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Coventry

Official Files

Title	Version	Released
Simulation (Payware)	1.8	12/01/2023
15/10/2009 WTT (Midnight and 0445 Start included)	5.0	18/01/2016
04/08/2015 WTT (Midnight, 0400 and 1400 Starts included	5.2	27/11/2021

Additional user-written timetables are available to download here here .

Introduction

Coventry PSB opened in 1962, featuring a back mimic panel and separate routesetting console. The box sat in the V formed by the Stour lines to Rugby and the branch to Leamington Spa. Underneath the box was an early geographic interlocking , believed to be of the Westpac variety. Coventry PSB closed in 2007, being resignalled and now controlled from the West Midlands Signalling Centre at Saltley in Birmingham. This simulation is of Coventry PSB as it was in the 1990s/2000s. The manual boxes at Coundon Road and Three Spires Jn have also been included.

Nowadays the area is controlled from Birmingham on a Westcad VDU system. Though resignalled and fitted mostly with axle counters instead of track circuits , the layout is virtually identical. Small tweaks to the signal sections were made, linespeeds were enhanced, and the mostly-single Kenilworth branch gained a couple more miles of double track. All three level crossings on the Up/Down Stour have been replaced by bridges/tunnels or the road closed.

Start-Up Options

Scenarios

Easy mode

No equipment failures or late running.

Normal mode

Some late running, and up to two concurrent equipment failures.

Hard mode

Some late running, and a higher chance of equipment failures.

Eras

1987-2003

The pre-WCML upgrade layout at Coventry.

2004-2007

The CCTV crossings at Canley, Tile Hill and Berkswell have been removed; the layout is otherwise identical to 1987-2003.

Operating Notes

Electrification

All running lines and crossovers are electrified between Rugby and Birmingham International. The Down Branch (towards Nuneaton) is electrified as far as Signal 51, to allow electric trains to reverse behind Signal 46. The remainder of the Nuneaton line, and the entirety of the Leamington branch, are not electrified.

Coventry Yard and Bay siding are electrified, other sidings are not.

Signalling Notes

The main (Stour) lines are signalled with 4-aspect colour light signals. The two branches have a mixture of colour light signalling under your control, with a couple of semaphores on the line to Nuneaton.

Coventry station has a number of routes to call-on light engines from the station in order to run-round a train in the platform, or - more common - to exchange traction between diesel and electric. Setting these routes requires use of the white exit triangles instead of the next main running signal. These controls were used more back in the 1980s and earlier when loco changes were common. By the mid-1990s very few, if any, loco changes took place at Coventry.

Coventry's one and only flashing yellow route is from the Up Stour into platform 4 at Coventry along the reversible line. There are two signalled routes into platform 4 from this signal but the reversible is the preferred route as it's faster. The signalling will select this route if available, or the slower route if not.

The routes onto the branches are mostly approach controlled due to the slow speed compared to the main line.

From the Up Stour into platform 1 the route is not approach controlled in any way, despite a speed reduction required. This is probably because the approach signal is sufficiently far enough from the lower speed pointwork to make approach control ineffective.

Coundon Road and Three Spires Junction boxes have been included in the simulation, to enable chaining to the Rugby North simulation (Nuneaton workstation). The layout is as per those signalboxes as they were, albeit with Three Spires cut back slightly as Rugby North took over what was Three Spires Jn's last signal.

Train Describer

Train describer stepping is provided on main, some call-on, and warner routes only. There is no TD stepping for the call-on routes out of the station to the white triangles. There is no TD stepping from shunt signals, except from Coventry Yard. Coventry CE Sidings, the Bay, and other sidings have no TD berths.

Coventry Yard

The shunter at Coventry Yard will telephone to advise that a train is ready. The north end is the right-hand end on the screen; the south end is the left-hand end. The shunter will advise of the train identity, which should be interposed at the appropriate end of the yard before the route is set.

When routing out of the south end of the yard into Coventry platforms 3 or 4, set the route from signal CY32 prior to setting CY43 to CY32. This prevents a train coming to a stand at CY32, risking a SPAD . The TD step will happen only if both routes are set.

Level Crossings

There are four level crossings on the simulation. These are Canley, Tile Hill, Berkswell and Coundon Road. Each of these needs to be lowered and cleared well in advance of approaching trains. On the other hand, you also need to let road traffic pass where possible. Some say the railway is king and the road traffic can be held up for as long as you like; however, try explaining that to your boss when the local Mayor gets delayed in his mayoral car!

Because of the proximity of Canley Level Crossing to Coventry, a Down train will receive a double yellow upon departure from Coventry if Canley hasn't been lowered in time. Quite often trains really did leave on double yellows, with the signaller quick to get the barriers down as soon as he saw the train move. This didn't really affect trains as their drivers knew the procedure and would perhaps accelerate a little slower than they normally would. However, some signallers preferred to get them down by departure time, giving the train a green - but at risk of delaying road traffic more if the train was late departing for whatever reason.

Berkswell Ground Frame

This applies to the 1987-2003 era only

Use of the ground frame requires manual operation of the level crossing. Auto raise should be switched off before the ground frame is operated. The barriers should be lowered and raised manually. Ensure the barriers are down before giving handsignals, though the main line shunt signal is interlocked with the barriers.

Leamington Slots

The single line between Kenilworth and Milverton Junction is controlled by a slot in each direction. Leamington will request a slot for a down train which can be accepted by left-clicking on the flashing white roundel next to signal LN51. To send a train towards Leamington, left-click the green circle adjacent to signal LN54 . When it is solid white, route can be set to that signal.

When chained to Leamington, requesting the slot will not show up on Leamington, this is correct as per the real panels. The TD will be transmitted automatically at the appropriate time for the Signaller at Leamington to grant the slot.

Level Crossings

Name	Type
Berkswell	CCTV
Canley	CCTV
Coundon Road	CCTV
Tile Hill	CCTV

Multiplayer & Chaining

The simulation is ideal for a single player. Clients can join the simulation, however there are no separate workstations.

The simulation chains at the following locations:

Simulation	Location
Birmingham New Street	Birmingham International
Leamington Spa	Leamington Spa
Rugby Centre	Rugby Trent Valley Jn
Rugby North	Hawkesbury Lane

Acknowledgments

Simulation by: Geoff Mayo

15/10/2009 WTT by: Unknown, subsequently modified by Lyn Greenwood.

Reference Section

Birmingham Area Map

- A schematic showing main and link lines in the Birmingham area.

Signal Number Plan

Coventry Signal Number Plan

Although there are two eras simulated, no changes were made to signal locations or numbers, therefore a single plan has been uploaded to cover the two eras.

This is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer you can get a free download of the latest version from the Adobe website . Use the built-in Find function (Ctrl+F) to locate signal numbers.

Signal Box Prefix Codes

Code	Box
CR	Coundon Road
LN	Leamington Spa*
NS	Birmingham New Street*
TS	Three Spires Jn

*Fringe box, signals not controlled in this simulation.

Non-prefixed signals are controlled by Coventry (CY)

Platform & Loop Lengths

Platform Lengths

Location	Platform	Length (m)
Berkswell	All	173
Canley	All	168
Coventry	1	321
:::	2	352
:::	3	352
:::	4	242
Hampton-in-Arden	Down	184
:::	Up	187
Tile Hill	All	177

Loop Lengths

Location	Loop	Length (m)
Coventry	UDS (Signal 21-35)	737
:::	UDS (Signal 33-35)	257
Kenilworth	Loop	622
Tile Hill	DPL	358

Timetabling Details

Please see this page:

Coventry Timetabling

Splash Screens

Filename	Description
Splash1.jpg	Coventry workstation at West Midlands Signalling Centre
Splash2.jpg	Euston to Birmingham train leaving platform 3 at Coventry
Splash3.jpg	A British Rail Class 156 DMU at Coventry railway station in 2000. It is still in the old BR Regional Railways Express livery, but has a Central Trains name tag. The direct service from Coventry to Skegness ended in 2004. (Credit to "Its snowing in East Asia"; altered from its original format by shrinking in size; sourced from Wikipedia and licensed under the CC BY 3.0 license.
Splash4.jpg	A charter train leaves platform 1 at Coventry, heading south
Splash5.jpg	A Wrexham & Shropshire service heads south through Platform 2 at Coventry, while a service for Nuneaton waits in Platform 1. Wrexham & Shropshire had a short life, lasting only from 2008 to 2011.
Splash6.jpg	The back end of the aforementioned W&S service. Signal 24 can be seen on the far left, and 21 at the far right. The floor-mounted signal is a co-acting signal for signal 23- signal 23 itself is behind the train. The co-acting signal is provided as the main signal can be difficult to see from a distance due to the layout of the station.

Additional Information

Absolute Block controls between Coundon Road and Three Spires have not been simulated as the focus is on Coventry PSB.

The fringe between Rugby Centre and Coventry has been modified slightly, since Rugby Centre simulates the period after Coventry PSB closed. The Down line boundary did not change with the resignalling of either Coventry or Rugby, but the Up line boundary did move, leaving a couple of miles of a "black hole". The simulations show all the track sections correctly, and the run time is correct though.

Version History

Version History

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Last edited by Steamer on 22/01/2023 at 12:09