Can anyone in the know confirm how accurate the timetable is in Cathcart Circle? Just ran service 2P09 from Newton to Glasgow via Pollokshields East. Running the first half of the service, I was behind another train and encountered lots of red signals, including one that prevented me going into a station until the train in front had departed the next station along. As such, I was running on average a minute late until the train in front took the western path and my train the eastern path of the circle. During the second half of the route, I was on time at every station and even had to wait a up to a minute or two before departing some of them. I also arrived 2 minutes early at Glasgow. It doesn’t make sense that I’d be forced to run a minute late during the first part of the service, but be on time or even early the second part. Is this typical in real life?
I don't have personal experience of commuting/driving on Cathcart in real life, but I do have experience of other urban networks, and I'd say that building up a minute of delay (behind a late running train) would be a very good result on most days on the British network..... and yep, you often get gaps in the timetable towards the end of a service where you can make up time - a lot of services are timetabled with exactly this pattern of headroom at the end. If you want to experience absolutely perfect clockwork timing on a real railway, then you'd get it on a Japanese or Swiss railway, but I am not sure you'd get this anywhere else.... (*ducks*) I would regard your experience on the TSW service you mention to be a good one.... we need more variations like that - hopefully we will get much more of it in Rush Hour.
Railways build in recovery time, the general public never see. It is less now then when I worked on the Railway (1974-1981) Finsbury Park to Kings Cross, could be as much as 15 minutes when you can do it in 7. This was on all timetables across the BR network. You just did not see it in the Public timetable, it was only in the Working Timetable given to staff
Go to www.realtimetrains.co.uk At the top click SEARCH (don't use the search tool on the front page) Click DETAILED in LOCATION type MOUNT FLORIDA (more services on the route stop or go via here than Cathcart itself) Click SEARCH Open various services and you will be shown in detail when trains arrive, leave or pass the stations and junctions on route. Different services have different "allowances" probably due to traffic density on the route ie: Service 2N09 0726 Neilston to Glasgow Central only has 30 secs pathing allowance at Muirhouse North Jnc Service 2N22 0935 Glasgow to Nielston has no pathing allowance at all Service 2P06 0721 Glasgow to Burnside has no pathing allowance at all Service 2N13 0755 Neilston to Glasgow has: 90 seconds at Muirend 60 seconds at Muirhouse North Jnc 60 seconds at Glasgow Bridge Street Jnc
From 1000, the departures each hour from GC repeat, and seem to match the RL frequency of service: 2 trains to Neilston, half an hour apart, one to Newton via Pollockshields East (i.e. direct), one via Pollockshields West (i.e. extra stations), one Inner Circle and one Outer Circle.
