miklcct
On Moderation
I want to know the track distance of all stations on South Western Main Line. Is there an official source of that? I believe there has to be one in order to calculate route validity based on shortest route.
Yes - in the Sectional Appendix. But you cannot believe it as 100% accurate. Surveys by the Railway Performance Society (RPS) indicate that many mileposts on the line are incorrectly placed, and the error increases progressively as you approach Exeter. Details are in the RPS Distance Charts, but available on line only to members. However, the total error is not great, less than one mile.I want to know the track distance of all stations on South Western Main Line. Is there an official source of that? I believe there has to be one in order to calculate route validity based on shortest route.
There's this rather unambiguous milepost on P5 at York near the footbridge (pic from the web):If you want station to station distances where do they measure from/to. I assume the buffers at termini, but where at New St, Crewe, Leeds, York and Waverley etc.
And also a euston-glasgow train will do less distance than the distance between the bufferstops!
Major stations will generally be the centre point of the through platforms, although some might be the old Signal box or other key feature. At Termini it is usually the buffers, although as platforms have changed not all buffers are at 0, some are even at Minus values! At Waterloo the official '0' is at the former junction at Waterloo East.If you want station to station distances where do they measure from/to. I assume the buffers at termini, but where at New St, Crewe, Leeds, York and Waverley etc.
And also a euston-glasgow train will do less distance than the distance between the bufferstops!
The answer to the last question - very well!This was one of the things the Railway Clearing House existed to do, as an accurate and agreed record of distances was crucial if money was to be fairly distributed amongst the companies. The rules were firmly established by the end fd the nineteenth century and here's the appropriate bit from the R.C.H. Regulations 1895:
View attachment 100302
These were the rules that applied just a few years later when companies like the Midland and the North Eastern compltely re-measured and re-mileposted their systems (see the reproduction of the famous York zero in a post above). On every North Eastern station there was a "DP" post which marked the point at which measurements were taken. Where you had platforms that didn't overlap, the measuring-point could actually end up not on the platform at all! Junctions were generally measured from the toe of the switch-blade.
Other countries had their own rules which tended to vary more in detail than in major principles. In Central Europe, for example, the point of measurement is normally the middle of the main passenger building ("Mitte EG" in Germany, "Mitte AG" in Austria) — with a very interesting instance being those early terminal stations where the trakcs carried on through the station into a turntable which then had a single trakc extending just a little behyond it. Who remembers Leipzig Bayrischer Bahnhof?
Yes. do they calculate the mileage to Newcastle from the south via the King Edward bridge, or through Gateshead and over the High level bridge, bearing in mind the high level bridge is an older route.There will also be inaccuracies due to track realignment on or at curves or junctions that has taken place since the respective railway company last measured the distances.
Although this is only likely to be a matter of a handful of chains or less over the whole route.
Also just to state the obvious, when working out distances between stations, be aware that in some cases it depends on which route the train takes (where there is more than one route available).