Queen Adelaide - Ely freight timetable

[Edge]

hi everyone! I’d like to see some freight going through queen adelaide and wondered if real-time rail website would help me work out timings?

I assume when it says ’pass’ on the schedule that it means it’s passing through Ely station?

I’ve seen some heading to Felixstowe, where would it say heading west Please?

Sorry if these are obvious questions!

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

Queen Adelaide is close to Ely North Junction, so you can use the timings from there on realtimetrains

 

[Obar123]

Ely North Junction:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025

Train information at Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Or

Trains at Ely North Jn on 17/07/2025 | Rail Record

Live Train Times for Ely North Jn - Search passenger and freight services at Ely North Jn

live.rail-record.co.uk

 

[Edge]

Queen Adelaide is close to Ely North Junction, so you can use the timings from there on realtimetrains

Thanks

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Jul 2025 ==

Ely North Junction:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025

Train information at Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Ely North Junction:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025

Train information at Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Or

Trains at Ely North Jn on 17/07/2025 | Rail Record

Live Train Times for Ely North Jn - Search passenger and freight services at Ely North Jn

live.rail-record.co.uk

Ely North Junction:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025

Train information at Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Or

Trains at Ely North Jn on 17/07/2025 | Rail Record

Live Train Times for Ely North Jn - Search passenger and freight services at Ely North Jn

live.rail-record.co.uk

That’s brilliant thanks.

Or

Trains at Ely North Jn on 17/07/2025 | Rail Record

Live Train Times for Ely North Jn - Search passenger and freight services at Ely North Jn

live.rail-record.co.uk

 

[ac6000cw]

For 'real time' progress of trains through the area, I find the live maps on Traksy: https://traksy.uk/live/M+44+ELYY and OpenTrainTimes: https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/sbr#LINK_4 very useful, especially the OpenTrainTimes map as it shows some of the signal indications and when the signalling system sets routes through the area.

For example, in the screen capture snapshot below (to/from Cambridge is middle left, Soham lower left, Kings Lynn middle right, Norwich lower right), London to Kings Lynn passenger train 1T70 is in platform 1 at Ely station, signal 281 is green and the green line to the right of it shows it has a route set through the platform then Ely North Junction to the Kings Lynn line. Freight train 4M90 from Felixstowe to Trafford Park (Manchester) is approaching Ely on the line from Soham, and is being routed into the freight loop on the east side of the station to wait at the red signal 287, until it can proceed towards Manea through Ely North Junction.

When I'm at Ely Station, I often use a combination of RealTimeTrains (RTT), Traksy and OpenTrainTimes to keep tabs on what's moving through but this is just my personal preference.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

especially the OpenTrainTimes map as it shows some of the signal indications and when the signalling system sets routes through the area.

I much prefer signalmaps.co.uk
It looks a lot better and you can see routes that have been set in a lot more areas

 

[ac6000cw]

I much prefer signalmaps.co.uk
It looks a lot better and you can see routes that have been set in a lot more areas

I'm the opposite - I dislike the graphics on signalmaps.co.uk, especially the white-on-black presentation. But everyone's preferences are different .

For completeness, this is the Ely area on signalmaps.co.uk - https://signalmaps.co.uk/#ely:1527

 

[Edge]

Ely North Junction:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025

Train information at Ely North Jn all day on 17/07/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Or

Trains at Ely North Jn on 17/07/2025 | Rail Record

Live Train Times for Ely North Jn - Search passenger and freight services at Ely North Jn

live.rail-record.co.uk

For 'real time' progress of trains through the area, I find the live maps on Traksy: https://traksy.uk/live/M+44+ELYY and OpenTrainTimes: https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/sbr#LINK_4 very useful, especially the OpenTrainTimes map as it shows some of the signal indications and when the signalling system sets routes through the area.

For example, in the screen capture snapshot below (to/from Cambridge is middle left, Soham lower left, Kings Lynn middle right, Norwich lower right), London to Kings Lynn passenger train 1T70 is in platform 1 at Ely station, signal 281 is green and the green line to the right of it shows it has a route set through the platform then Ely North Junction to the Kings Lynn line. Freight train 4M90 from Felixstowe to Trafford Park (Manchester) is approaching Ely on the line from Soham, and is being routed into the freight loop on the east side of the station to wait at the red signal 287, until it can proceed towards Manea through Ely North Junction.

When I'm at Ely Station, I often use a combination of RealTimeTrains (RTT), Traksy and OpenTrainTimes to keep tabs on what's moving through but this is just my personal preference.

View attachment 184242

That's really helpful. I guess I'm at a point where I would like to know if I wanted to see 4M90 for example, where should I go to get a photo.

 

[ac6000cw]

That's really helpful. I guess I'm at a point where I would like to know if I wanted to see 4M90 for example, where should I go to get a photo.

There's plenty of decent photo places, e.g. Ely station itself, then walk north along the riverside to Kiln Lane (which if you turn left crosses the lines from Ely just south of Ely North Junction). One of the classic 'Ely' shots is from the riverside looking towards the cathedral so you get the train with cathedral in the background. The B1382 road (Prickwillow/Ely Road) crosses all of the lines just north of North Junction. There is also a public footpath south from Queen Adelaide which crosses the Ely - Peterborough line just north of the junction and also crosses the 'West Curve' loop line (which is used by freight traffic to/from Middleton Towers sand quarry near Kings Lynn - and the Norwich direction - to directly access the Peterborough line without having to reverse at Ely station). Have a browse around https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/52.40672/0.29251 , Google maps/streetview etc.

Also, if walking north along the riverside, where the riverside path veers right and goes under the railway, if you veer left instead and go through the small Fishermans car park, there is a path which takes you up a small embankment to a couple of benches with a view of the railway, with the river and Fenland in the background. Not especially good for photos due to restricted viewing angles, but fine for just watching the trains go by when the weather is decent. See https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/52.397357/0.275935

(Note - all the lines around Ely are busy, and many of the tracks are bi-directional, so if you are using any footpath crossings in the area always look very carefully both ways before you cross the tracks and don't hang around on the railway side of fence).

 

[Edge]

Loving Traksy at the moment. Steep learning curve, made easier by you guys. Thanks

 

[Edge]

There's plenty of decent photo places, e.g. Ely station itself, then walk north along the riverside to Kiln Lane (which if you turn left crosses the lines from Ely just south of Ely North Junction). One of the classic 'Ely' shots is from the riverside looking towards the cathedral so you get the train with cathedral in the background. The B1382 road (Prickwillow/Ely Road) crosses all of the lines just north of North Junction. There is also a public footpath south from Queen Adelaide which crosses the Ely - Peterborough line just north of the junction and also crosses the 'West Curve' loop line (which is used by freight traffic to/from Middleton Towers sand quarry near Kings Lynn - and the Norwich direction - to directly access the Peterborough line without having to reverse at Ely station). Have a browse around https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/52.40672/0.29251 , Google maps/streetview etc.

Also, if walking north along the riverside, where the riverside path veers right and goes under the railway, if you veer left instead and go through the small Fishermans car park, there is a path which takes you up a small embankment to a couple of benches with a view of the railway, with the river and Fenland in the background. Not especially good for photos due to restricted viewing angles, but fine for just watching the trains go by when the weather is decent. See https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/52.397357/0.275935

(Note - all the lines around Ely are busy, and many of the tracks are bi-directional, so if you are using any footpath crossings in the area always look very carefully both ways before you cross the tracks and don't hang around on the railway side of fence).

I've been meaning to explore the footpath from Queen Adelaide. I'd love to get a good view of the West Curve too, I have plans to model it at some point.

 

[jfollows]

Working timetable at https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/the-timetable/working-timetable/ will show all the freight train timetable paths, but on any particular day some or many of them will not operate.

Section LD

 

[Edge]

Working timetable at https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/the-timetable/working-timetable/ will show all the freight train timetable paths, but on any particular day some or many of them will not operate.

Section LD

Cheers

 

[bspahh]

There's plenty of decent photo places, e.g. Ely station itself, then walk north along the riverside to Kiln Lane (which if you turn left crosses the lines from Ely just south of Ely North Junction). One of the classic 'Ely' shots is from the riverside looking towards the cathedral so you get the train with cathedral in the background. The B1382 road (Prickwillow/Ely Road) crosses all of the lines just north of North Junction. There is also a public footpath south from Queen Adelaide which crosses the Ely - Peterborough line just north of the junction and also crosses the 'West Curve' loop line (which is used by freight traffic to/from Middleton Towers sand quarry near Kings Lynn - and the Norwich direction - to directly access the Peterborough line without having to reverse at Ely station). Have a browse around https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/52.40672/0.29251 , Google maps/streetview etc.

Also, if walking north along the riverside, where the riverside path veers right and goes under the railway, if you veer left instead and go through the small Fishermans car park, there is a path which takes you up a small embankment to a couple of benches with a view of the railway, with the river and Fenland in the background. Not especially good for photos due to restricted viewing angles, but fine for just watching the trains go by when the weather is decent. See https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/52.397357/0.275935

(Note - all the lines around Ely are busy, and many of the tracks are bi-directional, so if you are using any footpath crossings in the area always look very carefully both ways before you cross the tracks and don't hang around on the railway side of fence).

I marked up a few locations in this thread for someone who wanted quiet locations

1. The footbridge next to the A142 bridge on the Southern Bypass gives an elevated view.
2. The riverside area is a bit busier, but has some benches the Cutter pub and Riverside Bar
3. In Ely Country Park, there is an embankment where you are closer to the level of the track
4. Near Ely North junction, there is a meadow where you can see most of the trains going past. Its a bit lower than the level of the track with a fairly high hedge.
5. There is a footpath near Ely North junction where you get a good view of the sidings at Potters
6. You can also see a bit of the Potters sidings from the footbridge over the Ouse, near Cuckoo Bridge. The hedge is quite thick here, certainly in the summer.
7. From Fen Rivers Way you can also see the sidings from the road bridge into Potters

Freight Spotting Cambridgeshire

I'd like to find a spot that's quiet to watch freight trains, ideally where I can easily park and walk to a secluded location. I don't want to be on a station platform or anywhere with loads of people. I have Peterborough and March as my two destinations. If anyone can suggest somewhere that...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Edge]

Brilliant