"Signalbox" map, telling fibs!

[Howardh]

Took a train from Bolton to Manchester last week, and thought I'd follow the journey on https://www.map.signalbox.io/ . I was surprised....we left Bolton station a little late, but as we travelled the train shown was clearly well ahead of where we really were! Example, we were (according tot he map) between Kearsley and Clifton - as we were passing Moses Gate! Also showed a train had passed us going towards Bolton, yet it hadn't (it did about 30 seconds later).

Hmmm, now I expect sites like this and bustimes.org to lag behind a little but not to know the future! So a heads up, if you have a connection to make and you see your train has gone, it might not actually have arrived yet?

I'm thinking the position of the trains is where they should be vis-a-vis the timetable, rather than reality??

Can anyone shed any light on this, maybe you've done a signalbox and answered before I've finished the question (giggles...)!

**Just out of interest, I'm checking signalbox with http://raildar.co.uk/map/BON and realtime trains and all three seem to have the train I'm following entering Salford Central at the right time. However it's being held just outside Victoria according to raildar and RTT but signalbox has it at platform.

 

[AlterEgo]

Isn't this site just animating what it thinks is happening in between timing points in TRUST? There isn't GPS on the train feeding into the site.

 

[Howardh]

Isn't this site just animating what it thinks is happening in between timing points in TRUST? There isn't GPS on the train feeding into the site.

Possibly! For where a train actually is (or between) I'd use RTT, and the "maps" as only a rough guide. I suppose one day with GPS they will be spot on!

 

[Andyjs247]

Once a train has entered a particular signal berth, if that happens to align with a particular platform at a station with the signal at the end of the platform for example, the train can show as having arrived there before it has actually reached the station. The arrival time in TRUST is calculated from the actual arrival time in the berth plus an agreed offset. The train can sometimes show as ‘arrived’ even if that time is in the future. The offset itself is an average value.