GENERAL

Kings Cross is the London terminus of the East Coast Main Line. In addition to express passenger trains to the North, there is a busy inner and outer suburban train service and total passenger numbers exceed 40 million a year. The station was designed for the Great Northern Railway by the architect Lewis Cubitt, and was built in 1851-2. It is rumoured that Boudica, the queen of the Iceni, is buried beneath platform 8. 

Present day East Coast Main Line services are operated by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) and other passenger services by West Anglia Great Northern (WAGN), with additional services run by Hull Trains.

In addition to Kings Cross itself, the simulation includes the station and junctions at Finsbury Park. Here Moorgate services diverge via a grade-separated junction and there is also a link via the Canonbury line to Dalston and Stratford.

Freight Terminal Junction gives access to Kings Cross Freight Yard as well as the freight-only North London Incline, which connects with the North London Line at Camden Road.


SIGNALLING
 
The power signalbox at Kings Cross, with an NX Panel, was opened in 1971. Track and signalling is based on the diagrams for that era, with a relatively small number of changes made since that time.

Signal numbers have the prefix K. Standard BR multiple aspect signalling is in use, with Track Circuit Block working.


RUNNING LINES

All lines are bi-directional between Kings Cross station and the crossovers north of Gasworks Tunnel. The North London Incline and the Down Canonbury lines are also bi-directional.
                        
Permissive working of trains of classes 1,2,3 and 5 is permitted on all Kings Cross platform lines.

There are no designated stopping places on running lines for freight trains scheduled to stop in the area. 


PLATFORMS
 
The capacities of platforms are as follows:-
    

  Kings Cross

         Platform              No. of Coaches

             1                       15
             2                       14
             3                       14
             4                       14
             5                       14
             6                       16
             7                       15
             8                       14
             9                        8
            10                        8
            11                        8

  Finsbury Park

         Platform              No. of Coaches

             1                       10
             2                       12
             3                        8
             4/5                      8
             6                        8

  The capacities of sidings, etc, are as follows:-

         Line/Siding           No. of Coaches (Wagons)
         
     East Sidings                    3
     Spur                            3 
     Headshunt (Frt Terminal Jn)    18 (36)
     Finsbury Park run-rounds
        Between sigs 378 & 379      13 (26)
        Between sigs 380 & 381      17 (34)
        Between sigs  60 & 391      14 (28)

  N.B. Reduce capacities by 1 for each loco.


ELECTRIFICATION

Lines in the controlled area are electrified using the 25kV AC overhead system, which was introduced as part of the ECML electrification in 1986.

The Moorgate lines, from a point just beyond the simulation area at Drayton Park, are electrified on the 750V DC system. Trains for this line are operated by dual-voltage EMU stock.

TRAIN REPORTING NUMBERS

First Character (Train Class):

     1      Express Passenger  
     2      Ordinary Passenger       	
     3      Parcels, Freight (Max. over 75 mph), ECS where specially authorised
     4      Freight (Max. up to 75 mph)      
     5      Empty Coaching Stock     	
     6      Freight (Max. 50-60 mph)    
     7      Freight (Max. 40-45 mph)    
     8      Freight (Max. 35 mph or less) 		
     9      Unfitted Freight  			
     0      Light Engine(s)

Second Character (Destination):
    
     A      To Kings Cross (Up Main Line)
     B      To/from Hertford North
     C      To/from Cambridge
     D      To Leeds/Harrogate/Bradford (Dn Main Line)
     E      To East Coast Main Line Zone from another Zone
     H      To/from Hull
     J/K    To Moorgate (Up trains)
     L      To East Anglia Zone
     M      To Midland Zone and North West Zone
     N      To York/Newcastle (Dn Main Line)
     P      To/from Peterborough
     R      To/from Letchworth/Royston
     S      To Scotland Zone
     T      To/from Kings Lynn
     O      To South Zone and South West Zone
     V      To Great Western Zone
            From Moorgate (Down trains)
     X      Out of gauge and exceptional loads
            (including trains formed of Eurostar stock)
     Z      Special trains, Local Movements	        
     
The third and fourth characters indicate the individual train reporting number.

Light locos and empty coaching stock proceeding to/from a booked working may carry the headcode 0 or 5, followed by the last 3 characters of the train concerned.


CURRENT ROLLING STOCK

Most GNER main line services are operated by push-pull sets including a 6090hp Class 91 loco, nine Mk 4 coaches and a driving van trailer (DVLT). GNER also leases three Regional Eurostar sets, which run between London, Leeds and York only.

Trains to destinations on non-electrified lines, including Inverness, Aberdeen and Harrogate, are formed of 9-car diesel-powered HST sets.

WAGN suburban services are formed of class 317/1, 317/6 and 365 4-car EMU sets with a maximum speed of 100mph. Moorgate line trains are formed of Class 313 3-car sets, with a 75mph maximum speed.


OPERATING NOTES

The abbreviation 'F' in train time columns indicates that the timing point is Finsbury Park; other timings are for Kings Cross.

Because of the large number of 'A' buttons provided, an additional facility is provided in the simulation's Options menu to activate or deactivate all of these in one step.


DESIGN COMPROMISES

The facility to "turn back" trains from the Up Fast to Down Fast line at Finsbury Park station has been omitted, including the associated crossover and signals, K68 and K399.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thanks are due to Blair Robinson for providing the information used to produce this simulation and to Steve Williams and David Ridout for supplying timetable data. 

Thanks also to those who spent many hours testing the simulation prior to its release, including  Peter Dean, Vagn Poulsen, Alan Sugden, Richard Thornton, Dave Blick, Rob Weststrate, Peter Mould and Andy Williams.
