
INTRODUCTION

The District Line first opened in 1868 as the Metropolitan District Railway and ran between Westminster and South Kensington. The line reached Hammersmith in 1874, opening up a new route into central London from the growing suburbs in the west of the city.  The line extended further still to Richmond in 1877 and Ealing Broadway in 1879. Today, the line serves sixty stations over some forty route miles. In 2000, the District Line carried 211.4 million passengers, making it the most used London Underground route.  

This simulation is centred on Earl's Court station on the District Line. It accurately represents a selected part of the real installation at the Earl's Court Control Room, which signals the whole of the District Line west of Tower Hill, with a few exceptions. Within the area represented by the simulation are the stations at Earl's Court, Olympia, West Kensington, West Brompton, High St Kensington and Gloucester Road. As well as the District Line trains, the simulation shows Circle Line trains passing through High St Kensington and Gloucester Road.

Train times shown are for Earl's Court, except Circle Line trains, for which High Street Kensington times are shown.

OPERATING NOTES

The main differences compared to other PC-Rail simulations are:

* A single combined Train Information window is provided.
* Routes are set by clicking on route buttons, not on the signals on the layout display or by keyboard input.
* Train numbering includes multiple trips using the same train number.
* No timetable editor, late running or failures options.
* No 'next train' berths, or TRS indications.
* Simulation can run in automatic mode, using the 'Auto' buttons provided.

Refer to the "Help" file for further details of the operation of the simulation.

Note:

As an aid to learning the controlled routes, the route buttons can be operated while the simulation clock is stopped.

EARL'S COURT

All District Line trains pass through Earl's Court and it is the busiest station with four platforms used by the District Line - two eastbound and two westbound. Eastbound services use platforms 1 and 2. Services from West Kensington and Olympia can be routed into either platform, but services from Wimbledon can only be routed to platform 2. Trains approaching from Gloucester Road can be routed to either of the westbound platforms 3 and 4, but trains from High Street Kensington have to pass through platform 4. At peak times a train is timetabled to go through each of the platforms about every three to five minutes.

HIGH ST KENSINGTON

In addition to the through platforms (1 and 2) there are two bay platforms (3 and 4). Platform 3 is most frequently used by the D Stock trains operating the High Street Kensington to Olympia shuttle service. Platform 4 is used extensively at the start and towards the finish of traffic by both D and C Stock trains.  There are a number of booked D Stock trains in the morning which depart from Ealing Common Depot and then reverse at High Street Kensington to all of the westbound destinations, using platform 3 or 4. Trains coming into service from Triangle Sidings also reverse here to go back via Earls Court to Wimbledon. Similar moves take place towards the end of the day.

SIGNAL NUMBER PREFIXES

These are the IMR (Interlocking Machine Room) Codes

	EC Earl's Court 		
	ED High St Ken			
	EE Gloucester Rd		
	WB West Kensington
	WC Barons Court

ROLLING STOCK

	C Stock 	6 coaches		Max. speed 40 mph
	D Stock 	6 coaches		Max. speed 45 mph

	Note: D Stock trains are too long to use Triangle Sidings.

TRAIN NUMBERS

 1 - 24		Upminster - Richmond
26 - 51		Upminster - Wimbledon (SuX)
26 - 46		Barking - Wimbledon (SuO)
53 - 65		Tower Hill - Ealing Broadway
70 - 77		Edgware Road - Wimbledon
101 - 107	Upminster Depot Interpeak Stablers
110			Richmond overnight stabler
111 and 112 Upminster Depot spare trains (SO)
121 - 127	Ealing Common Depot Interpeak Stablers
141 and 142	Ealing Common Depot spare trains (SO)
151 and 152	High Street Kensington - Kensington (Olympia)
161 and 162	Hammersmith Depot midday stablers

Trains 70-77, 161 and 162 are formed of 6 cars of C stock. 
The composition of all other trains is 6 cars D stock.

There is also an allocation of empty stock transfer paths:
 
750			Ealing Common Depot to Upminster Depot
751			Upminster Depot to Ealing Common Depot
752			Upminster Depot to Barking Sdgs and return (Mon-Fri)
753			Ealing Common Depot to Ruislip Sdg and return (Mon-Fri)
754			Ealing Common Depot to Neasden Depot
755			Neasden Depot to Ealing Common Depot

Circle Line trains are numbered:
 
201 - 207   Outer Circle
211 - 217   Inner Circle

SCHEDULED TRAINS IN SERVICE 'Snapshot
 
		   0600	   0900	   1200	   1500	   1800	   2100	   2400

Mon - Fri	43		77		61		61		77		63		50
Saturday	41		61		61		61		61		61		50
Sunday		 -		58		58		58		58		58		 -

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF TRAINS REQUIRED FOR SERVICE
  
Depot 				 Mon - Fri		 Saturdays		 Sundays
 
Upminster				29				22*				21
Ealing Common			31				24*				22
Richmond				 1				 1				 1
Barking					 1				 1				 1
Parsons Green Sdgs		 5 + 3C			 5 + 3C			 5 + 3C
Triangle Sidings		 3C@			 2C@			 5C
Hammersmith				 4C				 2C				 -
 
Total					67 + 10C		53 + 8C			50 + 8C
 
 C Denotes C Stock - all other trains composed of 6 car D Stock 
 * Does not include spare trains 
 @ Plus 2 C Stock (12 cars) for Hammersmith & City Line service
 
DESIGN COMPROMISES

On the Circle line between Gloucester Rd and High St Kensington, crossover 205 and shunt signals EE206 and ED14 are omitted due to space limitations.
Also signals EC9A/B and EC31A/B are each shown as one signal.

TIMETABLE

The timetable included with the simulation was compiled from Working Time Table WTT130, which came into effect on 28th September 2003. It covers the full weekday service. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
  
Thanks are due to present and former staff of London Underground for their support and assistance in the development of this simulation. 

Much of the background information above is taken from District Dave's London Underground Site, www.trainweb.org/districtdave/.

Thanks also to Alan Sugden and the others who have assisted in testing the simulation prior to release.
