Signal berth codes?

[SECR 65]

Railcam, it’s also been changed now to 0M48. Must’ve just been a Railcam-side thing, not across all diagrams.

I think, but am not certain, that Railcam admins sometimes add loco numbers into the diagrams. Otherwise you get someone every half hour in the RC chat asking for the number of the loco in York sidings!

 

[Amos390]

A clear note to the signallers in Euston after 390127 arrived back to P10 at Euston on 1Z69 after today’s incident on 1H69, good use of the large number of signal blocks available at the station.

 

[Vexed]

A clear note to the signallers in Euston after 390127 arrived back to P10 at Euston on 1Z69 after today’s incident on 1H69, good use of the large number of signal blocks available at the station.

1Z69 (390040 from Wembley) was actually the train passengers were detrained to from 1H69. 390127 made it to Wembley depot on 5Z01.

Platform 10 at Euston has been out of use all day.

 

[Amos390]

Codes in Barrow after Eddystone makes an unscheduled water stop on 1Z12, do signallers usually put up codes like 'WATR STOP' for things like this or not?

 

[endofthetunnel]

Codes in Barrow after Eddystone makes an unscheduled water stop on 1Z12, do signallers usually put up codes like 'WATR STOP' for things like this or not?
View attachment 203072

They can do whatever they want, within reason! I imagine this signaller knows lots of people will be watching the feeds and wondering what’s going on.

 

[saismee]

Mentioned earlier, they put *H2O when there was flooding at Rye House. Similar though I think this one is in better circumstances.

 

[Annetts key]

Codes in Barrow after Eddystone makes an unscheduled water stop on 1Z12, do signallers usually put up codes like 'WATR STOP' for things like this or not?

As long as it's not offensive or otherwise breaks the company rules, with some train describer (TD) systems, they can use it to remind them or others of any reasonable reason by using any reasonable four digit alphanumeric code. The TD doesn't care, it's just another "number" to it.

Older TD systems (if any still exist) may not support all alphanumeric digits in all character positions, so then the signaller has to be more careful if it may be stepped forward to another signal box / PSB / panel etc.

In some circumstances, it may not be a signaller entering "numbers", as sometimes it's S&T conducting testing as part of either maintenance or fault finding. I use to enter "strange" "numbers" when testing keyboards or individual LED displays for each signal berth (used on some older PSB panels).

 

[zwk500]

Codes in Barrow after Eddystone makes an unscheduled water stop on 1Z12, do signallers usually put up codes like 'WATR STOP' for things like this or not?
View attachment 203072

In that instance the berths on the down line may be reminding rhe signaller that there is a line block, or that the loco has shunted off into Barrow Hill to actually water.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There's been a 6 car 171 formation left in platform 15 at London Bridge all day, marked as dumped.

It's 171 806 + 171 810 in case anyone is wondering.

 

[Surreytraveller]

There's been a 6 car 171 formation left in platform 15 at London Bridge all day, marked as dumped.

It's 171 806 + 171 810 in case anyone is wondering.

Selhurst depot is shut until this evening, so couldn't get rid of it

 

[saismee]

Whoops.

 

[Amos390]

Inspiration taking up platform 0 at Stockport, signaller put a RAIL-200 code across 2 berths.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Here is one which I suspect is having to be used far too often across the network...

 

[Amos390]

Just seen this code whilst looking at Wolverhampton diagrams, was wondering whether the 10-car indicates this service - https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train.php/?c=W02018&d=2026-05-05 - which had its ECS cancelled, sat at the platform with its Pantograph down (hence PNDN)

 

[saismee]

Here is one which I suspect is having to be used far too often across the network...

I know a lorry driver whose company gave him a Network Rail branded thermos with various bridge-bashing information on it . Success so far, he hasn't hit any.

 

[zwk500]

Here is one which I suspect is having to be used far too often across the network...

At least that one's on a line that isn't used....

Just seen this code whilst looking at Wolverhampton diagrams, was wondering whether the 10-car indicates this service - https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train.php/?c=W02018&d=2026-05-05 - which had its ECS cancelled, sat at the platform with its Pantograph down (hence PNDN)

According to another thread there was a derailment at Oxley yesterday that blocked access to the depot so presumably.

 

[SECR 65]

What does this mean, -SP- at Lovers Walk in Brighton?

 

[endofthetunnel]

View attachment 203863
What does this mean, -SP- at Lovers Walk in Brighton?

It’s probably a Sidings Possession

 

[Dave61]

Got a lovely selection of codes this morning , -LB- I guess means Line Block, the DREC is a freight train 0Z81 that went into a boc with -LB- on it

 

[Peter Mugridge]

View attachment 203989

Got a lovely selection of codes this morning , -LB- I guess means Line Block, the DREC is a freight train 0Z81 that went into a boc with -LB- on it

I am liking "BALL" in the top right corner. I presume a ballast train rather than an exclamation of frustration at something going wrong in that berth?

 

[Dave61]

I am liking "BALL" in the top right corner. I presume a ballast train rather than an exclamation of frustration at something going wrong in that berth?

I guess so, it has moved a bit in the last few minutes, might have a quick walk over as it is the next street over from me
Update - nothing to see from the crossing and then the wife tells me "oh they were working on the points earlier" (around 4564/4566)

 

[saismee]

How do we end up with two 5W51s at Euston at the same time...?

Here's a good example of something going quite wrong. 2W20 and 2D84 swapped platforms at Ipswich and the signaller was seemingly unaware (unclear who was at fault, I'm not going to speculate). The signalling map showed 2D84 in platform 1 (bottom, incorrect) and 2W20 in platform 4 (top, incorrect).

The train which was supposed to be 2D84 is visible in the top right as 2W20, and the driver stopped after realising it was an incorrect route for their service.

On the signaller's end, the services were still in their timetabled arrangement, but on the ground it had been flipped. Once everyone had figured out what was going on, 2D84 at the bottom became 2W20 (when the image was taken), and 2W20 at the top became 5D84 (shunt back to platform 3.

Of course this resulted in two 2W20s for a brief period, but that's a non-issue compared to the rest of the situation.

 

[Amos390]

390136 suffered a brake failure just North of Crewe, which was marked by a signaller with "FALT", then when they got the brakes working again, they wrong-way-ran the 390 back to platform, hence the "-WDM", indicating "Wrong Direction Movement", not a code I see often

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 May 2026 ==

Looking around at Sheffield area in diagrams, noticed a large abundance of codes there, most of which I have no clue what they mean, may someone enlighten me?

 

[zwk500]

Looking around at Sheffield area in diagrams, noticed a large abundance of codes there, most of which I have no clue what they mean, may someone enlighten me?

Sheffield tend to label shunts with their destination
FISH - Fish dock
NDSS - North end Down Station Siding
SE1U - South End Up station siding, 1 Unit (or Up Siding 1).
N2UP - North End Up station siding, 2 units (or Up Siding 2).

I'm guessing a bit on the Up Side of the station as the berths may work slightly differently in real life. There is a sheffield signaller on the forums but I can't remember their username for the life of me, who would be able to confirm.
It may even have already been asked in this thread!

 

[Mattplans]

Been some changes at Cannon Street sidings recently:

 

[Dren Ahmeti]

Been some changes at Cannon Street sidings recently:
View attachment 204641

2 on-track machines (tends to be tampers, etc) and 5 wagons.

Interesting to see them used - I presume for an upcoming T3.

 

[Mattplans]

2 on-track machines (tends to be tampers, etc) and 5 wagons.

Interesting to see them used - I presume for an upcoming T3.

Ah - very interesting. Thanks for decoding. And yes, there's a possession at Cannon Street until Tuesday.

 

[SECR 65]

What does W-DR mean? Wheeldrop? There've been loads of problems on the BML this afternoon. Broken down train at London Bridge, Fast (Quarry) Lines are dead north of Three Bridges, points failure near Horsham so all 1B/Cs are going via Hove. Issues at Ford / Littlehampton, and a track fire near Eastbourne. And the TL core is shut. I do feel for the signallers on today, but they've done a great job to keep trains moving.

Edit: If this info is any help, 1H46 is 39L, and 1H38, half an hour behind, has now pulled in adjacent in plat 2.

Edit 2: Now there's 'FAIL' at Cooksbridge, adding to the drama. For reference 1 hotels run from Victoria - Littlehampton via Hove.

 

[Steve Harris]

View attachment 204822
What does W-DR mean? Wheeldrop? There've been loads of problems on the BML this afternoon. Broken down train at London Bridge, Fast (Quarry) Lines are dead north of Three Bridges, points failure near Horsham so all 1B/Cs are going via Hove. Issues at Ford / Littlehampton, and a track fire near Eastbourne. And the TL core is shut. I do feel for the signallers on today, but they've done a great job to keep trains moving.

If this info is any help, 1H46 is 39L, and 1H38, half an hour behind, has now pulled in adjacent in plat 2.

I'll take a wild guess of "waiting driver".

 

[pokemonsuper9]

"TPWS" showing between Walkden and Moorside
Presumably some kind of failiure? (the line has been out of service since 10:30 due to a points failiure)