Doncaster PSB
Encyclopedia
Doncaster PSB is a signalling centre on the East Coast Main Line
railway in the United Kingdom, principally covering the line from London
to Edinburgh
but also encompassing other lines diverging and converging to the ECML. The signal box celebrated its 25th birthday in 2006.
s, many dating from the 19th century.
Power signalling, however, was installed in two signal boxes, one at the north and the other at the south of Doncaster Station
. The work was planned and some equipment was on site before World War II but the installation was not commissioned until 1949. Searchlight colour light signals and electric point
machines were controlled from switch panels. The interlocking
equipment was unique being a sequence switch interlocking system manufactured by Standard Telephone Company using telephone switching techniques to the technical specification of the signal engineer of the then Southern Area of the London and North Eastern Railway
. The sequence switches consisted of a rotary contact shaft which was rotated to a route position and proved a circuit through contact wipers. Each switch had a "home" position and eleven route positions. When a route was initiated, a clutch was engaged on the appropriate switch to rotate it into its correct position thus setting up the appropriate interlocking circuits through other switches and relay
s. The installations proved to be remarkably reliable, serving a very useful purpose but were eventually life expired.
In association with the resignalling scheme, was a major programme of track improvements to enable trains to run at speeds of up to 125 mph. This was achieved by simplification and rationalisation of the track layout and realignment of curves at many places.
An early improvement was the adaptation of an existing railway bridge south of Doncaster to become a flyover
enabling trains to and from the Lincoln line to cross over the main line without conflicting with the mainline trains.
The largest alteration to the track layout was in the Doncaster area where the work was staged over an extensive period.
of the lines from the station to the double track
to Leeds
, York
(ECML) and Thorne (thence Hull
, Scunthorpe
and Grimsby
). The new layout entailed considerable changes from the then existing layout and it was estimated that the junction remodelling would take nine months of weekend work. A decision was made to carry this out during five weeks' continuous work in the spring of 1979 when the operation of trains through the area was drastically reduced and the Leeds line was closed for a period of time. Although there were some inevitable diversions and retiming of trains, disruption of services was kept to a minimum and the project was completed on schedule.
The previous Marshgate Junction allowed for a maximum speed of 60 mph on the Doncaster - York main lines with diverging speeds of 25 mph on the main lines to and from Leeds and Thorne. Other speeds were 15 mph. The remodelling of the layout in association with other improvements in the Doncaster station area allowed speeds of 105 mph through the Doncaster section of the East Coast Main Line route. The divergence to and from the Leeds line allowed a maximum speed of 70 mph. Other improvements on the Doncaster PSB area included raising the maximum permissible speed at Retford from 80 to 115 mph and at Newark from 80 to 100 mph.
Design of the scheme was governed by the need to satisfy operating requirements of speed and headway. Besides employing what was then modern signal equipment, an associated comprehensive communication network was necessary to achieve reliability and efficiency.
Track rationalisation and resignalling proceeded side-by-side, starting in the Grantham area and working progressively northwards while at the same time the new Doncaster signalling centre was constructed on a site south of the station and on the east side of the main line.
Dominating the control room is a 110 feet long illuminated signalling control panel, the wings of which are inclined towards the centre. On the near-vertical portion of the panel is depicted the track layout of the area controlled. Positioned on the layout to correspond with the location of all signals are push buttons which are used for operating points and clearing signals along the route selected for the passage of a train. Track circuit
s, which indicate the position of trains, are also shown on the diagram in distinctive colours.
Television monitor screens for two of the seven level crossing
s monitored by closed circuit television (CCTV) from Doncaster PSB, are inset into the panel itself (Kirton Lane & Rossington)and the other five are mounted on a separate desk console (Daw Lane, Arksey, and Moat Hills on the ECML; Bentley, and Dock Hills on the Leeds line).
Also on hand in the signal control room are read-out units for the special line side equipment, located at 16 sites, which detect overheating in the axle boxes of vehicles on passing trains. If an abnormally high temperature is recorded, the equipment will indicate the exact position in the train of the overheated axle
, and the signaller can have the train stopped and the vehicle examined.
's Doncaster station announcer and the equipment for operation train destination visual displays that are transmitted to the screens on platforms at Doncaster, Retford, Newark North Gate and Grantham.
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
railway in the United Kingdom, principally covering the line from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
but also encompassing other lines diverging and converging to the ECML. The signal box celebrated its 25th birthday in 2006.
The beginning of Doncaster PSB
On Sunday 8 July 1979, the first section of the control panel in the new signal box at Doncaster became operational, controlling the movement of all trains in the immediate area of Doncaster station. Not only was this a significant landmark in the progress of the whole resignalling and track rationalisation project, but it also represented a further major step forward in British Rail's drive towards the complete modernisation of the London - Edinburgh East Coast Main Line. The signal box was completed in 1981 and was officially opened on 8 December 1981.East Coast Main Line upgrade
The Doncaster installation was the third major signal box to be commissioned on the East Coast Main Line, the previous two being King's Cross, completed in 1977 and Peterborough in 1973. Prior to the scheme's authorisation in 1974, train movement was controlled by a mixture of outdated semaphore and colour light signals operated from 52 signal boxes mainly containing mechanical lever frameLever frame
Mechanical railway signalling installations rely on lever frames for their operation to interlock the signals and points to allow the safe operation of trains in the area the signals control...
s, many dating from the 19th century.
Power signalling, however, was installed in two signal boxes, one at the north and the other at the south of Doncaster Station
Doncaster railway station
Doncaster railway station serves the town of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the East Coast Main Line north of London Kings Cross, and is about five minutes walk from Doncaster town centre. The station is managed by East Coast...
. The work was planned and some equipment was on site before World War II but the installation was not commissioned until 1949. Searchlight colour light signals and electric point
Railroad switch
A railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....
machines were controlled from switch panels. The interlocking
Interlocking
In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings. The signalling appliances and tracks are sometimes collectively referred to as an interlocking plant...
equipment was unique being a sequence switch interlocking system manufactured by Standard Telephone Company using telephone switching techniques to the technical specification of the signal engineer of the then Southern Area of the London and North Eastern Railway
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
. The sequence switches consisted of a rotary contact shaft which was rotated to a route position and proved a circuit through contact wipers. Each switch had a "home" position and eleven route positions. When a route was initiated, a clutch was engaged on the appropriate switch to rotate it into its correct position thus setting up the appropriate interlocking circuits through other switches and relay
Relay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal , or where several circuits must be controlled...
s. The installations proved to be remarkably reliable, serving a very useful purpose but were eventually life expired.
In association with the resignalling scheme, was a major programme of track improvements to enable trains to run at speeds of up to 125 mph. This was achieved by simplification and rationalisation of the track layout and realignment of curves at many places.
An early improvement was the adaptation of an existing railway bridge south of Doncaster to become a flyover
Overpass
An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway...
enabling trains to and from the Lincoln line to cross over the main line without conflicting with the mainline trains.
The largest alteration to the track layout was in the Doncaster area where the work was staged over an extensive period.
Marshgate Junction
Marshgate Junction to the north of Doncaster station forms the junctionJunction (rail)
A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge.This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes , 'points' and signalling.one or two tracks each meet at a junction, a fairly simple layout of tracks suffices to...
of the lines from the station to the double track
Double track
A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...
to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
(ECML) and Thorne (thence Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe is a town within North Lincolnshire, England. It is the administrative centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority, and had an estimated total resident population of 72,514 in 2010. A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe, the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre,...
and Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
). The new layout entailed considerable changes from the then existing layout and it was estimated that the junction remodelling would take nine months of weekend work. A decision was made to carry this out during five weeks' continuous work in the spring of 1979 when the operation of trains through the area was drastically reduced and the Leeds line was closed for a period of time. Although there were some inevitable diversions and retiming of trains, disruption of services was kept to a minimum and the project was completed on schedule.
The previous Marshgate Junction allowed for a maximum speed of 60 mph on the Doncaster - York main lines with diverging speeds of 25 mph on the main lines to and from Leeds and Thorne. Other speeds were 15 mph. The remodelling of the layout in association with other improvements in the Doncaster station area allowed speeds of 105 mph through the Doncaster section of the East Coast Main Line route. The divergence to and from the Leeds line allowed a maximum speed of 70 mph. Other improvements on the Doncaster PSB area included raising the maximum permissible speed at Retford from 80 to 115 mph and at Newark from 80 to 100 mph.
Design of the scheme was governed by the need to satisfy operating requirements of speed and headway. Besides employing what was then modern signal equipment, an associated comprehensive communication network was necessary to achieve reliability and efficiency.
Track rationalisation and resignalling proceeded side-by-side, starting in the Grantham area and working progressively northwards while at the same time the new Doncaster signalling centre was constructed on a site south of the station and on the east side of the main line.
Milestone
Colour light signalling on the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh was completed on 24 September 1978 and the achievement was marked by the ceremonial withdrawal of the last semaphore signal at Decoy, south of Doncaster.The signalling centre
The signal box is a two storey brick building, with the upper section clad in black ceramic tiles, the signal box complex houses the ground floor relay room, telecommunications room, standby generator room and also houses the maintenance team with offices and mess facilities. On the first floor is the signalling control room.Dominating the control room is a 110 feet long illuminated signalling control panel, the wings of which are inclined towards the centre. On the near-vertical portion of the panel is depicted the track layout of the area controlled. Positioned on the layout to correspond with the location of all signals are push buttons which are used for operating points and clearing signals along the route selected for the passage of a train. Track circuit
Track circuit
A track circuit is a simple electrical device used to detect the absence of a train on rail tracks, used to inform signallers and control relevant signals.- Principles and operation :...
s, which indicate the position of trains, are also shown on the diagram in distinctive colours.
Television monitor screens for two of the seven level crossing
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
s monitored by closed circuit television (CCTV) from Doncaster PSB, are inset into the panel itself (Kirton Lane & Rossington)and the other five are mounted on a separate desk console (Daw Lane, Arksey, and Moat Hills on the ECML; Bentley, and Dock Hills on the Leeds line).
Also on hand in the signal control room are read-out units for the special line side equipment, located at 16 sites, which detect overheating in the axle boxes of vehicles on passing trains. If an abnormally high temperature is recorded, the equipment will indicate the exact position in the train of the overheated axle
Hot box
A hot box is the term used when an axle bearing overheats on a piece of railway rolling stock. The term is derived from the journal-bearing trucks used before the mid 20th century. The axle bearings were housed in a box that used oil-soaked rags or cotton to reduce the friction of the axle...
, and the signaller can have the train stopped and the vehicle examined.
Announcers
A separate desk is set aside for East CoastEast Coast (train operating company)
East Coast is a British train operating company running high-speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland...
's Doncaster station announcer and the equipment for operation train destination visual displays that are transmitted to the screens on platforms at Doncaster, Retford, Newark North Gate and Grantham.