Heritage Railways and Headcodes

[XCTurbostar]

Do Heritage Railways use headcodes for all their services or are these usually only used for services leaving towards the national rail network?

Thanks,

 

[D Williams]

I think you would be very unwise to take any notice of a headcode displayed on a heritage railway.

 

[30907]

Do Heritage Railways use headcodes for all their services or are these usually only used for services leaving towards the national rail network?

Thanks,

If you mean 4-character codes used internally on working timetables etc, I think the G&WR do.

If you mean lamp or disc codes as used on steam locos, I would expect them to be used appropriately - though whether a non-stopping train travelling at 25mph max should count as an express is a moot point .

 

[XCTurbostar]

If you mean 4-character codes used internally on working timetables etc, I think the G&WR do.

If you mean lamp or disc codes as used on steam locos, I would expect them to be used appropriately - though whether a non-stopping train travelling at 25mph max should count as an express is a moot point .

Thanks 30907, I do mean the 4-character codes. My thinking was whether the same rules which govern them to 25 MPH max also govern their use of headcode train identifiers. This might be of particular importance if the RAIB was investigating an incident etc.

 

[John Webb]

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway's through trains to Whitby are given 4-digit headcodes to identify them on the national network and appear on sites like Real Time Trains. But the internal Grosmont-Pickering trains are not identified in this way. Even RAIB's Digest on the low-speed collision at Grosmont in September last year involving a Whitby-bound train from the NYRM did not bother using the allocated number!

 

[xotGD]

Often when you look at the timetables for diesel galas they include a headcode for each service. Whether these are used by the railway or just there to keep the cranks happy is another question.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Thanks 30907, I do mean the 4-character codes. My thinking was whether the same rules which govern them to 25 MPH max also govern their use of headcode train identifiers. This might be of particular importance if the RAIB was investigating an incident etc.

You have completely lost me. How could using a headcode be of any significance to an incident RAIB might investigate?

Certain heritage railways certainly allocate headcodes to trains during diesel galas but that is more playing to the crowd than performing a function.

 

[zwk500]

Do Heritage Railways use headcodes for all their services or are these usually only used for services leaving towards the national rail network?

Thanks,

Some heritage railways will use old standards of train classification to signal the trains according to their rulebook, and may use 4-Lamp or 6-Disc codes correctly or not depending on their policies, etc. Some railway like to be more 'correct' whereas other just want to give a feel for old-fashioned practices. I think the Bluebell and Mid-Hants use (or have used) the old RCH Class A-H bell codes for signalling, but am open to correction. When they display 4-Digit Train IDs on the front it's usually just for show, some railways may allocate actual numbers but very few are published in an obvious way.
All trains running between Network Rail and a heritage railway require a 4-digit Train ID to have a schedule entered in TRUST. If there's no schedule in TRUST, then it won't go onto NR.

 

[a340egkk]

The railway I volunteer at, we use *X** headcodes for all of our services, although these are not displayed on the train. Lamps & discs are not used for train identification purposes.

 

[Tomnick]

Thanks 30907, I do mean the 4-character codes. My thinking was whether the same rules which govern them to 25 MPH max also govern their use of headcode train identifiers. This might be of particular importance if the RAIB was investigating an incident etc.

No. The primary concern will be around identifying trains for the purpose of safety-critical comms, and it's a matter for each railway to assess and manage that risk. Clearly a basic "one engine in steam" operation has much less to worry about in that respect, but even where there's a clear need to have a system of identification, it doesn't have to follow the four-character system.

 

[Richard Scott]

If you mean 4-character codes used internally on working timetables etc, I think the G&WR do.

They definitely are used and have to be quoted when communicating with signalman etc.

 

[william.martin]

Headcodes are used on the SVR
43106 with a headcode board at Kidderminster last year

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Nov 2022 ==

Headcodes are used on the SVR
43106 with a headcode board at Kidderminster last year

Not sure if headcode "board" is the correct word, apologies if it isn't

 

[30907]

Headcodes are used on the SVR
43106 with a headcode board at Kidderminster last year

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Nov 2022 ==


Not sure if headcode "board" is the correct word, apologies if it isn't

Looks like a train or loco duty number - a rectangular version of the old SR disc that carried the loco duty. Was it a special weekend?

 

[kje7812]

Headcodes are used on the SVR
43106 with a headcode board at Kidderminster last year

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Nov 2022 ==


Not sure if headcode "board" is the correct word, apologies if it isn't

On the SVR, any headcode numbers are just for show. There aren't used in the operating notes, with the exception of a couple of diesel galas from memory.
The lamp codes are used though.