SECTIONAL APPENDIX - Machynlleth
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General
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Machynlleth is a small town in Mid Wales, on the river Dovey (or Dyfi), just a few miles inland from that river's estuary. When the railways from the East to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli were completed, the station Machynlleth soon became a hub of what became the Cambrian Railways, with sidings and an engine shed.
Despite this, the station always remained a very modest affair and was little more than a passing loop with some sidings on both sides. All lines in the area were build at minimal cost and except for a short section between Newtown and Moat Lane Junction were all single track. The lines followed the lay of the land as much as possible, thus often winding their way through river valleys and along the coast.
The line from Machynlleth to Aberystwyth runs along the Dovey estuary, just above high water level. This makes it a very scenic route, but it's also very vulnerable to storms and high seas and has been washed away several times, sometimes over considerable length.

History
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The railways reached out into West Wales bit by bit, with ad-hoc companies set up specifically for each next bit.
The first section was build in 1859 by the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway, this line ran up the Severn valley to the small town of Llanidloes. It was intended that this line would become part of a grand plan to build a railway from Manchester to the deep-sea port of Milford on the South coast, right accross Wales. A further part of this route was indeed build between Llanidloes and the small village of Llangurig, but the Cambrian Mountains proved too much of an obstacle and the whole plan came to nothing.

In 1857 the Newton & Machynlleth Railway was vested by an Act of Parliament. This company proposed a different route to the coast, branching off the L&NR at what became Moat Lane Junction, near the small town of Caersws, but on the opposite side of the river Severn. From this junction, the line would cross the Severn, pass Caersws and follow the small river Carno up to the summit at Talerdigg where the line would cross the Cambrian Mountains in a deep cutting. It would then follow the river Twywyn down to Cemmes Road where this river flows into the Dyfi, and then follow the Dyfi to Machynlleth. The N&MR reached Machynlleth in 1863. Its station was not the first railway station at Machynlleth however, as the narrow gauge Corris railway had been opened a few years earlier, in 1859.

In the mean time, the company to take on the next part had been established in 1861; this was the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway (note the spelling - that's the way the name was spelled at the time, later it was changed to Aberystwyth). This company intended to build a railway from Aberystwyth northward along the Cardigan Bay and across the Lleyn Peninsula. But things did not work out as intended; the crossing of the river Dyfi which was to be build right out on the coast had to be moved 6 miles inland, at Dovey Junction. Also, the line never crossed the Lleyn Peninsula but was terminated at Pwllheli. The section from Machynlleth to Aberystwyth was opened in 1864, and with that the route to the coast was completed. The line reached Pwllheli in 1867.

All three companies were incorporated into the Cambrian Railways. This company became part of the GWR in 1922, and the lines became part of BR Western Region in 1948 but were later transfered to the Midland Region.
These routes are now part of Railtrack's Western district; train services are provided by Arriva Trains Wales.

Both the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth line and the line to Pwllheli are still open. Machynlleth station has changed little. The engine shed is gone, but it has been replaced by a new DMU maintenance depot. The Aberystwyth Siding is still in place. On the Up side, however, all sidings have been removed including the Up Spur.

Signalling was converted to RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) in the 1980's, but the area is now the testbed for the new ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) signalling.

Placenames
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The spelling of the placenames in the simulation and in the notes of the standard timetable are as used in the 1959 timetable.
Note that the spelling of some placenames have since been changed, e.g. Portmadoc is now spelled Portmadog, and Cemmes Road is now usually spelled Cemmaes Road.

Signalling
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The simulation depicts the signalling at Machynlleth as it was in the 1950's. There were two signalboxes, the East box, on the Up side opposite the engine shed, and the West box, at the end of the Down Platform.
Levers 1 to 39 formed the East box frame, levers 42 to 52 were the levers of the West box, and were actually numbered 2 to 12.
The distant signal for the East box in the Up direction co-located at signal 42, and the distant signal for the West box in the down direction was co-located with signal 2. Both were fixed distances and have therefor not been included in the simulation.
Signals 3 and 43 were worked by both boxes, signal 3 was East 3 and West 12, 43 was West 3 and East 23.

Adaptations
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Some adaptations were required in order to work with PC-Rail.

Signal 23 was added as the simulation requires a single signal as final block signal.

Signals 31, 32, 35 and 36 in the East box area, as well as signals 49 and 51 in the West box area, were added for proper control of trains to and from the various sidings. There were plungers at the location of signals 31, 32 and 35 which were used to obtain permission.
Levers for points 33 and 34 were also added, these points were manually operated.

Apart from the Rock Siding, there was another siding which diverted from the Aberystwyth Siding at this location, the Warehouse siding. The switch leading to this siding was manually operated and there was no signal on this siding.
To avoid the need for more extra switches and signals, this siding has been omitted. Trains for this siding can be routed to and from the Rock Siding, this does not alter the working of these trains.

Track Circuits.
There were no track circuits in this area.
The track circuits in the simulation are defined just to allow proper operation of the simulation.

Stopping locations for Passenger trains and Freight trains
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Passenger trains will, ofcourse, stop at the platforms in the station.
Freight trains, however, do not stop at the platforms.
On the Down line, the platform is well short of signal 51, and freight trains will run past the end of the platform and stop at signal 51.
On the Up line, freight trains will stop at signal 20/21.
To operate this correctly, special freight 'platforms' are set up at these points and these are allocated to a separate location, Machynlleth Goods.
Note that freight trains cannot terminate at the passenger platforms, which are allocated to location Machynlleth. Freight trains must therefor not be timed for Machynlleth but for Machynlleth Goods.
Station pilot moves to pick up wagons from freight trains in the Down Platform must however terminate at Machynlleth as these cannot reach the freight allocated platform which starts beyond the passenger platform.

The Aberystwyth siding (between signals 36 and 52) can handle timetable entries for ECS for passenger trains but not freight trains. The Up Spur can handle timetable entries for freight trains but not ECS for passenger trains. Both sidings can handle light engines.

Down freight trains which must be shunted must not exceed the length of the track between signals 49 and 51, as it is not allowed to reverse on the Down Main between signals 2 and 3.
Up freight trains can only be shunted in the Up Spur, it is not possible to reverse, detach or attach any wagons between signals 42 and 20/21.

Local instructions
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Reversal and wrong line working.
The Down Platform can be used in both directions, but signal 48 can only be cleared onto the Down Platform for trains which terminate at Machynlleth, the route is not allowed for through trains.
Reversal or working against the normal direction of traffic is not allowed on the Down Line between sigs. 2 and 3, and is not allowed on the Up Line between signals 42 and 20/21.

Note that it is not possible to shunt beyond signal 2 on the Down side, nor beyond signal 51 on the Up side.

Rules to caution trains.
For semaphore signalling, the rule (rule 39A) applied that for a sequence of signals which had no intermediate or combined distant signal, if the last signal in this sequence could not be cleared, all preceding signals had to be kept at 'danger' at the approach of the train and could only be cleared if the speed of the train was sufficiently reduced. For the simulation, the speed must be reduced (to about 10 mph on approach). The speed while passing the signal must not exceed 15 mph.
See the locking details for the list of signals and conditions where and when trains must be cautioned.

Locking rules.
For locking rules please see locking table.

FPL.
Facing Point Locks (FPL) have been provided where these were installed - see Locking information for details.
FPL's normally stand 'out', i.e. the normal position of these levers is 'reverse', in this position the linked switches are locked. To operate the switch, set the FPL lever to 'normal'. Once the switch is thrown, return the FPL lever to 'reverse'. FPL levers are locked in 'reverse' if a route is set over the switch on which they operate, or when this route is occupied. If an FPL is in 'normal' position, all routes over the related switch are blocked and signals can not be cleared.
Note that if an FPL operates on a switch which is part of a crossover, these rules generally also apply to the other switch of this crossover even if the FPL does not work directly on this switch; some shunt moves are exempt from this rule.

Notes on shunting
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The 'shunt' command must be used if a train is to reverse at a particular signal. It is good practice to issue the shunt command before clearing the last signal which leads to the location where the train is to reverse, this in order to avoid 'overshoot' when the shunt command is issued too late for the engine to brake in time, which will result in the engine running passed the reversal point upto the next signal.
The 'shunt' command can be issued for a train waiting to depart as issuing this command does not effect the timed departure of this train. However, the shunt command must NOT be used for a signal which is beyond a booked station stop before the train has come to a stand for that specific station stop. Setting the shunt command before the train has stopped will cancel out the station stop, and will lead to an error on missed station stop.

Fringe boxes
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The fringe box to the East was Cemmes Road, at 4 miles 75.75 chains (from East Box).
Cemmes Road Down platform is included in the simulation. The Up platform is located beyond the exit signal as trains which are stopped at the Up platform would block down trains from departing, which would delay trains when passing at Cemmes Road. So an up train may have an indication that it stops at Cemmes Road, but it will actually exit the simulation before doing so.

The fringe box to the West was Dovey Junction, the junction for the Aberystwyth and Pwllheli lines, at 3 miles 65.75 chains (from West box). As there were multiple platforms and loops at Dovey Jn, these have not been included because such multiple workings can not be simulated properly.

The distance between West and East box was 17 chains.

Section lengths
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The list below details the lengths of platforms and sidings etc.
The length is defined in units, each unit equals an engine, a passenger coach, or 3 wagons.
 
Down Platform (passenger trains)                        :  9 units
Down Platform (freight trains, between sigs. 49 and 51) : 12 units (see note)
Up Platform (passenger trains)                          : 12 units
  actual platform                                       :  9 units
A'wyth Siding (between sigs. 36 and 52)                 : 11 units (see note)
Up Spur (beyond signal 4/5)                             : 15 units

Notes : reduce maximum length by one unit if shunt engine is to be attached to rear of train.

Speed Restrictions
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Main lines                                                : 60 mph (see note)
Up and Down lines through Machynlleth                     : 40 mph
From Down line to Single (points 45)                      : 25 mph
From Up line to Single (points 9)                         : 15 mph
All other points and sidings                              : 15 mph

Note :
To reflect the effect of the gradient between Machynlleth and Cemmes Road, speed on this section has been restricted to 45 mph for passenger trains and 20 mph for freight trains.
Between Machynlleth and Dovey Jn. there was a short section through curves where a speed limit was set of 50 mph.

Train Reporting Numbers
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Train reporting numbers only came into use in later years, and also changed over the years. See timetable information for details.

Opening Picture
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The opening picture shows 4-6-0 Manor Class 7827 "Lydham Manor" drifting into Machynlleth on a Down freight, on the 20th of August 1965.
It is just passing the new signalbox which replaced the old East and West boxes. The signalling and layout were slightly changed when the new box came into operation.
The line to the right of the train is the Aberystwyth Siding, the line furthest to the right is the Warehouse Siding (which is not included in the simulation). Beyond this part of the engine shed is visible, next to it is the former signal 18 which is the exit signal for the Rock Siding.
The picture was obtained through Colour-Rail (www.colourrail.com).

Acknowledgements
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Thanks to PC-Test team for their help in testing this simulation, and as ever to John Dennis for sorting out the very special program requirements for this particular simulation.
