RTC READING ----------- Reading, 36 miles out from Paddington is where the West of England route diverges from the main line to Bristol and South Wales. There is in addition cross-country traffic from Birmingham and the North. Local services operate on all lines including the SR via Wokingham to Waterloo and Gatwick airport. In this simulation you control station operations at Reading for a five hour shift on a busy Summer Saturday in the mid-1980's, trying to get traffic through the system as efficiently as possible. The layout at Reading is shown schematically in the attached plan. The four main running lines to and from Paddington are the Up main, Up relief, Down Main and Down relief respectively. Principal platforms are P4 and P5. P4 is used exclusively by mainline trains continuing westwards to Oxford, Bristol and South Wales, or taking the Berks and Hants route off the Westbury/Basingstoke line (WL). P5 is normally used for Paddington bound expresses, but can if necessary deal with westbound traffic. Platforms P8 and P9 are available to all mainline trains and are signalled for bi-directional working. Trains to and from the South Coast use these platforms to facilitate running or locomotive changes. Local trains terminating at Reading use dedicated platforms. Services from Newbury and Bedwyn use P1, whilst those from Portsmouth and Basingstoke use P2. The SR electrified lines (EL) from Waterloo use P4A whilst the DMU shuttles from Gatwick, Redhill and Guildford all use P4B. Paddington and Oxford locals use P6 and P7 respectively, the DMUs involved arriving and departing on the relief lines. Note that in the simulation all units are identified by TOP's style running numbers, even if not carried on older DMU's. Parcels trains to Old Oak and Paddington should be handled in P9, as parcels bays P3 and P10 are not used in the simulation. Freight traffic on Summer Saturdays is light, so is directed via the through line rather than the goods loops (not shown). Up parcels and freights should be integrated with local services on the relief line towards London, Expresses to Paddington being directed via the Up Main if at all possible. The timetable is loosely based on operations around 1986 and 1987, the major modifications being the routing of all rather than some South Coast trains via Basingstoke. Individual trains and services on all routes may be subject to operational delays beyond your control leaving you to cope as best you can, using your discretion. GETTING STARTED --------------- As soon as the station and arrival indicators appear with trains showing press the space bar (after accept on Spectrum) the clock will read 09.30 and the 2C12 Wtl (Waterloo) is ready to depart in P4A. In answer to input type in EL, then press RETURN/ENTER, in answer to Exit type in EL, then press ENTER/RETURN, the train will now depart. Let the clock tick until an arrival changes from due to app (approaching) eg. 1C23 Pad-Wst app New Junction press space bar for input as above and type in DM, then ENTER/RETURN, in answer to Exit type in P4 followed by ENTER/RETURN. The train will now move to P4. You should now be able to continue at your own pace. TRAFFIC MOVEMENTS ----------------- Workings in the simulation have four character British Rail style reporting numbers. The first digit gives the category of the train, with 1 for express passenger, 2 for local passenger, 3 for parcels and 6 or 7 for freight workings. The remaining details include regional or area destination codes and allocated working numbers. These appear on your screen as abbreviated originating and destination location and running information. For each input you are given up to 15 minutes' notification of the next arrival. As each working nears Reading you will be informed, you then have three minutes to set up a route before the train is held at the station approach signals. The procedure for setting up a route is to press the SPACE BAR, and then in response to prompts enter the appropriate two or three digit code of the desired input and exit points using the ENTER/RETURN key (pressing ENTER/RETURN alone at either prompt restarts the simulation without penalty and may thus be used to give thinking time or to take a break from play). If a route is correctly set for the working, and does not conflict with previously set up movements, the train will be signalled in and in due course (with a running time of typically 2 minutes) will traverse the route. As a reminder that a route or routes are set, a small square is shown on the appropriate side of the station until all movements on that side of the station are complete. Non-stop trains for ease of identification have reporting numbers prefixed by an asterisk, they should be directed through the system from an input line directly to the desired output line. Category 1 expresses should be dealt with as soon as possible to avoid checking the trains on approach, but through freight trains are of low priority compared to other workings and may be held for up to 10 minutes at the approach signals without penalty. LOADING THE PROGRAM ------------------- The program is loaded by typing CHAIN "Reading" SCHEMATIC PLAN OF MAIN RUNNING LINES ------------------------------------ Please refer to the image file rtcreadi.png for a diagram of Reading. RTC READING (C) 1989 A. GREENUP, 20 MOORVILLE DRIVE, CARLISLE ------------------------------------------------------------- LOCATION CODES -------------- MAIN AND RELIEF LINES (East) WESTBURY/WEST OF ENGLAND/BASINGSTOKE LINE Pad Paddington Nby Newbury Act Acton Yard Bdw Bedwyn Oac Old Oak Common Mrh Merehead MAIN AND RELIEF LINES (West) Plm Plymouth Oxf Oxford Pgn Paignton Hfd Hereford Pnz Penzance Chm Cheltenham Brs Bristol Bsk Basingstoke Wst Weston-S-Mare Wey Weymouth Pts Portsmouth Swn Swansea Ple Poole Cdf Cardiff Stn Southampton Fsh Fishguard Pmb Pembroke ELECTRIFIED (SR) LINES Crm Carmarthan Wtl Waterloo Mlf Milford Haven Gat Gatwick Red Redhill Gla Glasgow Gld Guildford Man Manchester Liv Liverpool Bdf Bradford New Newcastle Yrk York GENERAL PCL Parcels: FLT Freightliner: COY Company Owned Freight