A few questions about railways in the UK?

Prince271088

New member
Hey everyone,

I watch a lot of the cab ride videos on YouTube as more often than not it gives me little ideas about the bits and pieces I should be including trackside and lineside along my routes that I wouldn't normally think to include. I personally find it a handy tool for the most part, especially coupled with the number of great resources available around the web to help with signage and things like that. From what I've seen in these videos this has left me with a few questions and I'll probably eventually come up with more as well but:

Why is there so much loose rail left at trackside or in the centre of tracks along most railway lines? Does it serve a purpose or is it just too costly to remove or is it simply that the various engineering people haven't got round to removing the old rails etc. after completing works?

Secondly I see cable troughing down the side of the lines on some of the routes (basing this on similar stuff I've seen on the DLS and stuff) but where exactly do those trough cables lead? Just to a relay cabinet or is there some ultimate point where all of them will lead?

In regards to track measurements (mile posts) where does mile 0 begin (I'm guessing a London terminus somewhere for most of the UK?) and how does mileage work for branch lines. By this I mean if you have a branch line that diverges between two mile posts somewhere, on that branch line do you start from 0 to the entrance of the branch line or is there some other method in play?

Thanks for any help in advance

Ben =)


 
Why is there so much loose rail left at trackside or in the centre of tracks along most railway lines?
Some of it is materials left for other gangs that are coming along later. But a lot is just left over. It's hard to organise a gap in the schedule that would allow a train to crawl along the track, stopping every few hundred yards to allow the work crew to collect stuff. What time is available for maintenance is usually spent delivering material, not collecting it.

Secondly I see cable troughing down the side of the lines on some of the routes (basing this on similar stuff I've seen on the DLS and stuff) but where exactly do those trough cables lead? Just to a relay cabinet or is there some ultimate point where all of them will lead?
The troughs contain signal, power and communication links. The whole thing is arranged around nodes like at cabinets and switchboxes, but eventually it's a huge interconnected network.

In regards to track measurements (mile posts) where does mile 0 begin (I'm guessing a London terminus somewhere for most of the UK?) and how does mileage work for branch lines. By this I mean if you have a branch line that diverges between two mile posts somewhere, on that branch line do you start from 0 to the entrance of the branch line or is there some other method in play?
Every line will have its own zero mile post. For main lines it is a terminus. For branch lines it can be the local terminus, or the point at which it actually diverges or, in some cases, the point where construction originally commenced. http://www.railsigns.uk/sect28page1/sect28page1.html
 
>Secondly I see cable troughing down the side of the lines on some of the routes (basing this on similar stuff I've seen on the DLS and stuff) but where exactly do those trough cables lead?

Internet cables are big business these days and railway lines are nice rights of way.Cheerio John
 
Some of it is materials left for other gangs that are coming along later. But a lot is just left over. It's hard to organise a gap in the schedule that would allow a train to crawl along the track, stopping every few hundred yards to allow the work crew to collect stuff. What time is available for maintenance is usually spent delivering material, not collecting it.

Yeah of course. I know from when I used to work close to these sites that possessions only last a few hours if that unless it's a blockade.


The troughs contain signal, power and communication links. The whole thing is arranged around nodes like at cabinets and switchboxes, but eventually it's a huge interconnected network.

So does this mean that all of the major lines (by major I mean like the WCML) have a singular central point where all of these cables and cabinets ultimately link back to or do each of the nodes operate remotely? (I hope that makes sense) - Basically I guess what I am asking is is there a massive hub somewhere along each of the major lines where all of the stuff from that line will end?

Every line will have its own zero mile post. For main lines it is a terminus. For branch lines it can be the local terminus, or the point at which it actually diverges or, in some cases, the point where construction originally commenced. http://www.railsigns.uk/sect28page1/sect28page1.html

Ok that's good to know. So from a milepost point of view I am guessing it's possible that a line could go from say the 11m post on a branch line into say a 167 mile post on a main line hypothetically?

I know a lot of these questions may seem stupid and/or daft but I just want to get as good an understanding as possible mostly to help realism and maybe even with adding variety.
 
>Secondly I see cable troughing down the side of the lines on some of the routes (basing this on similar stuff I've seen on the DLS and stuff) but where exactly do those trough cables lead?

Internet cables are big business these days and railway lines are nice rights of way.Cheerio John

Hi John,

That's good to know as well then. There's a lot of different stuff that can be found at trackside/lineside and it can all lead to different places.
 
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