
General                                     
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Marylebone station was opened on March 15, 1899, as the London terminus of the Great Central Railway. It was the last of the London termini, and one of the smallest, with just two island platforms. It was named after the borough in which is was build; the name of this borough was a corruption of the name of a church which once stood in this area, and which was named St. Mary-le-bourne.
Although the Great Central had its aspirations to become a real main-line company, Marylebone never gained the association with long distance travel as did the termini of its rivals like Paddington, Euston and King's Cross. The station always remained a moderate affair, mostly associated with suburban services.
On grouping in 1924, the Great Central became part of the London & North Eastern Railway, and so became part of the Eastern Region when British Railways was formed in 1948. At the end of the 1950's, the former Great Central lines were transferred to the Midland Region.
The final demise of what was once the Great Central came in the 1960's, when under the Beeching plans, most of the former main line was closed. This left Marylebone with just the suburban services to High Wycombe and Aylesbury, and the odd rush-hour service to Princes Risborough. It was therefore no surprise that in the 1980's plans were drawn up to close the station completely, with the High Wycombe services transferred to Paddington, and the Aylesbury line becoming part of the London Underground. Capacity problems, in particular at Paddington, proved too much of an obstacle and the plans were withdrawn.
Marylebone's fortunes took a real turn for the better after privatisation as it became the London terminal for the ambitious Chiltern Railways, and apart from an increase in suburban services it also saw the return of mainline services, not to Sheffield or Manchester but now to Birmingham and the West.
The success of the Chiltern Railways is such that, after more than a century, the four platform faces could no longer cope with all the traffic and a third island platform was added. 

Signalling
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The simulation depicts the situation as it was in the 1950's. In the late 1940's, the small engine service area was relocated to the west of the station, its former location at the east side of the station was taken up by new sidings.
The access to the sidings also gave access to a milk dock which was adjacent to the Wall Side sidings, and also to a small gas-works which was adjacent to the Up loop, slightly to the North of the station.

The four track section did not stretch all the way to Neasden Junction (where the lines to High Wycombe and Aylesbury split). Most trains therefore used the fast lines, unless this caused a conflict in the station area.

Adaptations
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The cross-over between platform 4 and the slip-line was operated by a ground-frame, but for the simulation it is worked through lever 4 (which was spare).
Signal 38A, on the Down Slow, has been added as Home signal as the simulation requires a single signal as exit signal to an adjacent box. It is placed at the same distance from Marylebone as signal 38 on the Down Fast. In reality there were signals at this location, these were controlled by Marylebone Goods box. Therefore, signal 38A, like signal 38, is slotted by Marylebone Goods.

Emergeny release cross-overs, located between platforms 2 and 3 and also between platform 1 and the Wall-side siding, which were controlled by ground-frames and were unsignalled, have not been included as the simulation would have required a large number of additional signals for this to work properly.

Local Instructions
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Cross-overs 3 and 4 :
the cross-overs 3 (between platforms 2 and 3) and 4 (between platform 4 and slip line) can only be used by trains which exit the station. It is not possible to use these cross-overs to get to platform 2 via platform 3, or to get to platform 4 via the slip line.

Permissive working :
Permissive working is allowed in all platforms and in the Wall-side siding.

Signal 96 :
trains routed from Up Slow or Up Fast to platform 1 or Wall-side siding may not be stopped at signal 96. So, signal 96 must be cleared before the relevant signal on the Up Slow (79, 85 or 94) or Up Fast (88, 92, or 95) is cleared.
For trains coming off the Up Loop, it is possible to route these directly into platform 1 or the Wall-side siding by clearing signal 96 before clearing 67 or 66. It is also possible to route a train to signal 96 only by clearing signal 66. Note that signal 67 cannot be cleared if signal 96 is at danger.

Points 75 :
Points 75 are within the clearance area for the Up Loop. If trains are offered on the Up Loop which have Carriage Sidings 2 as their destination, either points 75 must be reversed before accepting this train, or the train must be stopped at signal 73/76 before points 75 can be set. It is not allowed to set points 75 once a train has been accepted and this train is not yet standing at the signal.
Points 72 are outside the clearance area so this restriction does not apply to trains with destination Carriage Sidings 1.

Signal 38 and 38A :
Signals are slotted by Marylebone Goods box and will be set to danger as trains pass into the section beyond the signal.

Signals 86 and 93 :
Signals are slotted by Marylebone Goods box and will be set to danger when the combined Home signal is reset.

Distance signals combined with sigs. 8, 9, 21 and 22:
Signals are worked by Marylebone Goods box and slotted by Marylebone box.

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.

*** PLEASE NOTE ***
Because of the short distance between the signal and the reversal point, setting the shunt command before clearing the signal is essential for routes set from signal 39 (for reversal at 41)(see additional note below), 71 (for reversal at 67/66/65) and 74 (for reversal at 75/76).

Note for signal 39 : the shunt command can not be set before signal 35 is cleared. So, for trains coming off the Engine Shed, the correct sequence of commands is : clear signal 35, set shunt command, clear signal 39.

Notes on coupling
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Trains or light engines brought into the platform lines will not automatically couple on to trains already in the platform.
The actual sequence depend on the type of train or light engine which is brought into the platform.

None-timetabled trains or light engines running under a "Z" headcode :
Trains or light engines with "Z" code will buffer up to any train in the platform. To couple, only the "couple" command needs to be issued.

Timetabled trains or light engines :
Timetabled trains or light engines will terminate short of any train in the platform. Wait until these trains or engines have changed headcode into a "Z" code, then issue "Proceed" command - this will 'buffer up' the train or engine to the train in the platform. Next, the "couple" command can be issued.

Engine in platform between trains :
on a number of occasions, two train are taken into the same platform and the engine of the second train is to work the stock of the first train waiting in the platform.
After detaching the engine from the second train, do not couple this engine to the first train until the second train has departed. Issuing the "couple" command to this engine while both trains are in the platform can lead to the engine being coupled to the wrong train - as the engine is 'buffered up' to both trains, the system cannot tell to which train the engine should be coupled.

*** PLEASE NOTE ***
In all cases mentioned above, the incoming loco must be uncoupled from the train before any other loco can be brought up to that train. Best practice is to uncouple the loco of the incoming train immediately after the train has terminated and redescribed, and only clear signals to bring in any other loco into the platform after the incoming engine has been uncoupled.

Platform Lines and Sidings
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Length of platform lines and sidings.
Length is shown in units, 1 unit equals 1 engine or 1 pass. coach or 3 freight wagons.

Platform 1 : 16 units
Platform 2 : 
     Between buffer stops and sig. 2/2A : 11 units
     Clear of pts. 3                    :  2 units
     Total platform                     : 16 units
Platform 3 :
     Between buffer stops and sig. 1    : 11 units
     Between pts. 3 and sig. 7/55       :  1 unit
     Total platform                     : 16 units
Platform 4 :
     Between buffer stops and sig. 1A   : 11 units
     Clear of pts. 4                    :  2 units
     Total platform                     : 16 units

Wall-side Siding : 16 units
Slip line :
     Upto sig. 34 : 6 units
     Upto sig. 39 : 8 units
     (note this will block the engine shed access)

Between sigs. 96 and 48/59 : 1 unit

For reporting train position, all lines between the platform starter signals and the home signals on the up lines are shown as "Approach".

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.

Speed Restrictions
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Up and Down Fast and Slow lines beyond starter signals and switches 51 and 49 : 40 mph.
Up Loop : 25 mph.
Approach and platform lines : 25 mph.
Wall-side siding, slip line, engine shed and carriage shed 1 & 2 : 15 mph.
Various points also have a speed limit of 15 mph when reversed.

Timetable notes
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*** PLEASE NOTE ***
Make sure to also read the notes for the timetable you are going to use.
The timetable notes often contain important information relating to the actual train operations, which may differ per timetable.

Acknowledgements
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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
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"View northward, out of the Station towards the 'Metroland' suburbs, Leicester Central, Nottingham Victoria and Sheffield Victoria - ex-Great Central 'London Extension' main line. The Station was by 1961 very much in decline: it had been taken over by the London Midland Region in 1958 and lost any importance as the terminus of a provincial main line. The train is the 07.40 stopping train from Woodford Halse, headed by BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76041 (built 7/54, withdrawn 4/67)."

Picture is by Ben Brooksbank (see : http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/4450), and is available at www.geograph.org.uk.

The picture is reproduced here under the rules of the Creative Commons licence (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/).
Please note that the rules of the Creative Commons licence also apply to the copy of this picture as included in the data of this simulation.

