caution trains.
For semaphore signalling, the rule (rule 39A) applied that for a sequence of signals which had no intermediate or combined distant signal, if the last signal in this sequence could not be cleared, all preceding signals had to be kept at 'danger' at the approach of the train and could only be cleared if the speed of the train was sufficiently reduced. For the simulation, the speed must be reduced (to about 10 mph on approach). The speed while passing the signal must not exceed 15 mph.
See the locking details for the list of signals and conditions where and when trains must be cautioned. Note that the cautioning does not always apply for shunt moves which are wholly within the station area.

Locking rules.
For locking rules please see locking table.

FPL.
Facing Point Locks (FPL) have been provided where these were installed - see Locking information for details.
FPL's normally stand 'in', i.e. the normal position of these levers is 'normal', in this position the linked switches are locked. To operate the switch, set the FPL lever to 'reverse'. Once the switch is thrown, return the FPL lever to 'normal'. FPL levers are locked in 'normal' if a route is set over the switch on which they operate, or when this route is occupied. If an FPL is in 'reverse' position, all routes over the related switch are blocked and signals can not be cleared.
Note that if an FPL operates on a switch which is part of a crossover, these rules generally also apply to the other switch of this crossover even if the FPL does not work directly on this switch; some shunt moves are exempt from this rule.

Notes on shunting
The 'shunt' command must be used if a train is to reverse at a particular signal. It is good practice to issue the shunt command before clearing the last signal which leads to the location where the train is to reverse, this in order to avoid 'overshoot' when the shunt command is issued too late for the engine to brake in time, which will result in the engine running past the reversal point up to the next signal.
The 'shunt' command can be issued for a train waiting to depart as issuing this command does not affect the timed departure of this train. However, the shunt command must NOT be used for a signal which is beyond a booked station stop before the train has come to a stand for that specific station stop. Setting the shunt command before the train has stopped will cancel out the station stop, and will lead to an error on missed station stop.
 
If an engine is to be attached to a train, it has to be terminated before it can do so.
If the engine is terminated in the same location as the train to which it is to be attached, it will stop short of this train. After the engine has terminated and is redescribed to a 0Z** number, it can be moved onto the train using the 'proceed' command, and can then be coupled to the train using the 'couple' command.
If the engine is terminated in another location and is moved onto the train while it already has a 0Z** number, it will move up to the train and can then be coupled using the 'couple' command.

Section lengths
The list below details the lengths of platforms and sidings etc.
The length is defined in units, each unit equals an engine, a passenger coach, or 3 wagons.

Down Slow (Platform 3)                            : 13 units
Down Fast (betw signals 13 and 106)               : 13 units
Up Fast (from signal 4 back to clear of pts. 160) : 11 units
Up Slow (Platform 4)                              : 11 units

North Dock : 3 units
Platform 1 : 4 units
Platform 2 : 5 units
Platform 5 : 5 units

Platform 6 : 5 units
Platform 7 : 5 units
South Dock : 3 units

Engine Sidings (1 and 2) : 5 units
Bank Engine Siding       : 3 units

For shunt moves :
Between sigs. 17 and 41 etc.      : 23 units
Between sigs. 185/189 and 113/118 :  8 units
Between sigs. 205 and 128         : 23 units
Between sigs. 215 and 115         : 23 units

Speed Restrictions
Main lines : 90 mph, except between Relly Mills and the south end of the station, which is limited to 76 mph.
Slow lines : 40 mph
All turnouts, loops, sidings etc. : 15 to 25 mph
                           
Train Reporting Numbers
Train reporting numbers only came into use in later years, and also changed over the years. See timetable information for details.

Opening Picture
The opening picture shows Class A1 no. 60120 (Kittywake) on the famous viaduct, approaching Durham station from the south on an unidentified working on sept. 24th 1960. Note that by this time, some signals on the gantry have been removed  two shunt signals and distant signal [10]2 have been removed.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to PCRail-Test team for their help in testing this simulation, and as ever to John Dennis for providing the basic program for the heritage simulations.





             
