I have just spotted an issue with the signals approaching Standedge tunnel on the down line. Signal DE24 is showing a red aspect but the preceding distant was clear for that set of signals. I am aware this predates the rule requiring each signal to be cleared only when the train is near to act as a reminder, however this should not have allowed the distant to be clear unless all signals before the next distant where off. I don't normally encounter this as it is normally clear throughout but this time I was following another service, Is this a known issue?
Yes, there are a few locations on NTP where this can happen. It’s quite infrequent (people can play the game for years without it happening) but when it does happen it’s very annoying, and the fact you know it can happen kind of takes something away from the route from that point on (for me, at least). DTG acknowledged the issue years ago, but have never fixed it.
The problems with signalling on NTP become a much bigger issue if you make a busy scenario yourself with a train following another quite closely. There are quite a few signals without a corresponding working distant and they are usually ones within a short distance from the previous signal, so a SPAD is inevitable. There are some signals that show as blank when they should be showing a yellow aspect too, at least on PS versions. The actual timetable on the route doesn’t show this problem up very often except the one at Standedge tunnel which will usually be red on some services if you are keeping up good speed. I always check the state of that signal on the map when I’m about a mile away just to make sure it’s turned green and slow down if it hasn’t.
No. Fortunately in real life they don’t rely on having very few trains in the timetable and everything running on time, to cover up the fact that the signalling system doesn’t work.