East Suffolk

This simulation is set in the autumn of 2024 and includes all the lines in the county of Suffolk north of Ipswich. A main feature being the freight traffic to and from the Port of Felixstowe and the constraints that the single line working brings.

History
Ipswich is the most important railway centre between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, on the main line of the former Great Eastern Railway. The original station at Ipswich built in 1846 was situated between the South end of the tunnel (the only one in East Anglia) and Halifax Jn. Being close to where steamboats docked. The station was moved to its current location in 1860 and has continued to evolve over time. The line to Bury St. Edmunds opened in 1846 and the line to Norwich opened three years later. The East Suffolk line to Lowestoft was fully opened in 1859 and the Westerfield to Felixstowe line opened in 1877.

The engine shed (Wherstead Road Depot) that was close to Halifax Jn. has been demolished and is now a housing estate. This line is now just the entrance to Griffin Wharf.

Halesworth Station has a unique feature (not shown) in that part of each platform is constructed of metal and used to pivot across the tracks to form a level crossing. These structures ceased operation about 1958 due to increasing road traffic but still exist having been recently refurbished. A working model can be seen in the Halesworth Museum and there is a photograph on Wikipedia.

In preparation for electrification of the main line between 1985 and 1987, the whole area was re-signalled. Colchester Power Box took over control from the manual boxes in the area, including Ipswich Station and the routes to Norwich and Felixstowe. Beyond Westerfield on the East Suffolk Line control is from Saxmundham signal box and the line was re-signalled in October 2012, with a conventional signalling system using LED signals replacing the previous RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) equipment. The Bury St. Edmunds line is controlled by Cambridge Power box and a significant signalling upgrade of this line is planned for 2025.

Whilst Sizewell Power Station is five miles from Saxmundham the line is now privately managed, and access and egress are via manually operated ground frames.

With the growth of container traffic from the Port of Felixstowe the Bacon Factory Curves were opened in March 2014 to reduce the number of run-round and reversing movements in the Ipswich Yard. 

Motive Power
Greater Anglia operate all passenger services using multiple units. Those on the London Liverpool Street to Norwich route are mostly 12 coach class 745 EMUs with the occasional formations of class 720 and class 755 units. Those on the London Liverpool Street to Ipswich route are one or two 5 car class 720 formations. On the routes to Felixstowe, Cambridge and Peterborough these are hybrid class 755s (3 or 4 coaches) as these lines are not electrified.

The locomotive stabling and fuelling point adjacent to Ipswich station is used mainly by the class 66 locos required to handle the considerable freight traffic, especially to the major container port of Felixstowe. Electric locos, generally class 90s, must be exchanged electric for diesel locos at Ipswich in order to finish the journey to Felixstowe.

There is a new loco maintenance depot in Ipswich Upper Yard and the Loco Depot near the station is planned for closure.

Running Lines
Bidirectional working is available on all lines in the Ipswich station area, including the Main Lines as far as East Suffolk Junction to the north and Halifax Junction to the south. Also on the Down & Up Lowestoft and Down & Up Goods lines to East Suffolk Junction.
                      
Permissive working of trains of classes 1,2,3 and 5 is permitted on all platform lines.

The main up and down lines are electrified, but the East Suffolk, Felixstowe and Bury St. Edmunds lines are not. The East Suffolk line is a mix of single line and double track working. The Felixstowe line is single track except for extended passing places at Derby Road and Trimley allowing the long container trains to pass each other and the passenger services.

A significant feature of both the East Suffolk and Up and Down Main lines north of Stowmarket is the number of barriered, gated and footpath crossings. Many of the barriered crossings on the East Suffolk Line have speed reductions over them. Footpath crossings are not shown as they are too numerous.

Trackwork
The track in this simulation is based upon Network Rails Sectional Appendix to March 2023. Distances between nodes have been measured using satellite imagery on Google Earth.

Ipswich Yard
This yard has undergone extensive changes over the years and is now primarily used for exchange of electric locos for diesel, layovers and run rounds for reversing

The Down Up Goods (DUG) is used for run rounds in this simulation whist Receptions 1, 2, 3 and 4 are used for layovers and loco exchanges. The occasional passenger EMU will use UDG and Reception 1 for short periods to free up platform capacity.

 	Line/Siding	between signals		Chains
	Down/Up Goods	322 & 337	37
	Reception 1		812 & 341	36
	Reception 2		814 & 827	41
   	Reception 3		816 & 829	37
	Reception 4		818 & 835	30

Note that these capacities may differ a little from the prototype.
 
Other Yards
The only other yards in use are and Griffin Wharf and Barham for aggregate trains, at Stowmarket for RHTT (Rail Head Treatment trains) and at Bury St. Edmunds for the occasional run round manoeuvre. There is a Tamper siding at Saxmundham and a sidings at Diss reserved for engineering use.

Platform Capacities
		Platform	Chains
Ipswich		1		6.3
		2		14.7
		3		14.2
		4		12.6
Brampton			4.0
Bury St. Eds	1		5.2
		2		5.2 (only a proportion of the structure is used)
Darsham	1		7.3
		2		4.9
Diss		1		12.4
		2		12.4
Derby Road	1		4.0 (only a proportion of the structure is used)
		2		3.7 (only a proportion of the structure is used)
Elmswell	1		4.2
		2		4.0
Felixstowe Town		4.8 (only a proportion of the structure is used)
Halesworth	1		7.6
		2		4.8
Melton				4.1
Needham Mkt	1		4.2
		2		4.0
Saxmundham	1		5.4
		2		3.8
Stowmarket	1		12.4
		2		12.3
Thurston	1		4.3
		2		4.5
Trimley				3.7 (only a proportion of the structure is used)
Westerfield	1		4.2
		2		4.7
Wickham Market		4.0 (only a proportion of the structure is used)
Woodbridge	1		4.7 (only a proportion of the structure is used)
		2		4.7 (only a proportion of the structure is used)

Note that these capacities may differ a little from the prototype.

Train Reporting Numbers (as per Network Rail 2024)

First Character (Train Class):

1. Express passenger train; nominated postal or parcels train; breakdown or overhead line equipment train going to clear the line (headcode 1Z99); traction unit going to assist a failed train (1Z99); snow plough going to clear the line (1Z99)
2. Ordinary passenger train; Officers' special train (2Z01)
3. Freight train if specially authorised; a parcels train; autumn-railhead treatment train; empty coaching stock train if specially authorised
4. Freight train which can run up to 75mph (120km/h)
5. Empty coaching stock train
6. Freight train which can run up to 60mph (95km/h)
7. Freight train which can run up to 45mph (70km/h)
8. Freight train which can run up to 35mph (55km/h)
9. Eurostar; other passenger train if specially authorised
10. Light locomotive or locomotives

Second Character (Destination):

	A	Harwich district
	C	Liverpool Street district
	D	Lowestoft district
	E	Eastern Region
	F	Colchester district
	H	Peterborough district
	J	Sheffield district
	L	Anglia Region
	M	London Midland Region
	O	Southern Region
	P	Norwich district
	R	Felixstowe district
	S	Scotland
	V	Western Region
	W	Cambridge district
	Y	Ipswich district 
	X and Z	Local Movements

Routing is as specified in the Working Timetable. 

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.

Electrification

The Up and Down main lines and Ipswich yard are electrified using the 25kV AC overhead system, but the East Suffolk, Felixstowe and Bury St. Edmunds lines are not.

Level Crossings

This is the full list of code explanations for crossings from the sectional appendix  :- 

 Crossings operated by a Signaller or Crossing Keeper
MCG Manned Level Crossing (gates) operated locally by a signaller or crossing keeper
MCB Manned Level Crossing (full barriers) operated locally by a signaller or crossing keeper
CCTV Manual Level Crossing (full barriers) remotely supervised via closed circuit television
RC Manual Level Crossing (full barriers) remotely controlled
OD Manual Level Crossing (full barriers) normally automatically operated with obstacle detection

 Automatic Crossings
AHBC Automatic Half-Barrier crossing  monitored by signaller
ABCL Automatic Barrier Crossing - road warning lights and barriers monitored by train crew
R/G Miniature Red/Green Warning Lights (including Miniature Stop Lights)
AOCL Automatic Open Crossing - road warning lights monitored by train crew
AOCL+B Automatic Open Crossing (half barriers) monitored by train crew. The rules applicable to ABCL level crossings apply to this type of crossing.
X shown after the above abbreviations for level crossing type (e.g. AHBC-X, AOCL-X) indicates that the crossing concerned works automatically for movements in the wrong direction.

 Other crossings
TMO Train Crew Operated
OPEN Open crossing without road warning lights
UWC User Worked Crossing
UWB Crossing with User Worked Barriers
[T] Accommodation / occupation crossing equipped with telephone.
UI Accommodation/occupation or footpath level crossing equipped with User Information equipment
BW Bridleway Crossing

Automatic crossings are just that, and no action is required by the Signalman. CCTV and the manual crossing at Thorpe Lane are controlled by the Signalman and need timely action, gated crossing are just for illustration only and footpath crossings are not shown as they are too numerous.

Acknowledgement
  
Thanks are due John Dennis for use of the core development software and thanks are also due to those that tested this simulation and made helpful suggestions.

David Wilkinson
16th April 2025
