Railcam Signalling Diagrams UPDATES

[CallySleeperKid]

RAILCAM SIGNALLING DIAGRAMS

We are delighted to announce that for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend we are throwing open the doors here at Railcam, and giving full access to our Live Signalling Diagrams for everyone.

Our ever expanding diagrams now cover large amounts of the railway network, including the entire ECML, Midland Mainline & WCML from Glasgow to Stafford.

To try out our diagrams you will need to go to www.railcam.org.uk and use the sign in details,

Username: easter
Password: freebie

We provide access to our diagrams for a year to anyone who makes a donation of £10 or more to Railcam. All donations are put towards the upkeep and development of equipment and investing in new cam sites. Railcam are 100% non-profit making, we take nothing from any donations made.

This offer will be available until Tuesday 22nd April.

If you are already a member of Railcam and are signed in, you will need to either sign out to use this offer (chat options will not be available to the promotional account) or open Railcam in a different browser.

Please enjoy the diagrams.

 

[Tomnick]

Many thanks - interesting stuff, and it certainly seems a worthwhile project. Not really my sort of thing (being bombarded by TRUST, a train describer and sometimes CCF all day at work, I don't need it!), but I spent a while watching the Leicester map today and it seemed to keep on top of things!

Just a couple of queries though - it seemed awfully slow to update when a berth cleared out with no further step forward (the best part of 15 minutes, after a bit of experimentation ). Is that a limitation of the data feeds or something else? It also seemed to get into a bit of a tizz on the single line to Corby and the reversible slow line south of Kettering - some trains disappeared for a bit (stepping into a berth that's not defined, or only for the opposite direction?) and others hung around in a berth until overwritten (Corby - where MJ17 and MJ28 are actually one berth - "dual address" (?) - in reality, so interposing into the latter overwrites the former. Again, not sure if it's a limitation that you're aware of!

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Many thanks - interesting stuff, and it certainly seems a worthwhile project. Not really my sort of thing (being bombarded by TRUST, a train describer and sometimes CCF all day at work, I don't need it!), but I spent a while watching the Leicester map today and it seemed to keep on top of things!

Just a couple of queries though - it seemed awfully slow to update when a berth cleared out with no further step forward (the best part of 15 minutes, after a bit of experimentation ). Is that a limitation of the data feeds or something else? It also seemed to get into a bit of a tizz on the single line to Corby and the reversible slow line south of Kettering - some trains disappeared for a bit (stepping into a berth that's not defined, or only for the opposite direction?) and others hung around in a berth until overwritten (Corby - where MJ17 and MJ28 are actually one berth - "dual address" (?) - in reality, so interposing into the latter overwrites the former. Again, not sure if it's a limitation that you're aware of!

I'm not the brainbox behind the diagrams, but I will find out the answers for you. What I do know is that it appears that some berths are getting missed when there is bi-di signals, if this is apparent in the area you are looking at I don't know, but obviously the train will only register at signals on a bi-di line in the direction that its travelling.

I will pass your comments on to out diagram team.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[Tomnick]

It was most apparent with a Down train over the reversible slow line from Wellingborough to Kettering - it disappears when it steps out of the berth in the platform (Down Fast) at the former, and only reappears when it steps into the last berth before Kettering South Jn. That last berth is odd-numbered (implying that it's associated with a Down direction signal) but the two that it skips are both even-numbered - not sure whether there are separate berths associated with the corresponding Down direction signals there.

 

[David Goddard]

Excellent system! Thanks for the info. Currently in a hotel with ECML views so can use this alongside RealtimeTrains to identify what's going by!

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Railcam’s Free Signalling Diagram access for Easter offer been an outstanding success, we hope that everyone has enjoyed free access to the track signalling diagrams and found them very useful.

Please note that due to administration reasons, this period of free access will terminate at 12 noon tomorrow (Easter Monday). To maintain access to the track diagrams for another 12 months, we only ask that registered members make a minimum donation of £10.

This is not a subscription, Railcam is run by volunteers that invest a lot of their own time in providing this service and therefore cannot guarantee service 100% of the time, this is why we ask for a donation and allow donors access as a ‘thank you’, all money is reinvested in the website.

 

[GB]

Certainly is interesting! Can I ask what (if any) other maps you have in the pipe line? Would love something around the Ipswich - Port Of Felixstowe area

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Certainly is interesting! Can I ask what (if any) other maps you have in the pipe line? Would love something around the Ipswich - Port Of Felixstowe area

Our main maps in development are to complete the WCML down to Euston, Nuneaton Area should be live very soon. We have the area around Dalmuir for our new cam also very close. Other areas we have pencilled in are to extend the Great Western Mainline and also Peterborough down to Norwich.

 

[GB]

OK thanks.

 

[FlashingYellows]

This does not seem to be working any longer. When the details above are entered you are taken back to a login screen, could be a temporary blip.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

This does not seem to be working any longer. When the details above are entered you are taken back to a login screen, could be a temporary blip.

Just chasing it up....
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

This does not seem to be working any longer. When the details above are entered you are taken back to a login screen, could be a temporary blip.

Working again now.

 

[ryan125hst]

I've just been having a look through them all and I'm very impressed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you've so far got diagrams for the whole of the East Coast Main Line between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh as well as a few branch lines close to it, the whole Midland Mainline from Sheffield and Nottingham to London and the West Coast Main Line from Glasgow to Stafford, as well as a few other lines such as Dawlish and areas in Glasgow? A very large coverage area so far!

What is the plan with the diagrams? Do you intend to eventually have maps for the whole rail network in the UK if time and money allows? It would be fantastic if that could be achieved- I don't know how long you have been working on it so far but you have an awful lot of track covered already. There are a few things that need to be worked on, like I've notice a few platforms missing (the station names are there but the platforms are not) and sometimes the headcode links to RTT don't work. That said, I think they are fantastic and I am surprised that all that data is available. It must be very hard work creating them.

I'm sure i'll be donating to gain access to them in the future, although it will have to be after mid June- I've got A Level exams coming up and my parents think I'm spending too much time looking at trains as it is!

As a final note, having seen the free to access Dawlish cam after the line reopened, I'm pleased to see you are upgrading the cameras that you have as the quality of the Dawlish cam is fantastic! I've not registered with Railcam yet but I will be doing.

Keep up the good work.

Ryan

 

[CallySleeperKid]

I've just been having a look through them all and I'm very impressed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you've so far got diagrams for the whole of the East Coast Main Line between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh as well as a few branch lines close to it, the whole Midland Mainline from Sheffield and Nottingham to London and the West Coast Main Line from Glasgow to Stafford, as well as a few other lines such as Dawlish and areas in Glasgow? A very large coverage area so far!

What is the plan with the diagrams? Do you intend to eventually have maps for the whole rail network in the UK if time and money allows? It would be fantastic if that could be achieved- I don't know how long you have been working on it so far but you have an awful lot of track covered already. There are a few things that need to be worked on, like I've notice a few platforms missing (the station names are there but the platforms are not) and sometimes the headcode links to RTT don't work. That said, I think they are fantastic and I am surprised that all that data is available. It must be very hard work creating them.

I'm sure i'll be donating to gain access to them in the future, although it will have to be after mid June- I've got A Level exams coming up and my parents think I'm spending too much time looking at trains as it is!

As a final note, having seen the free to access Dawlish cam after the line reopened, I'm pleased to see you are upgrading the cameras that you have as the quality of the Dawlish cam is fantastic! I've not registered with Railcam yet but I will be doing.

Keep up the good work.

Ryan

A brief reply will be yes, we are going to keep adding diagrams and covering as much as we can, it depends on the areas being covered on the Network Rail data feed, Basically the 'electronic signalling' rather than the old semaphore signals.

The clickable RTT links only work on a few of the diagrams, this feature is provided by RTT and is a job in process, so to speak. Once they are working on other diagrams then they will be available.

Our team at Railcam are all volunteers who work for free is their spare time, so although we give as much time as we can, we also all work full time and have families, but as I mentioned we will be pressing ahead with as many diagrams as we can. I will also mention that all donations made are put back into the upkeep, maintenance and development of new cam sites, we don't take a penny from Railcam.

Thanks for the comments Ryan, I will make sure the rest of the team see them.

 

[CallySleeper]

Thanks for this offer. I've had a bit of a look over the weekend and it does look really impressive. What is most attractive for me really is the size of the area covered (and that it makes up most of my usual turf!)

I've since realised there is a mobile friendly page, so #tenbux is definitely something I will consider spending on this. I noticed though that a link to the Nottingham diagram is missing from http://www.railcam.org.uk/mobile, is that an omission?

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Thanks for this offer. I've had a bit of a look over the weekend and it does look really impressive. What is most attractive for me really is the size of the area covered (and that it makes up most of my usual turf!)

I've since realised there is a mobile friendly page, so #tenbux is definitely something I will consider spending on this. I noticed though that a link to the Nottingham diagram is missing from http://www.railcam.org.uk/mobile, is that an omission?

It hasn't been missed on purpose, I will chase that up. Personally being from the Nottingham area I use the Langley Mill diagram quite often when out photoing.

Thanks for the comments

 

[ryan125hst]

A brief reply will be yes, we are going to keep adding diagrams and covering as much as we can, it depends on the areas being covered on the Network Rail data feed, Basically the 'electronic signalling' rather than the old semaphore signals.

The clickable RTT links only work on a few of the diagrams, this feature is provided by RTT and is a job in process, so to speak. Once they are working on other diagrams then they will be available.

Our team at Railcam are all volunteers who work for free is their spare time, so although we give as much time as we can, we also all work full time and have families, but as I mentioned we will be pressing ahead with as many diagrams as we can. I will also mention that all donations made are put back into the upkeep, maintenance and development of new cam sites, we don't take a penny from Railcam.

Thanks for the comments Ryan, I will make sure the rest of the team see them.

I'm pleased to here that. The closure of the remainder of the mechanical signal boxes is sad, but it will allow signalling diagrams to be created for the whole network and mean that gaps in the data don't need to exist.

The RTT fault I mention isn't for the whole diagram, just for a few headcodes that fail to link to the data on RTT (It just comes up with an error within RTT's website). Could it be the train describer displaying the wrong headcode or something? I'm sure this would be unlikely though.

Tell your team that they are doing a fantastic job. It must be hard work to produce the diagrams- the ECML alone is almost 400 miles long, and just looking at the four tracked section south of Grantham shows just how many signal berths there are! I don't know where you all find the time!

A final question from me. Just looking at my local line on ECML diagram 6 and have spotted C-11 in a red font on one of the signal berths- its the one leading from the lower level line from Sheffield. What does this mean?

 

[Muzer]

I'm pleased to here that. The closure of the remainder of the mechanical signal boxes is sad, but it will allow signalling diagrams to be created for the whole network and mean that gaps in the data don't need to exist.

The RTT fault I mention isn't for the whole diagram, just for a few headcodes that fail to link to the data on RTT (It just comes up with an error within RTT's website). Could it be the train describer displaying the wrong headcode or something? I'm sure this would be unlikely though.

Tell your team that they are doing a fantastic job. It must be hard work to produce the diagrams- the ECML alone is almost 400 miles long, and just looking at the four tracked section south of Grantham shows just how many signal berths there are! I don't know where you all find the time!

A final question from me. Just looking at my local line on ECML diagram 6 and have spotted C-11 in a red font on one of the signal berths- its the one leading from the lower level line from Sheffield. What does this mean?

I know on RTT's own maps (fairly unadvertised but public - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/maps/areas/swml/1 ) trains that have just entered the area frequently don't work. I don't understand exactly how it works but I believe it's something to do with how the headcode searching works, some deficiency in the process. Correct me if I'm wrong, Tom

 

[CallySleeperKid]

A final question from me. Just looking at my local line on ECML diagram 6 and have spotted C-11 in a red font on one of the signal berths- its the one leading from the lower level line from Sheffield. What does this mean?

Usually the random red codes are entered by signallers, some are easier than others to figure out, but ones like C-11 could mean anything.

 

[Muzer]

Indeed - playing SimSig makes it *significantly* easier to figure out what's going on on Railcam, RTT and OTT maps. You realise that signallers can put arbitrary text in the berths, and that sometimes they change the TD before the train reaches its terminus, for example. I've even seen instances that I suspect are caused by typos on behalf of the signaller, but I obviously don't have any proof for this

 

[1e10]

The diagrams are fantastic.

Some feedback: I've noticed on the Dawlish diagram some RTT windows open in a small browser window and need to be expanded whilst some open in larger, half screen views which are great. If all could open in half screen browser windows it would be fantastic.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Thats it for our Easter Freebie.

We would like to thank all those that have taken advantage of the free access to our live signalling diagrams this Easter weekend, we have had some very positive feedback, many new Railcam members and a few very kind donations.

Thank you all
Railcam Admin Team.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Good morning all, we at Railcam are delighted to announce the latest addition to our live signalling diagrams, which are open to supporters of Railcam,

Rugby Area, covering,
Rugby
Long Buckby
Northampton
Wolverton
Milton Keynes & Bletchley
Leighton Buzzard

Currently in testing we have the remaining sections of the WCML into London Euston and Westbury Area.

In production we have Dalmuir Area, covering our new Dalmuir Cam and next in line will be East Anglia.

 

[GB]

Hi,

What areas of East Anglia are you looking at covering?

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Hi,

What areas of East Anglia are you looking at covering?

Initially we want to connect Peterborough to Norwich the best we can, some of the line is still semaphore signals. then we will expand from there, I can't guarantee this but I would assume we would work back toward London Liverpool Street as the data feed for that is on the same one as our Barking Diagram.

 

[GB]

Thanks.

Sounds very interesting!

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Latest addition to the live signalling diagrams, to fit in with our new Watford Cam, we have the remaining piece of the WCML jigsaw,

Euston Area, covering,
Cheddington, Tring & Berkhamsted
Hemel Hempstead, Apsley & Kings Langley
Railcam Watford, Watford Junction & Bushey
Harrow & Wealdstone, Wembley Central & Willesden LDC RAILNET
Wembley Yard & Willesden TMD
Queens Park
London Euston

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Good afternoon Railcam fans. We are delighted to announce the next additions to our Live Signalling Diagrams, Yoker Area (inc Dalmuir Cam) and Manchester Oxford Road Area.

Yoker Area (inc Dalmuir Cam) covering,
Helensburgh Central to Dumbarton East
Bowling to Anniesland and Scotstounhill
Jordanhill to Bellgrove
Carntyne to Drumgelloch
Exhibition Centre to Dalmarnock

Manchester Oxford Road Area covering,
Enteistle, Blackrod and Hindley to Farnworth
Kearsley and Atherton to Salford Crescent
MUFC Halt & Manchester Oxford Road
Birchwood to Trafford Park

Railcam Live Signalling Diagrams are offered as a thank you to those members who make a donation of £10 or more, which give you a years access to the Diagrams, and our supporters only York Cam 2. Every penny donated to Railcam is put right back into the site, covering everything from general running costs to cam upgrades and new cam locations. Without the kind donations we receive we would not be able to keep the site running, so thank you to all of those that dig deep and help us out.

 

[1e10]

Is a new stream provider still lined up for the Dawlish cam?

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Good afternoon, We are delighted to announce the latest additions to our Live Signalling Diagrams, which are available as a thank you to Railcam supporters who donate a minimum of £10 to help us keep Railcam on track.

Our latest additions have been quite a while in the making as the maps are quite complexed, but we are sure you will be delighted with the outcome.

BIRMINGHAM AREA
Covering Tamworth High Level and Daw Mill Colliery
Coleshill Parkway and Water Orton
Small Heath, Washwood Heath and Saltley Depot
Lichfield Trent Valley to Sutton Coldfield and Aston
Birmingham New Street
Birmingham International and Coventry
Five Ways to Barnt Green

WALSALL AREA
Covering,
Rugeley Town to Landywood
Walsall
Bescot Stadium, Bescot TMD and Tame Bridge Parkway
Hamstead to Duddeston and Monument Lane

All donations made to Railcam are put back into the site, covering everything from site costs to cam upgrades and new installations. We currently have 11 cams over 10 sites across the UK with a further 3 more location coming very soon. Thank you all for your kind donations, we couldn’t keep Railcam growing without you.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Good afternoon, we are back again announcing another addition to our popular Live Signalling Diagrams. Continuing with the West Midlands we are delighted to announce the arrival of Wolverhampton Area.

Wolverhampton Area covers,
Smethwick Rolfe Street and Sandwell & Dudley
Dudley Port to Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton North Junction and Bushbury Junction
Bilbrook to Telford Central and Willington.

Railcam's Live Signalling Diagrams are made available as a thank you to anyone who donates £10 or more to Railcam, access is given, along with our 'Supporters Only' York Cam, for one year. All donations made to Railcam are used to cover running costs, general upkeep and upgrade of our current cam, as well as investments in new Railcam locations (3 of which are currently in the pipeline). Railcam admins take no money from the donations, every penny is put back into the site.

As always we would like to thank all those who have made a donation.

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We are delighted to announce yet another Live Signalling Diagram update, hot on the heels of Wolverhampton we have Westbury.

Westbury Area covers,
Frome, Westbury and Bradford-on-Avon
Castle Cary to Blatchbridge Junction
Taunton
Tiverton Parkway

Railcam's Live Signalling Diagrams are made available as a thank you to anyone who donates £10 or more to Railcam, access is given, along with our 'Supporters Only' cams at Euxton & York, for one year. All donations made to Railcam are used to cover running costs, general upkeep and upgrade of our current cam, as well as investments in new Railcam locations (3 of which are currently in the pipeline). Railcam admins take no money from the donations, every penny is put back into the site.

As always we would like to thank all those who have made a donation.