Goods Trains
There are only four goods (freight) trains listed in Royston's timetable, which are all fictitious. This page explains how to handle them.
These trains can all be distinguished by the first digit of their TD, namely 6 for freight trains (see Train Describers ). Let's see where they reside by opening the Timetable List (F4), turning to Timetables, sorting them by Identity and scrolling down to the end. They are 6E55, 6M82, 6R02 and 6T41.
Let's tackle them in the order in which they enter the sim. For each train, start a New Simulation using the train's entry time as the start time, immediately Pause the sim and Save the game under that train's name.
6R02
6R02 enters from Baldock at 07:25. Its TT states that it stops at "Royston S K246 (Reverse)" between 07:35 and 07:38 and terminates at Royston Sherriff's Siding at 07:39. The word "Reverse" next to the signal number K246 tells us to expect the train to reverse there.
Let's check our panel. All we have to do is set a route from K975 (via K977) to K981, and the route reaches over K246
6R02 has now stopped at "Royston S K246 (Reverse)", has changed direction and is now facing Up. Now, set a route from K246 to Sherriff's Siding, by clicking on the grey exit arrow.
And off it goes!
Be aware that some trains will take a while to reverse- up to five minutes in the case of 6R02. This is a coding issue in earlier simulations.
6T41
The T in the TD means a train to Cambridge or beyond, so this shouldn't be too difficult. All we have to do is get it out of Sherriff's, where it enters at K249 at 08:45, and off to Cambridge. This train is probably the next working of 6R02.
Its TT is even simpler - all it says is "Royston 08/49; Shepreth 08/55". The slash means that the train does not stop at the location; it just passes through these points (Royston at 8:49, Shepreth at 8:55). Compare this with 6R02's TT, which said Royston S K246 (Reverse) arr: 07:35 dep: 07:38, meaning it was scheduled to stop there for three minutes.
Simply set a route from K249 to K981, and off it goes. Please note that you can't send the train via the Down Loop- only trains which are timetabled to visit it may enter without generating a wrong route message.
6E55
6E55 enters from Shepreth at 15:00. The E stands for "London and North Eastern", which suggests the train started from outside this region- Royston being within it. "Royston S K977/245 (REVE"? means that the train can reverse at either signal shown.
The manual says "The LOS [Limit Of Shunt signal] on the Down line is closer to signal 977 than you might think. Long trains won't fit in there and need to be reversed on the Up." Okay, that rules out 977. In which case, set a route to K976 so the train can reverse behind K245.
Again, 6E55 stops as soon as it gets past K245.
Well, from here on it should be easy to set a route to K253.
If you attempted to send the train to reverse at K977 (setting a route to the LOS signal from either K978 or K980 via K246), you would find that the train stopped with its back end overhanging the points to the Down Loop. At this point, the only way out is to reverse the train using F2> Signalling options back to either K978 or K980, reversing it again and routing it towards K976 to reverse behind K245.
6M82
6M82 enters at the Down Loop at 19:17. The M in its TD stands for "London Midland / North Western", which makes sense as it exits via Shepreth. If you read the timetable, the first location shows a reversal at Royston S K977/245, indicating the train is entering at signal K244 and needs to reverse again.
Again, reverse on the Up Main:
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 |
And off it goes:
The key to successfully handling shunt movements is to read the timetable and follow it to the letter. Remember that SimSig trains are ultimately driven by your computer, which isn't very good at ad-hoc moves that are easy to do in real life. Should you need to change the location of reversals, you'll need to edit the timetable via F2 .
Back to Royston - A Beginner's Guide
Last edited by GeoffM on 15/09/2016 at 03:00