Creation Sharing New Timetable For East Coastway

DOWNLOAD it here!
https://www.trainsimcommunity.com/m.../i4626-east-coastway-timetable-by-2tall-tyler

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For a few months now I've been working on a new timetable for East Coastway, a beautiful route with a lot of potential that is missing from the original timetable. I am using the December 2017-May 2018 Working Timetable to make better use of the stock that comes with the route and add trains which were added after the route's original release. As we know, variety is the spice that makes TSW routes come alive!

I've finished my research and planning and have building the timetable in the editor. There's a long way to go, but here's what I've got planned:

Playable services:

• Aggregate freight between Newhaven and Lewes, continuing as AI to points north.
• Southern 313s between Brighton and Seaford
• Southern 313s between Brighton and Lewes
• Southern 377s between Brighton and Eastbourne, continuing as AI to Hastings/Ore
  • (NEW!) A few of this trips ran with Southern 313s until May 2018
• (NEW!) Southern 377s between Eastbourne and Lewes, continuing as AI to London. This doubles the traffic on the Lewes-Eastbourne section of the line!
• (NEW!) Thameslink 700s on mileage accumulation runs between Eastbourne and Lewes, continuing as AI to Three Bridges. Also, a 700 in warm storage at Eastbourne Yard. Both seasonal, January-March.
• (NEW!) Rail Head Treatment Train working the entire route. Seasonal, September-October.

AI services:

• Southern 377s at Brighton on the Brighton Main Line
• Southern 313s at Brighton on the West Coastway
  
• Great Western 166s at Brighton, on a one-daily service to Great Malvern

• (NEW!) Thameslink 700s at Brighton on the Brighton Main Line

• (NEW!) Gatwick Express 387s at Brighton

Additional features:

• Trains stopping at a station do not activate level crossings beyond the platform until they stop. This is realistic, plus drivers experience more adverse signals and get to watch the booms come down.
• The timetable contains various ECS trips and 377 runs on the Seaford branch (including an odd 2F99 Haywards Heath-Seaford run), and I'm determined to squeeze in some 6-car 313 services on the Brighton-Lewes shuttle for stadium games.

I'll keep posting as the project progresses.

 

Looking forward to a new timetable for ECW, was going to do it as my first timetable but thought I'd best start small. Would you look at adding 387s in as substitution or on a couple of services, as they were used on the route, although, probably not in the year you're looking at doing.

 

Borrowed from the Overground?

This sounds a great TT. Will bring ECW to life.

 

Sure, I will look into it.

It seems that a couple 387 sets have been assigned to Brighton-Hastings services at times since 2020, due to construction at Gatwick Airport, service cuts post-COVID, and (I assume) fleet reshuffling due to the 313s being retired.

Substitution with a very low probability is likely the best way to do this, since it'll liven up the timetable and give players free choice to drive any service with a 387. I will just need to figure out how to do that.

No 378s though, despite my typo.

 

I am starting with drivable services on the East Coastway and then doing AI, since drivable services will require more testing and time-consuming simulation, which only takes longer the more trains are added. But I couldn't help but add the 700 in warm storage at Eastbourne Yard, just for fun. So far with 10 hours of work in the editor I'm up to about 8 am on the East Coastway line, which seems like slow progress until you remember that the morning trains are all different and can't be copy-pasted like most of the midday services.

The 377 pictured is headed to Lewes where it will couple to another 377 that came from Seaford, then they both go off the map to London. Unfortunately signal 14 at Lewes doesn't seem to be set up for a call-on/shunt signal aspect, because no matter if I use a call-on dependency or a couple to order (or both!), I can only get permission past the signal at restricted speed without the subsidiary position light signal illuminating. This trips the TPWS if enabled, unless you press the override button before passing the signal. I guess players who enable safety systems will have to know how to use them!

I'm also considering what to do with the Brighton-Ashford services that operate with a diesel Class 171, which is not in TSW. In the timetable I'm using, these operated all the way from Ashford to Brighton, but today only go as far as Eastbourne. If I wanted to add some additional traffic to the modeled portion of the line, I could assume the line to Ashford is out of service for engineering work, with bus service for passengers from Hastings and electric trains (maybe even 313s) from Hastings to Brighton. But I'm not sure if this has ever been done — and why would they have spare electric trains floating around to use instead of the 171s? On the other hand, would players know that these services are supposed to extend to Ashford? It's really a question of realism versus packing more action into the timetable.

 

I would definitely support just using another (electric) train for this. Either the 377 or the 313 or maybe a mix of them?

Another thing: do you want to use the ECW 377 or the one from LBN? I would support using the LBN one as that as a little more fleshed out.

 

If I use an electric train, it would be the 313 to give some variety.

I am using the LBN 377. I can't hear much difference in the sounds, but the DRA from the ECW 377 is non-functional — it moves when you click on it but doesn't light up or disable traction power, so there's no point to using it. (I confirmed this on both the original and 313 timetable on Steam, so it's not a Play-In-Editor problem.)

 

If you're gonna include the 171 services then I suggest waiting until the Fife Circle Line releases

 

The DRA not working is due to it being isolating in the saftey systems isolation panel in the cab IIRC.

 

Ah, you are correct. It has to be un-isolated manually, because neither of the safety system hotkeys trigger it (unlike the LBN 377).

I did some more testing of joining trains at Lewes, and managed to logjam the AI of the second train, which forgot to open its doors for passengers. Since this joining operation really doesn't add much to the player experience (driving into the back of another train isn't that exciting) and it's already failing to use the call-on signals, I think I'll skip it in the name of durability and have the trains run separately to London...

 

I'm now up to 100 services, and am still adding trains in the 8:00 am hour!

At Eastbourne, the WTT shows some trains as detaching but doesn't show what happens to the detached portion. No other trains shortly afterwards are instructed to attach, so for now I am sending the trains to Eastbourne Yard, adding some interesting variety in jobs. I hope they get pulled out later, or my assumption is wrong and I'll have to attach them to following trains (and if so, I really hope that the signals at Eastbourne allow this).

Also, I found the 313 that goes all the way to Ore!

 

I was out of town for work this week, but found some time to playtest today. One of the interesting decisions when building a timetable is where to Dispatch Beyond an order, and where to stop the player at a red signal. For instance, for trains that stop at stations with both a signal and a level crossing after the platform I don't Dispatch Beyond the Go To order, but do so on the Load/Unload order. This means that the player approaches the station on cautionary signals, then once they open the doors the level crossing begins its sequence then allows the signal to clear. In my timetable, this happens at Newhaven Town (northbound), Newhaven Harbour (southbound), Berwick (eastbound), Polegate (westbound), and Hampden Park (northbound). Obviously, only for stopping trains.

Avoiding early reservation is also important when approaching busy junctions, to avoid blocking other traffic. Lewes has become quite a busy area with the addition of trains to/from London, so I've been testing this at both the station and the Seaford branch junction just east of the station. This also goes for arriving Lewes shuttle trains which cross over onto Platform 5. I've given them a Go Via order so they don't reserve a path until they approach the signal before the station -- at 10 mph, they need to slow down anyway.

Playtesting a Seaford-Brighton service with a 313, I was running a few minutes late and got stopped approaching Lewes to let a London-bound express ahead of me. When I arrived at Lewes, it was a busy scene -- and an Eastbourne-bound train arrived from Brighton as I departed. I'm loving the new level of action at Lewes in this timetable!

 

Well, some more research indicates that no, units detatched at Eastbourne do not go to the yard. Instead, they wait for the next London-bound service to arrive and combine with that. These arriving trains are AI so I don't have to worry about the proper shunt signal being supported, but I'll have to sort out track assignments at Eastbourne the hard way, since they are not listed in the WTT and don't seem to be able to follow any sort of pattern.

That said, I did make some progress tonight -- another 19 services added and a new discovery made with not reserving junctions too soon. If a train has a long timetabled wait at a station, you can untick the Dispatch Beyond box for both the Go To and Load/Unload orders, and also untick the "Lock doors to complete" box on the Load/Unload order. At the scheduled end time for the Load/Unload order, the order will advance and reserve the path, clearing the signal while the doors are still open. This avoids the realism problem of closing doors when the signal is red, which as I understand it is a no-no in British operating policy.

 

Progress update: I'm up to 179 total services and the morning is done! (At least for East Coastway passenger trains.) I'm now in the 12:00 hour and the learning curve has eased significantly.

I've also done some thinking about how to incorporate possible Southern 171 services, since we have a 170 coming soon. These services double-berth at both Brighton and Eastbourne, but the required signals are not set up for call-on aspects so you have to get permission to pass at restricted speed. It doesn't feel right. If I were to add these services, I'd have to edit the route to upgrade signals, which would mean working with DTG on an official release (something I'm interested in anyway, but lots to do before I start that conversation), getting branding permission from Southern, getting permission to repaint the Rivet model and finding someone to do so...that's a lot of "ifs!" So for now, I will leave space for 171 services in case theses stars align, but not waste any time adding those services with a stand-in train like the 166. That said, I did a test run with the 166 and boy did it struggle to climb the grade westbound out of Lewes. I didn't hit 50 until I topped over the hill at Falmer Tunnel!

 

sounds really cool! will make the route fun again for me! Is there a way for you to allow the BML 377 to be used as it has better sounds and physics etc

 

Very nice to see the ECW TT getting fleshed out with more traffic

 

You using the ECW 377 or have you swapped it out with the LBN 377?

 

I am using the London-Brighton 377, at least for now.

I'm now up to 359 services, and about half the East Coastway trainsets have complete schedules ending back at Lovers Walk in the evening. The others have a few hours left to fill in. (Not all of those 359 are playable services, as the total counts AI services to and from portals.)

I'll finish the rest of the East Coastway timetable this week, then add freight services to the Newhaven aggregate terminal, full coverage by an RHTT train in the fall, Thameslink mileage runs between Lewes and Eastbourne, at least one railtour, and maybe some early-morning diversionary Gatwick Express and Thameslink services between Lewes and Brighton. Once that's all playtested, I'll fill in the heavy AI traffic at Brighton including Southern, Gatwick Express, Thameslink, and GWR. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there's much left to do!

 

Maybe you could make it use the ECW 377 by default but have a 100% sub for the London-Brighton version so people who don't have LBN can still play, but if they do it will be used instead 100% of the time and thus people can have the choice.

 

Progress update: I've finished the playable Southern services! This includes:

• Brighton to Lewes
• Brighton to Seaford
• Brighton to Eastbourne (some continuing as AI to Hastings/Ore)
• London Victoria to Eastbourne/Ore, playable between Lewes and Eastbourne

The last group is not in the stock timetable, and makes the line from Lewes to Eastbourne much livelier.

There are a few goodies in the timetable including two 313 runs to Eastbourne -- one of which returns as an ECS run per the real timetable, six-car 313 runs to handle football traffic at Falmer, and an 8-car 377 that runs as AI from London to Brighton and then makes a Seaford shuttle run. It doesn't fit into Platform 5, so it unloads at Platform 3, then continues past the station and reverses onto Platform 4 to load for the trip back to Brighton. I'm not sure if the real service was 8 cars, but this is how it would have to be done.



Next up: Freight services to Newhaven Aggregates.

 

It feels close! I'm tempted to ask for an unfinished alpha testing version since I am so excited for this TT! just with the southern services it will be so much better!

 

I haven't tried cooking yet, but the end is in sight! I'm starting to add AI at Brighton.

 

Progress update: I've finished AI services at Brighton, including:

• AI Southern, Gatwick Express, and Thameslink services on the Brighton Main Line to London Victoria or Bedford.
• AI Southern services on the West Coastway to Bognor Regis, Chichester, Hove, Littlehampton, Portsmouth, Southampton, or West Worthing.
• AI Great Western Railway services using the Class 166, making two daily appearances on trips to Great Malvern and Bristol Temple Meads.

In addition, there are several playable Southern and Gatwick Express services to or from Lovers Walk Depot.

In total, there are 453 new AI services at Brighton, which should liven up the trainshed significantly.

I disabled the East Coastway consists while working on this to speed up simulation times (just disconnect the consist from the first service), so the next step is re-enabling them and simulating the entire timetable thus far. Then I can use the playback tool to find slots for the remaining freight services, the RHTT trips, and some other goodies.

 

Hmm, what are you doing here?

 

Cannot wait for this! looking amazing going to bring me back to this route for a while thank you for all the hard work so far you should be incredibly proud

 

Charity Javelin

 

Drove the RHTT from Eastbourne to Lewes, now I have to wait out the morning rush before working the Seaford branch. Anyone know a good breakfast spot in Lewes?

 

I did this charity special twice, was a great day out!

 

What's that? The Clayton Tunnel is undergoing engineering works and is closed until 6 am? How will Gatwick Express and Thameslink get around the closure?

 

Did this happen in reality, and if so when?

 

Yes, this is a standard diversion route. There's plenty of YouTube videos of Southern doing this, but I've also found evidence of Gatwick Express and Thameslink.

 

Last year a Class 37 on driver training runs took a tour from Brighton to Newhaven, then went to Haywards Heath before heading back to Brighton to park in Brighton Wall Siding. I added it...



...but figured, while I can restrict AI versions of the service to a Class 37 and only run them in the month of May, why not let players choose their favorite loco?

 

This looks amazing and I can't wait, any chance you could tell us what the requirements will be? hoping I have everything needed aha

 

The only hard requirements are East Coastway and the Class 313. Everything else is layered and will only appear if you have the correct DLC.

If you have Brighton Mainline, the BML version of the 377 should take the place of the ECW 377 to take advantage of better sounds. I set a 100% substitution rate but still found a few ECW 377s, so it may not actually be 100%... Not sure what's going on there.

To see all services, the DLC list is:

• East Coastway (required)
• Class 313 (required)
• Brighton Mainline (Gatwick Express: one diversion plus ECS moves between Lovers Walk Depot and Brighton)
• Thameslink Class 700 (a few diversions and seasonal mileage accumulation runs between Lewes and Eastbourne)
• Railhead Treatment Train (a full cycle, Eastbourne-Lewes-Newhaven Marine-Brighton-Eastbourne, seasonal)
• Southeastern High Speed (one seasonal railtour, Brighton-Eastbourne)
• Tees Valley Line (one engine-only driver training run, Brighton-Seaford-Lewes)

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In other news, I'm still stuck with aggregate loading, if anyone has any ideas. I figured out cooking and packing yesterday so this is the only roadblock left.

 

Ahh thank you! that makes me happy as I'm only missing TVL out of those thankful I won't miss out on this amazing looking timetable due to 1 engine aha sorry I can't help with that roadblock though I honestly don't even know what that is D:

 

Plenty. My local town

 

Must be a coincidence that East Coastway is part of the humblebundle offering, and your project is due to release at some point in the near future! Looking forward to playing it whenever it releases!

 

Update: I solved my aggregate loading problem, and the cooked route plays great in-game.

There is one issue I have yet to solve:

• Some Thameslink trains need to have their circuit breaker reset when starting a service. I have set their power mode to DC in the formation node, but they are not always powered.

There are a few caveats I don't think I can solve:

• Spawn on foot uses the original East Coastway timetable, not my timetable. Probably a public editor bug.
• At Brighton and Eastbourne, multiple pairs of trains enter the same track to couple to each other. Subsidiary shunt signals do not work, so drivers must call the signaller to pass signals at danger. Probably needs fixing at the route level.
  • Service 2D49 joins another train when it arrives at Eastbourne. When simulating the timetable, it reports a SPAD when passing signal TEB 105. When actually in-game (in PIE), signal TEB 105 displays no colour light and only the subsidiary signal for 2D49. This is not a real signal. The train passes the signal and does not trigger a SPAD failure. Probably related to the above issue and would be resolved with a route-level signal upgrade.
• Trains with the "Link Previous Destinations" box ticked show the full station list properly on station PIS boards, but the train's destination board shows only the last station of the current service. Probably a core bug.
• Trains which couple to another at Eastbourne are shown on platform PIS boards as a train bound for Hampden Park. I set the Couple To destination as Eastbourne, so train destination boards show Eastbourne properly as the destination, but station PIS boards are incorrect. Probably a core bug.

 

Someone forgot Class 387/2 services Across the Eastcoastway

 

I think the ECW 377 still uses the "old" system which needs manual setting of the destination in the timetable, the LBN 377 shouldn't have that issue. That old display already supported automatic setting of on map destinations in some cases.

 

My understanding is that when the 313s were retired and substituted with 377s, additional trains were needed on the East Coastway. The Gatwick Express 387 fleet had more trains than are needed by the current timetable because construction at Gatwick Airport had reduced capacity of the line, so they were brought in to cover Brighton-Ore services. In other words, 313s and 387s did not coexist on the East Coastway.

I am using the 377 from LBN already (as a 100% substitute of the ECW 377, which is the fallback for any player who doesn't have LBN installed).

 

Is this the sole issue holding up release?

 

No, it's not a deal-breaker -- it's annoying but the safety systems HUD prompts the player how to resolve the issue.

What is stopping me is that I hope to work with DTG to release this officially, and reached out to them last week. I don't want to be hasty and release this as a mod before I hear back.

 

Looks good was hoping someone would do this DTG was to lazy to build a true to life timetable. Will this timetable loosely coincide with BML timetable as in would the London bound services that leave the Portal at Lewes be timed realistically to continue from Wivlesfield in BML DLC ?
Keep up the good work !

 

I doubt cause ECW and BML are two seperate routes, it would require to make seperate timetable for BML to have those services.

 

My timetable copies the December 2017 to December 2018 timetable almost exactly, at least for playable services (AI services are also closely based on the timetable, but I shifted some times by +/- 5 minutes to reuse consists and save on memory). I don't know which timetable BML is based on but it is likely similar. You could look at the train symbol (1Fxx series) to try and follow the train between routes. This does change between timetables and in my timetable some get used twice in a day, in the early morning and again in the evening. But it's worth a try!

 

If i remember correctly BML has timetable set at some point in 2018, although there are a lot of differences to ECW original timetable which can be seen at Brighton. Even if spawned at same hour on both routes there are different Southern services present. Or at least that was the case when I last checked that, so I doubt that would layer nicely on Wivelsfield branch.

 

My timetable doesn't follow the original ECW timetable at all. It is created from scratch from the Network Rail Working Timetable.

 

So now the question is, is the BML timetable made according to the same working timetable. It is possible cause it's based on the same year, but will see.

 

I can't wait for it to be released! If its to be officially released what price are we talking? I have a feeling this will be very popular!

If there is any way of getting the 171 services into the game that would be amazing, even just the Eastbourne-Brighton section rather than the whole service