SECTIONAL APPENDIX - NEWCASTLE JN and CLIFF VALE (Stoke-on-Trent)
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General and History
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The line through Stoke-on-Trent was first cut between 1848-1849 from Colwich on the London Line to Macclesfield on the line to Manchester. It was known as the North Staffordshire Railway (or the Knotty). Later extensions were added, the Stoke to Derby line, the Biddulph Line, the Newcastle Branch to Market Drayton and the Potteries Loop line to Kidsgrove along with other various branch lines and by the end of the 1800's it was a very successful franchise. It was paid for largely by local businessmen who did not want to pay the high freight charges imposed by the larger railway companies.

Staffordshire was very rich in minerals and with its China Porcelain, Iron and Steel and Coal industries, was very wealthy. This resulted in a very busy railway operation in a relatively small area. Passenger traffic was soon established with direct services between Manchester and London, Crewe to Derby and the local services to Trentham, the five towns (Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall and Longton along with the forgotten 6th town, Fenton), with partnerships with the LNER. Running rights were established with other railway companies and "Knotty" engines could travel to popular seaside resorts as far as Llandudno in North Wales.

Block Working
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Like all Signalboxes in the Stoke area, Newcastle Junction and Cliff Vale, were worked by the Absolute Block System between each Signalbox on the Main Lines and Branch Lines. Among the exceptions were the Goods Lines through Stoke, along with Stoke-on-Trent Station Itself. Here Permissive Block working was allowed along with other Regulations for Signalling trains. The Simulation does not allow for Permissive Block working, so once a Train on a Goods Line has cleared the first Home Signal, Train Out Of Section, "OOS" maybe sent immediately to the Signalbox from which it came. No overlap is shown for the Signals on the Goods Lines. This allows for a continuation of busy traffic using the Goods Lines.

Signalling
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The signalling as depicted in this simulation is as it was during the 1950's, up to the end of steam working. The area has completely changed with electrification in the 1960's.

Adaptations
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Some signals were added to the layout to comply with the PCRail rule that there must be a single signal to control an exit to the next box, and also to allow shunt workings to reverse at the last signal in opposite direction.

These signals are:

At Newcastle Jn :
   signal 78, on Up Goods.

At Cliff Vale :
   signal 177, on Down Goods.
   signal 173, on Down Main.

Some yard exit signals have been included on yards which did not have such a signal.

At Cliff Vale :
   signal 181, at British Gas Light Co.

The Cockshute Yard end at Newcastle Junction was controlled by a separate signalbox/shunting frame released by Newcastle Junction, which is not included in this simulation. Instead, the lines to and from the Cockshute Yard have been split in three separate yard entries/exits, see below for details.
This required two additional levers to control switches (81 and 82), and three additional signals (86, 87 and 88). Originally the exit/entrance to and from the yard were slot released by Newcastle Junction Signalbox.

Because of the close proximity of all the Signalboxes from Etruria Jcn to Glebe Street, the distant signals  were slot controlled by Stoke North. Stoke North's Distant Signals are not operating in this simulation, as it is not possible to determine the routing of the trains in the Stoke North area, and therefore it is not possible to operate the correct distant signal. Other Distant Signals are operational.

The points at the Up Market Drayton where the lines from the Down Main and Down Goods connect, just in front of signal 33, are spring points. Routes in the down direction can be set from signals 50 and 55 without the need to set these points. Route can be set from 33 to Down Goods (38) only.

Note on Signal 5.
Signal 5 is the block signal for the Up Main to Stoke North. The signal may not be used to clear the line for shunt moves, requiring reversing at signal 27. To avoid this, a check is set for signal 5 that the train is due to exit to Stoke North. However, when a train is offered from Etruria, there is a short delay before this check works correct. So, after a train is offered from Etruria, and the full route is cleared through to and including signal 5, it may be that signal 5 cannot be cleared yet. It will, though, be possible to clear signal 5 just a bit later.

General instructions
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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 Details.

FPL.
Facing Point Locks (FPL) have been provided where these were installed - see Locking Details for information.
FPL's normally stand 'out', i.e. the normal position of these levers is 'reverse', in this position the linked switches are locked. To operate the switch, set the FPL lever to 'normal'. Once the switch is thrown, return the FPL lever to 'reverse'. FPL levers are locked in 'reverse' if a route is set over the switch on which they operate, or when this route is occupied. If an FPL is in 'normal' position, all routes over the related switch are blocked and signals cannot 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
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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.

Banking
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Quite a number of freight trains had to be banked by an engine in the rear from Stoke  up the steep incline of the Derby Line. The engine would let go at Caverswall and return from there. I saw it done many times even with diesel engines. The bank engine usually came behind the train on Viaduct No. 1, or Stoke Yard or Cockshute Yard.  

Locations and Section Lengths
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There are two locations included in this simulation.

The main location is Newcastle Junction. This is the timing point for all trains which pass this location. The exact location of the timing points is indicated on the display as a white 'T' on a blue background.

Stopping points at Cliff Vale have been provided on the Up Main and Up Goods. The exact location of these stopping points are indicated on the display as a white 'V' on a blue background.

Distances between boxes :
Stoke North to Newcastle Junction :  558 yards (25c  8y)
Newcastle Junction to Hartshill   : 1018 yards (46c  6y)
Newcastle Junction to Cliff Vale  :  496 yards (22c 12y)
Cliff Vale to Etruria             :  844 yards (38c  8y)

Below is a list of length of some sections between signals which are regularly used for shunt moves.
The length is shown in units. A unit represents an engine, a passenger coach or 3 freight wagons.

Up Goods :
between sigs.  78 and 74/75 : 10 units
between sigs.   7 and 112   : 14 units

Up Main :
between sigs.   2 and 141   :  9 units
between sigs.   5 and 141   : 21 units

Down Main :
between sigs.  26 and 123   : 13 units
between sigs. 119 and 173   : 17 units

Down Goods :
between sigs.  38 and  50   :  1 unit 
between sigs.  12 and 106   :  8 units
between sigs. 121 and 177   : 16 units

Slip Road :
between sigs. 139 and 140   :  5 units

Down Market Drayton :
between sigs.  33 and 51    :  7 units

Yard entries and exits
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Below is the list of yard entries and exits.

At Newcastle Junction :
   Vernon Road Wharf (dead-end sidings, no run-round)
   Shelton Coal Wharf (dead-end sidings, no run-round)
   Through Siding (through yard to Stoke North)

At Cliff Vale :
   PVT Sidings (dead-end sidings, no run-round)
   Bulls Sidings (two dead-end sidings, no run-round)
   British Gas Light Co. (industrial connection)
   British Gas Light Co. no. 2 (shown as GLC2) (industrial connection)

Through Yards between Newcastle Junction and Cliff Vale.
There were a number of through yards between these two signal boxes.
The yard entries/exits at the Newcastle Jn end have been given the postfix NJ, those at the Cliff Vale end have the postfix CV.
The yard entries/exits are linked such that trains can be set up to run through these yards, entering on one end and exiting on the other.

Carriage Sidings :
   Newcastle Jn : 1 entry/exit, Cliff Vale 2 entries/exits.

Cockshute Yard :
This yard had a large number of lines converging to a single entry/exit point on the Newcastle Jn end.
In the simulation, three entries/exits were created at the Newcastle Jn end to match the entries/exits on the Cliff Vale end. For through lines, the related entries/exits on the Newcastle Jn end and the Cliff Vale end are linked. All through lines had a unique name.

Details of the entries/exits :
   Derby Road   : through road.
                  These entries also provide access to sidings named Bushby Road and Back Road.
   New Road     : through road.
                  These entries also provide access to siding named Horninglow Siding.
   Cockshute Yd : a large series of dead-end sidings (Newcastle Jn end only).

Speed Restrictions
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Max. speed on Up Main and Down Main : 45 mph, but restricted to 10 mph on approach to / from Stoke North.
Max. speed on Up Goods and Down Goods : 20 mph, but restricted to 10 mph on approach to / from Stoke North.
Max. speed on Up and Down Market Drayton : 40 mph
Max. speed through switches and cross-overs for connections to Up and Down Market Drayton : 20 mph

Max. speed through switches and on all other lines and sidings is 10 or 15 mph.
 
Train Reporting Numbers
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Train reporting numbers only came into use in later years, and also changed over the years. See timetable information for details.

Opening Picture
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This opening Picture was taken by Basil Jeuda and is found on the opening cover of "The North Staffordshire Railway in LMS Days Volume 1" and is being used by kind permission of Mr. Jeuda and Lightmoor Press Publishing of the UK, to whom it is credited. The picture shows Newcastle Jcn Signalbox looking North in the 1950's. The Market Drayton Line can be seen climbing off to the left towards Harshill. Cockshutte Yard is on the right and Cliff Vale Carriage Sidings is to the left, the roof which is visible of the long Carriage Shed.  The Exit/Entrance to the Vernon Road Wharf can be seen behind the Signalbox. Cliff Vale Signalbox is within  mile distance further North toward Manchester and Crewe.

Personal Notes by the developer
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I started to work as a boy of 15 on the railway at Stoke-on-Trent  in August of 1967. I worked as a train recorder at Stoke Power Signalbox, which had replaced Stoke Junction, Stoke North, Glebe Street, Newcastle Junction, Cliff Vale and Etruria Junction along with a number of other signalboxes and shunting cabins, in July of 1966. I eventually went through the Manchester School of Signaling in 1970 and became one of the youngest signalmen on BR.

If you are on the platform at Stoke-on-Trent station today and walk to the North end of the station, the sight you will see resembles nothing of the layout as it was during the time that is depicted here in this simulation. Gone are the carriage sidings on the Up Side. Cars park where they used to be. Looking over towards where Stoke Yard and Stoke North Signalbox were, is now a fenced area containing another car park and weeds. The Bay Sidings have long gone as are the Up and Down Centre roads through the station.

A walk to the South end of the station will be met with the same depressing picture. Where Glebe Street stood along with the Turntable etc is completely overgrown with weeds. The Up and Down Arrival and Departure lines have long gone, now separated from the main line by a fence. It is a far cry from what Stoke once was in its heyday.  

Acknowledgements
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Thanks to Rob Roeterdink for all his hard work in making these signalboxes come to live again.
Thanks to PC-Test team for their help in testing this simulation, and as ever to John Dennis for providing the basic program for the heritage simulations.
Also a special thanks to all the Signalmen who inspired my love for the railways and the former manual boxes.
Thanks also to JP Mould for all his help with the Working Timetables.


