       General
The first station at Blisworth was opened by the London & Birmingham Railway on opening their line to Rugby in 1838. It was that railway's station for Northampton. In 1845, Blisworth became a junction as a result of the opening of the line to Northampton and on to Peterborough. To allow better connections to Northampton trains, the station was moved North by about 800 meter in 1853 to its definitive location.
In 1866 the Stratford & Midland Junction Railway build a line from Blisworth through Towcester to Stratford-on-Avon, but this railway build its own station and sidings, adjacent to the station of what, by then, had become the LNWR. Allthough the SMJ and LNWR lines were connected, it was not possible to run trains directly from the LNWR through on the SMJ as the connections were such that a reversal was always required.
Blisworth was also the Southern end of the Gayton Loops, the Northern end of these loops were controlled by Gayton Loops signal box.

Blisworth station was closed in January 1960.
Passenger services on the SMJ were withdrawn in 1952, freight services in 1964. The line to Northampton and on to Peterborough was closed in 1972.

Presently, the WCML still runs through the area but as a two-track main line only, with just a single dead-end maintenance siding on the down side.
No trace remains of the station or sidings, nor of the Towcester and Norhtampton branches as a main trunk road has now been built over the course of these routes.

       Simulation
The simulation shows Blisworth (LNWR) station as it was in the mid 1950s. To allow full use of the loop lines of the Gayton Loops, Gayton Loops signalbox is also included in the simulation.
The former SMJ station and sidings at Blisworth have not been included.

       Signalling and Adaptations
An additional shunt disk, numbered 51A, is located on Siding1, controlling access from the dead end spur of this siding beyond points 49.

The ground frame controlling access from the Down Loop to the SMJ exchange sidings controlled a set of points only. Signals F1 and F3 have been added to control traffic to and from the Exchange sidings.

Gayton Loops box signals and points are numbered from 101 upwards, but the levers are located at the left-hand side at the Gayton Loops end.
The levers for the ground-frame on the Down Loop are located inbetween the levers for Gayton Loops and BLisworth. 

Update
Signal 69 applied for trains heading to Down Northampton and Yard only.
When Blisworth was first created, the program did not support such a situation. However, program changes made since then now allow this situation to be represented correctly.
Signals 55, 72 and 74 now read through to signal 71/73, and signal 69 need not be cleared for such moves. Signal 69 can only be cleared with points 31 reversed.
Signal 70 needs 69 to be cleared, either to Down Northampton or to Yard.
       Local Instructions
Down Line through Blisworth
Signal 69 on the Down Line through Blisworth applied only to trains diverging at points 31 (yellow disk).
This is reflected in the routing of signals 70/74/72.
Signal 74 routes through to signal 73.
Signal 72 routes through to signal 72.
Signal 70 routes to signal 69 only, and should only be used for trains heading to the Northampton line or the Yard.

FPL 16 locks both points 15 and 31. This implies that FPL 16 can not be released when section B3 is occupied, so points 15 can not be changed once a train has come to stop at signals 71/73. So, points 15 must be set as required before signals 72/74, or signal 55, are cleared.

In all, this leads to the following set of actions for trains on the Down Line. 
    • To clear for trains through to the down line, the sequence of operations is to set points 15, then clear signals 74 - 73 - 75 (in that order).
    • To clear for trains through to the down loop, the sequence of operations is to set points 15, then clear signals 72 - 71 (in that order).
    • To clear for trains to the Yard or Down Northampton, the sequence to clear signals is the normal order, that is 70 - 69 (and 68 if applicable). These trains can be stopped at 69 (with 31 normal) if required to allow trains to pass on the Up Line.

The distant signal combined with signal 73 is operated by lever 101 and slotted by 73.
The distant signal combined with signal 74 is co-operated by lever 101 and slotted by 73 and 74.
The distant signals combined with signals 71 and 72 are fixed distants.

Signal 55 on the Up Platform also routes through directly to signal 73/71.
Down Platform
The down platform is split by points 53 and 31. Trains diverting on to the Northampton branch would stop short of signal 69, but trains to Rugby would stop at signal 73.
To simulate this correctly, the platform is split in two sections, the first between signals 70/72/74 and points 53, the second between points 31 and signals 71/73.
The first platform part is allocated to Blisworth location, and trains to Northampton have a Blisworth stop set in the timetable, and will stop at this location.
To prevent trains for Rugby also stopping at the first platform part, the second platform part is allocated to a different location: Blisworth Down Platform. Trains bound for Rugby and stopping at Blisworth are therefor booked to stop at this location and not at Blisworth itself.
Up Line towards Roade
The section of track between signals 4 and 5 is treated as a separate block section. Blisworth therefor controls two block sections : signal 2 to 4, and signal 4 to 5.
As a result, the following rules apply.
    • Distant signal 1 applies to signals 2, 3 and 4 only; signal 1 may be drawn off if these signals are cleared, regardless of the state of signal 5.
    • Signal 4 may be drawn off even if signal 5 is still at danger, there is no requirement for trains to be cautioned at signal 4.
Clearing points between Blisworth and Gayton Loops
The clearing points for signals between Blisworth and Gayton Loops are shown by a special marker.
On the Down Line, this applies to signal 73, and the clearing point is at signal 106. So to clear signal 73, points 114 and 115 must be normal and section B6 must be clear.
On the Up Line, this applies to signal 118, and the clearing point is at signal 3. So to clear signal 118, points 31 and 33 must be normal and sections A4 and A5 must be clear. Note that FPL 16 is not locked by signal 118 as this would also lock points 15, for which there is no need.
There are no specific clearing points for the loops, trains may enter the loop as soon as the loop section is clear.
Down Loop Groundframe
The Down Loop groundframe, giving access to the SMJ Exchange sidings, is released by lever 12.
Reversing lever 12 will lock signals 71 and 17 at danger; in reverse, signal 71 or 17 cleared will lock lever 12.
Resetting lever 12 to normal requires F1, F2 and F3 in normal position.
       Notes on shunting
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.

       Platform Lines and Sidings
Length is shown in units, a unit is equivalent to an engine, a carriage or 3 freight wagons.

Platform lengths are not relevant as all trains are allowed to stop regardless of their length.

Length of sidings :
siding 1 :
 - between buffer stop and signal 51A :  5 units
 - between signal 10 and signal 42    :  6 units
 - between buffer stop and signal 42  : 13 units
 - stretching back from signal 10 keeping clear of points 39 : 8 units

siding 2 : 13 units

Down Loop :
 - between signals 104 and F1   : 15 units
 - between signals F1 and 13/14 : 10 units 

Note that Exchange Sidings B gave access to a short shunt neck only, and should be used only for light engines.


       Fringe Boxes
Distance to fringe boxes :
Banbury Lane : to Gayton Loops (signal 118) : 1 mile 7 chains.
Rothersthorpe Crossing : to Blisworth (signal 7/9) : 3 miles 53 chains.

Roade to Blisworth (signal 70/72/74) : 3 miles 8 chains
Note that TES is sent as trains pass Roade Cutting intermediate signal, at 1 mile 72 chains from Blisworth.
Blisworth to Roade :
signal 005 is at 52 chain from signal 004; distance from signal 005 to Roade is 1 mile 71 chain. 

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

       Speed Restrictions
Up and Down main lines : 80 mph
Up and Down Northampton lines : 60 mph
Up and Down Loop : 25 mph (including access points)
All other loops, sidings and points : 15 mph

       Acknowledgements
First and foremost thanks to John Dennis for his extensive work on changing the program such that it became possible to build this simulation using just data definitions.
Also thanks to all on the pcrtest-team for their help in testing this simulation.

       Opening picture
The opening picture shows Blisworth from the south, around 1962.
Allthough the station was closed two years before, the platforms are still in site but clearly not very well kept.
The tracks to the left are part of the SMJ exchange sidings, the engine shunting these sidings is just passing the former SMJ station buildings.
The freight train to the right has come from Northampton and is waiting in the Bay Platform, the train can be seen stretching away through the sharp curve of the Northampton line, and over the bridge across the canal.
The prominent signals in the foreground are signals 72, 74 and 70.
The picture was obtained through Colour-Rail (www.colourrail.com).
