Rail junctions map / locations

[paddington]

I am looking through the PSUL website. The services are described in terms of which junctions they travel between.

I am unfamiliar with many of these junction names and it is somewhat difficult to actually find out where they are.

If I put a junction name into Google, it usually brings up various random enthusiast sites which all assume that I already know where the junctions are and which lines are fast/slow/reversible/relief etc etc. (You could say this about PSUL itself.)

But I don't, and I am having to bring up a Google map of the tracks and compare it to the timetables on brtimes or opentraintimes (which show the timing points) and trace out the routes. This doesn't always work.

Is there an easier way to find out where junctions are?

 

[Tomnick]

The best free option that I'm aware of is the Sectional Appendix - a little difficult to follow sometimes, but all the info's in there (downloadable from Network Rail's website, somewhere in the 'transparency' section). Quail maps are the best by far, though, if you're willing to splash out a bit.

 

[Dhassell]

I reckon this might be a good site for you to use if you know what station is nearby to the junctions you are looking for! http://raildar.co.uk/map/MKC

 

[Ianno87]

I am looking through the PSUL website. The services are described in terms of which junctions they travel between.

I am unfamiliar with many of these junction names and it is somewhat difficult to actually find out where they are.

If I put a junction name into Google, it usually brings up various random enthusiast sites which all assume that I already know where the junctions are and which lines are fast/slow/reversible/relief etc etc. (You could say this about PSUL itself.)

But I don't, and I am having to bring up a Google map of the tracks and compare it to the timetables on brtimes or opentraintimes (which show the timing points) and trace out the routes. This doesn't always work.

Is there an easier way to find out where junctions are?

I highly recommend purchasing Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland by S K Baker, and the series of Railway Track Diagrams books if you really want to delve into the detail.

 

[MetroDriver]

I reckon this might be a good site for you to use if you know what station is nearby to the junctions you are looking for! http://raildar.co.uk/map/MKC

That's an interesting site I never knew about!

 

[steevp]

I reckon this might be a good site for you to use if you know what station is nearby to the junctions you are looking for! http://raildar.co.uk/map/MKC

My goodness me - that site could become addictive!

 

[The Planner]

Its a reproduction of the infrastructure screen from NRs train planning system, it probably has the same errors too.

 

[PeterY]

My goodness me - that site could become addictive!

I can see why it would become quite addictive. Just been watching the trains at Clapham Jct.
:

 

[fowler9]

How does this website work? Is it transponders like Flightradar24? Just been hypnotised for for about 20 mins looking at the Liverpool area. Ha ha.

 

[edwin_m]

How does this website work? Is it transponders like Flightradar24? Just been hypnotised for for about 20 mins looking at the Liverpool area. Ha ha.

I presume it is Trust data, which is updated whenever a train passes from one signalling section into another.

 

[LAX54]

Its a reproduction of the infrastructure screen from NRs train planning system, it probably has the same errors too.

Well Ipswich Yard and Derby Road are, shall we say 'interesting' !

 

[duffield]

I highly recommend purchasing Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland by S K Baker, and the series of Railway Track Diagrams books if you really want to delve into the detail.

Yes, an excellent Atlas.

Two minor observations:
My copy of the current (14th) edition suffered from some overprinting issues, annoying but not bad enough to bother returning it. Hopefully issues have been corrected now.

If you don't want to splash out the full £15+ for the 14th edition, the 13th edition will be fine for most people and can be had for half price or less on Amazon.

 

[D6975]

If you want a bit more detail than the Baker Atlas, try Track Atlas of Mainland Britain from Platform 5 at 25 quid.
It doesn't just give the routes, it gives the layout of the individual tracks (all junctions, crossovers etc) , mileages, level crossings and more.

 

[najaB]

Its a reproduction of the infrastructure screen from NRs train planning system, it probably has the same errors too.

And I don't know how up-to-date it's kept - as an example it still shows Aberdeen Guild Street as connected (though OOU).

 

[takno]

Well Ipswich Yard and Derby Road are, shall we say 'interesting' !

https://traksy.uk/live/M+45+IPSWICH is a combination of various sources. It tends to be restricted to track where live signalling is available, and is hopefully a bit more up to date. You don't have the long scrolls in all directions to follow routes. I hope it's a bit easier to keep track of what's going on than Raildar. Not ideal in Ipswich that the Felixstowe line isn't drawn yet, but that should be there soon.

 

[Railsigns]

How does this website work? Is it transponders like Flightradar24?

I don't know, but I've just watched two trains arrive into Edinburgh Waverley's Platform 11 from opposite directions and pass through each other before coming to a stand.

 

[najaB]

How does this website work? Is it transponders like Flightradar24?

Trains don't (to the best of my knowledge) have transponders. It will work by extrapolation: section is X miles long, train is timed to pass it in Y seconds, do some maths and guess the position.

 

[rebmcr]

Junction names in the London area are also listed on http://carto.metro.free.fr/cartes/metro-tram-london/

 

[takno]

I don't know, but I've just watched two trains arrive into Edinburgh Waverley's Platform 11 from opposite directions and pass through each other before coming to a stand.

Wow, now it's empty, but the Tweedbank train that's actually at platform 1 has gone straight through it to get to platform 7. Last plug for it (as it's my site), but https://traksy.uk/live/M+1+EDINBUR is definitely a bit more accurate

 

[D6975]

According to raildar, there aren't any trains west of Liskeard. Trains from the east get to a point between Menheniot and Liskeard and stop dead. They eventually disappear. Similarly trains from the west materialise around the same spot. None of the Cornish branches show any trains either, so it's not just the main line.

Yesterday I watched a Blackpool-Huddersfield and a Huddersfield-Southport pass through the loop platform (and each other) at Marsden. I also watched a Cardiff-Portsmouth pass through the Severn tunnel heading west! It too passed through a service coming the other way (or should that be the same way? ).

 

[takno]

According to raildar, there aren't any trains west of Liskeard. Trains from the east get to a point between Menheniot and Liskeard and stop dead. They eventually disappear. Similarly trains from the west materialise around the same spot. None of the Cornish branches show any trains either, so it's not just the main line.

Yesterday I watched a Blackpool-Huddersfield and a Huddersfield-Southport pass through the loop platform (and each other) at Marsden. I also watched a Cardiff-Portsmouth pass through the Severn tunnel heading west! It too passed through a service coming the other way (or should that be the same way? ).

The data feed that powers raildar and traksy doesn't in most cases contain any data from old-style absolute block signalboxes. Plymouth box hands over to Liskeard box between Menheniot and Liskeard, and from then on everything is AB all the way down to Penzance. There are some other surprising black holes such as Hebden Bridge to New Pudsey, and Paignton. I try to fill some of these in on traksy using the live train status feed with varying degrees of success.

I the trains passing through each other is down to weaknesses in the automated model raildar uses to draw the maps. Mine are hand-drawn and tested so hopefully shouldn't share the issue!

Trains going backwards sounds like it may be an issue mapping the headcodes which come through in the signalling feed to actual schedules, although it seems like quite a surprising one. It's taken quite a lot of effort to get that mapping decent in traksy, and it still gets it wrong occasionally.