European Railroad Discussion > Felixstowe Container Train Movements

I was watching the "dance" of container trains into and out of the Port of Felixstowe last night on RealTimeTrains. Inbound 4L71 got stuck at Derby Road siding on the single track waiting for 4 outbound trains, 3 from Felixstowe North terminal and 1 from Felixstowe South. By the time 4L71 could proceed 3 more inbound trains were backed up on the Doubletrack beyond Westerfield behind it. All this happened between 0200 and 0400 local time. And more trains were approaching from the Ely and London directions. Very impressive train operations, especially with many of the trains coming from London getting a locomotive change from Electric to Diesel or v. v. at Ipswich Yard.  It would really help operations if Network Rail would put in Doubletrack between at least Westerfield and Trimley(where the line splits to either Felixstowe North or South terminals). It is very nice that on RTT you get the Headcodes(Train Symbols) unlike ATCS in the States.

SOO6617 Wrote:
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> I was watching the "dance" of container trains
> into and out of the Port of Felixstowe last night
> on RealTimeTrains. Inbound 4L71 got stuck at Derby
> Road siding on the single track waiting for 4
> outbound trains, 3 from Felixstowe North terminal
> and 1 from Felixstowe South. By the time 4L71
> could proceed 3 more inbound trains were backed up
> on the Doubletrack beyond Westerfield behind it.
> All this happened between 0200 and 0400 local
> time. And more trains were approaching from the
> Ely and London directions. Very impressive train
> operations, especially with many of the trains
> coming from London getting a locomotive change
> from Electric to Diesel or v. v. at Ipswich Yard.
>  It would really help operations if Network Rail
> would put in Doubletrack between at least
> Westerfield and Trimley(where the line splits to
> either Felixstowe North or South terminals). It is
> very nice that on RTT you get the Headcodes(Train
> Symbols) unlike ATCS in the States.

RTT is great for railfanning in the UK, especially for live tracking of trains, but realise that most freight headcodes/train symbols are scrambled, so are not the actual headcode. The first symbol is accurate i.e. 0 = light engine, 4 = 75mph freight, 6 = 60mph freight, but the rest of the code is scrambled. The exception to this are GBRF-operated freights, for which the correct headcode is displayed, although i don'tknow why this is the case!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/17 13:10 by exhaustED.

exhaustED Wrote:
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> The exception to this are GBRF-operated
> freights, for which the correct headcode is
> displayed, although i don'tknow why this is the
> case!

GBRf operating staff use Realtimetrains and so Network Rail don't scarmble their headcodes. On Freightmaster Online's realtimemaps you see the true headcodes of all operators, even though the data source is still Network Rail, an extra bit of code de-scrambles them!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/17 15:06 by 86235.

86235 Wrote:
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> exhaustED Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The exception to this are GBRF-operated
> > freights, for which the correct headcode is
> > displayed, although i don'tknow why this is the
> > case!
>
> GBRf operating staff use Realtimetrains and so
> Network Rail don't scarmble their headcodes. On
> Freightmaster Online's realtimemaps you see the
> true headcodes of all operators, even though the
> data source is still Network Rail, an extra bit of
> code de-scrambles them!

Yes, I just joined FM Online. 

SOO6617 Wrote:
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>
> Yes, I just joined FM Online. 

Welcome, it's a good forum for anything British (and increasingly European) freight-wise. The maps are great, being able to watch trains as they approach is so useful. Makes for domestic harmony too, when I say I'm just popping out for a few minutes that's what I mean, whereas in the past 'a few minutes' could be a definition of infinity :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/17 02:24 by 86235.