SECTIONAL APPENDIX - ABERYSTWYTH
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General
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The original station was built in 1863 by the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway for the route to Machynlleth. The neighbouring Manchester & Milford railway were to construct a two road platform adjoining this, to create a joint station and provide access south to Carmarthen. The station was greatly extended in 1925 by the Great Western Railway: the original station building on one side of the platforms was replaced by a grand terminus building.

The Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway was set up im 1861 to construct a railway along the Cardigan Bay from Aberystwyth via Machynlleth and Barmouth to the Lleyn Peninsula. The section between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth was completed in 1864. In 1867 the company was absorbed by the Cambrian Railways which, in turn, in 1922 amalgated with the GWR as part of the formation of the 'Big Four' as laid down in the Railways Act of 1921.

The Manchester and Milford Railway was a Welsh railway company, intended to connect the industrial areas of Northwest England with a deep-water port on Milford Haven, giving an alternative to the Port of Liverpool.
Despite the title it was planned to connect other railways at Llanidloes and Pencader, near Carmarthen, and achieve the object in its name by connections with other lines, most of which were only planned. The M&MR had continuous difficulty in raising capital and also in operating profitably, but thanks to a wealthy supporter it opened from Pencader to Lampeter in 1866. Realising that its originally intended route to Llanidloes would be unprofitable, it diverted the course at the north end to Aberystwyth, which it reached in 1867. The route from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth was the only route the company actually constructed. The M&MR was absorbed in the GWR in 1911.

The third railway at Aberystwyth was the Vale of Rheidol Railway, a narrow gauge line running along the valey of the Rheidol from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge (known as Pontarfynach in Welsh). The line was constructed in 1902 but had its own station, adjacent to the main line station.

Both passenger and freight services to Carmarhten were terminated in December 1964 when the line just south of Aberystwyth was severely damaged because of flooding of the river Ystwyth. The line was officially closed two months later.The former Carmarthen platforms (1 and 2) were rebuild to accomodate the Vale of Rheidol trains in 1968, at which time the separate Vale of Rheidol station was closed. At first, this platform was at ground level but in 2014 it was rebuild and raised to the level of the running board of the coaches to ease boarding.

The line to Machynlleth still survives, but of the former platforms only platform 3 (now redesignated platform 1) still remains. The former Middle Siding also remains as run-round siding. All other tracks and sidings have been lifted.
However, in 2011 a new maintenance workshop was build at the site of the former loco depot.

Signalling
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The signalling in this simulation is depicted as it was during the 1950's.
There was a single box at Aberystwyth, located on the south side of the station, near the connection of No.1 Siding and No. 5 Platform.

Adjacent boxes were :
toward Machynlleth : Llanbadarn Crossing (at 68c),
toward Carmarthen  : Llanilar (at 5m 68c).

The access to the Gas Works was operated by a lever frame, it was released by lever 9.

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

Signal 78 was moved from just before the access to the Gas Works to just behind it, this allows for this access to be included into the simulation.
Access to the Up Sidings was slightly simplified. Note that yard entries Up Siding 1 and Up Siding 2 are connected.
Yard entries Loco Shed 1 and Loco Shed 2 are also connected.

General instructions
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Rules to caution trains.
Because of the overall low speed throughout the station area, cautioning of trains is not required at this location.

Locking rules.
For locking rules please see locking table.
Take good notice of these rules as there are many additional flank protection and overlap locks.

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.

Local instructions
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Carmarthen branch.
Shunt moves outside Aberystwyth Station (between signals 84/85 and 83) were not allowed if an outbound train was still occupying the section toward Llanilar. This was a safety precaution due to the severe gradient of this section, to prevent accidents in case wagons broke off the outbound train which then would run back to Aberystwyth.

Gas Works siding.
Access to Gas Works siding was only allowed to/from yard entry Up Siding 2. Locking is provided through lever 9 which releases the ground frame. Lever 9 can only be released if switch 10 is reversed.

Calling-on into platforms.
Calling on is allowed into the platforms for shunt moves but is not allowed for trains coming off the Main Line or the Carmarthen Branch.

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.

Important note :
engines detached off incoming trains in platform 3 must be run upto the buffer stops (beyond signal 52) before they are redescribed. This is because of the split of this platform over two locations (see below). Details are provided for each train and engine move for which this applies.
 
Train stop locations
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The split platforms require special definitions of station stop locations in order to ensure the trains stop in the correct part of the platform.
The two locations are designated "Aberystwyth Outer Platforms" and "Aberystwyth Inner Platforms", but in the train details windows both are shown simply as "Aberystwyth".

Platforms are allocated to these locations as detailed below.

Platform 1 : 
between signals 81/84 and 73 : A'wyth Outer
within switch 75 upto buffer stops : A'wyth Inner

Platform 2 :
between signal 86 switch 75 : A'wyth Outer
between signal 76 and buffer stops : A"wyth Inner

Platform 3 :
between signals 90/98 and switch 51 : A'wyth Outer
between signal 52 and buffer stops : A'wyth Inner

Platform 4 :
between signals 99/91 and 46 : A'wyth Outer
between signal 100 and buffer stops : A'wyth Inner

Platform 5 :
full platform : A'wyth Inner

Other locations within the station area :
Middle Sdg : middle siding between switch 51 and buffer stops.
(Note that middle siding between signals 49 and 50 is not defined as a platform)

No.1 Sdg : No. 1 Siding

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.
 
Platform 1 :
  between signals 84/81 and 73           :  6 units
  between switch 75 and buffer stops     :  3 units
  full length                            : 10 units

Platform 2 :
  between signal 86 and switch 75        :  3 units
  between signal 76 and buffer stops     :  1 unit
  between signal 86 and buffer stops     :  4 units
  between signals 82/85 and buffer stops : 11 units

Platform 3 :
  between signals 90/98 and switch 51    :  8 units
  between signal 52 and buffer stops     :  1 unit
  full length                            : 10 units

Middle Siding :
  between signals 49 and 50              :  2 units
  between switch 51 and buffer stops     :  2 units
  between signal 49 and buffer stops     :  6 units

Platform 4 :
  between signals 99/91 and 46           :  2 units
  between signal 100 and buffer stops    :  6 units
  full length                            : 10 units

Platform 5 :
  full length                            : 10 units

No. 1 Siding :
  full length                            : 10 units

For shunt moves :
  between signals 93 and 12              :  2 units
  between signals 93 and 27/35/36        :  3 units
  between signals 93 and 28/29/30        :  8 units
  between signals 78 and 8               :  7 units
  between signals 78 and 93              : 10 units

Speed Restrictions
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Max. speed throughout the station area is 10 mph.

Exceptions :
Up Main : onward from signal 8 : 60 mph

Down Main :
  upto Llanbadarn Home signal : 60 mph
  between Llanbararn Home signal and Aberystwyth Distant : 15 mph

Carmarhten branch : generally 40 mph, but there were speed restrictions through Llanilar Station, Llanrhystyd Road Halt, over the bridge across the river Rheidol and on the approach to Aberystwyth (within signal 83).

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 Manor-class 4-6-0 no. 7818 arriving at Aberystwyth on the Down "Cambrian Coast Express". The date of this picture is not recorded.
The train is arriving in platform 3. The signals immediately to the right of the train are the starting signals for platform 3 (90/98). Just visible underneath the right arm is the home signal, signal 1, which has not yet been reset and is still off. The signals visible above the train are the starting signals for platform 4 (99/91). Signal 86, the inner starting signal for platform 2, is partly visible on the extreme right of the picture. The switch in front of the engine is the switch in the middle of platform 4, no. 48.
An 0-6-0 Pannier Tank can be seen in the Up Sidings, coupled to a brake van, probably waiting for its next duty.
The picture was obtained through Colour Rail (www.colourrail.co.uk).

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.
