in a word managed to coast to a stop inside a neutral section (carnforth bare lane junction one) on a heavy freight and cannot get it moving again. turned the power off and it went out as it should do but then i stopped between the markers and having no power form the OHLE cannot get moving again. (I Know im an idiot).
gave up in the end. heading south i was on a single yellow expecting a red for a unit coming off the morcombe branch heading into lancaster. i didn't realise there was a short up hill section there and rolled to a stop. i let it roll back out and tried to put the power back on but to no avail. couldn't even get the pantograph back up after a full reset. good thing i have a save at tebay so ill re run it later.
it was a bit of bad luck, fortunately i've got it done tonight really good run and had dad taking an interest. however JT put the speed signs in for the up loops or if they weren't there IRL give us a guide in your excellent manuals that you release with your routes. its a right pain in the bum on a freight if you get looped trying to work out if its 10/15/20/25 mph
One thing that amazes me about the location of some of these neutral sections, indeed as they are IRL, is often the worst place to have to shut off power. Just beyond a station or junction or just after a signal, all situations where the train could be moving quite slowly. I know these were decided on 50 odd years ago (in the case of the WCML north of Preston when the electrification was extended to Glasgow) but got to wonder what went through the minds of the design engineers when shifting it even just half a mile could have made life much easier.
I can only assume that they didn't really have a concept in mind for just how much it would hinder these shiny new electrics to have the neutral sections so close to stopping points, given how long they had worked with the steam engines beforehand. And maybe some assumed that the engines would have more ability to coast through the neutral sections, not considering the fact that you can't actually accelerate right up to the section and have to tap down beforehand. Ultimately the people who positioned the sections probably had no idea how tap changers actually operated, they just had a loose concept and a load of numbers.
Sorry but saying they had no idea how tap changers worked, having loose concepts etc. is pure drivel at best. However, to the OPs point, strandings rarely happened with the sparky leading, route learning being key. Services did very occasionally strand themselves with the onset of DVT working, Morecambe South OHNS being a known trap if the Up control signal was on (just as you described), and the loco was on the rear of the formation (as was usual). On 3 occasions I had to quickly scramble a 31 off Crag Bank HS and run an 0Z99 to Morecambe South and shove a stranded express to Lancaster, happy days.
i do need to do a bit more route learning but it was fun last night on the approach to preston with dad watching slowing for the 35mph restriction and telling him that you need to bring it down to 15-20mph before the 1-90 drop down into the station and be able to stop. doing a bit of a run through for him. the sections do seem to be placed at locations where your mind is on other things, carlisle is a pain both up and down. penrith and oxenholme are ok just dependent on if you stop, hest bank on one leg of a triangle junction. that said the Heald green NS on MAC is also on a leg of a triangle junction, not that it was when first electrified. multiple things to focus on. it would be interesting with a DVT without the aid of train length systems that we have now. my mad cap thought of the day (although with some common sense though) driving past the heald green NS was that, are their locations based on a connection to the national grid network.
The ones between Preston and Lancaster and at Tebay seem to be the ones that actually make sense. Hest Bank too, I suppose given you'd likely be going at a decent speed or powering down to prepare to stop at/slow down for Lancaster. The one outside Carlisle though has to be the most ridiculous. You've either already started braking or you're trying to accelerate.
