Track diagrams for recently changed track??

[All platforms]

Is there a central repository of information for recent track changes including new or removed crossovers?

For example the new platforms at Newquay and the new extended crossing loop, the new platform and track at Dore & Totley, new platforms and track on the South Wales Metro including at Quakers Yard, Ynyswen, Aberdare and Cardiff Bay. There must be many more examples, but i have not been able to find tarck diagrams of the most recent changes - Do they exist where i can view them?

I have found info for Bradford Forster Square P0 and the extended Loop at Hairmyres including the station relocation but beyond that i am struggling. All info gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

 

[The Planner]

Sectional Appendix?

 

[John R]

Do the realtime track maps on Opentraintimes work for you? They tend to be updated very quickly after a change.

 

[All platforms]

Sectional Appendix?

I will have a closer look at this, but i don't remember track diagrams being a comprehensive feature.
Edit: Yes they do exist but a tad awkward to find. if you know it exists you can probably find it eventually - so thanks for the suggestion.

Do the realtime track maps on Opentraintimes work for you? They tend to be updated very quickly after a change.

They seem to be up and running for the South Wales Metro so thanks for this. No Newquay as yet, and a few others, as not all areas are covered yet by them.

Ideally a changelog of alterations would be best, as i will probably miss the more minor changes and therefore not look for them as a result.

 

[Ian Hardy]

Is there a central repository of information for recent track changes including new or removed crossovers?

For example the new platforms at Newquay and the new extended crossing loop, the new platform and track at Dore & Totley, new platforms and track on the South Wales Metro including at Quakers Yard, Ynyswen, Aberdare and Cardiff Bay. There must be many more examples, but i have not been able to find tarck diagrams of the most recent changes - Do they exist where i can view them?

I have found info for Bradford Forster Square P0 and the extended Loop at Hairmyres including the station relocation but beyond that i am struggling. All info gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

In Modern Railways magazine, there is a Trackwatch column each month which gives details of changes to track layouts, level crossings, signal control areas etc. The column is written by one of the editors of the Trackmaps Railway Track Diagrams series of books: https://trackmaps.co.uk/

 

[takno]

I will have a closer look at this, but i don't remember track diagrams being a comprehensive feature.
Edit: Yes they do exist but a tad awkward to find. if you know it exists you can probably find it eventually - so thanks for the suggestion.

They seem to be up and running for the South Wales Metro so thanks for this. No Newquay as yet, and a few others, as not all areas are covered yet by them.

Ideally a changelog of alterations would be best, as i will probably miss the more minor changes and therefore not look for them as a result.

The track diagrams in the Sectional Appendix are pretty comprehensive, and doubtless entirely suited to the purpose they are designed for, but not greatly detailed. In particular they don't provide any information about specific signals or blocks. If you are just looking for updates, they do issue a far shorter pack of just the changed pages for each region on a quarterly basis.

For most areas you'll find that Traksy or Open Train Times and other sites usually get major updates in place relatively quickly. Smaller changes like addition or removal of a single crossover can go unnoticed for months. I'd second the Trackwatch column in Modern Railways as a good source for these, although even then it can be difficult to keep up with what's temporarily out of use or permanently out of use. It's not unusual to find junctions which are still nominally in-use, and appear on the sectional appendix, but have been plain lined and are irretrievably overgrown.

In the case of Newquay, it won't exist on most sites because there is no live signalling data available. We have it on Traksy, since the new site shows trains based on GPS updates. While the loop at Goss Moor is on the map, I haven't got round to adding the new platform at Newquay itself yet, since we don't get accurate information from GPS about which platform a train is in. I'll probably get round to it this week since you've reminded me. Looking at the sectional appendix, it's just a simple set of points directly outside the platform, controlled from Goonbarrow Jn and managed using TCB.

 

[a_c_skinner]

Slightly off topic are the plans on Traksy or Open Train Times generated automatically (obviously the train running data is) or do they hinge on the owner's time to re-program them?

 

[takno]

Slightly off topic are the plans on Traksy or Open Train Times generated automatically (obviously the train running data is) or do they hinge on the owner's time to re-program them?

All done manually. Speaking for Traksy I'd say it's less the time and more knowing about changes in advance, plus finding out what the changes are. For smaller changes like Newquay there's every chance we'll find out about it from the sectional appendix or from railway media.

 

[Freightmaster]

All done manually.

Likewise! I'm often frantically working on my maps at 5-7am on the day that a new
resignalling project is commissioned to ensure that trains are displaying as they should.

Speaking for Traksy I'd say it's less the time and more knowing about changes in advance, plus finding out what the changes are. For smaller changes like Newquay there's every chance we'll find out about it from the sectional appendix or from railway media.

To be honest, 90% of my knowledge about major forthcoming infrastructure changes comes
from this subforum these days, although as you rightly point out, that doesn't work for small
changes such as removal of crossovers, etc.




MARK

 

[All platforms]

In Modern Railways magazine, there is a Trackwatch column each month which gives details of changes to track layouts, level crossings, signal control areas etc. The column is written by one of the editors of the Trackmaps Railway Track Diagrams series of books: https://trackmaps.co.uk/

I think this may do the trick as good as anything else i have seen. Its a great place to start for sure. Thanks for the heads up.

Also thanks to other suggestions and info provided elsewhere. This has all been useful in some way or another.