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Morpeth Station: how do trains reverse there during engineering works?

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Mugby

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Cross Country services to Edinburgh and beyond have been terminating at Morpeth for a few weekends due to engineering work. Presumably the trains need to be serviced and and crossed for their return journeys and I'm wondering how the procedure is carried out. Does Morpeth have a crossover, facilities for servicing, tanking etc. or are such functions carried out at Newcastle?

Morpeth seems rather a strange place for principal long distance services to be terminated and turned!
 
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SteveP29

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I was on an XC 3 weekends ago, once we were all off the train, it proceeded forward and crossed onto the up line just north of the station.

It was dark and I was on the bus replacement and away before anything else happened, so couldn't tell you if the next service started there or whether it returned to Heaton or elsewhere for overnight stabling.

I presume Morpeth was the termination point because the work was happening between there and Berwick and there are no further InterCity stops between the two
 

221129

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Cross Country services to Edinburgh and beyond have been terminating at Morpeth for a few weekends due to engineering work. Presumably the trains need to be serviced and and crossed for their return journeys and I'm wondering how the procedure is carried out. Does Morpeth have a crossover, facilities for servicing, tanking etc. or are such functions carried out at Newcastle?

Morpeth seems rather a strange place for principal long distance services to be terminated and turned!
The only places any servicing is done is on depots. So it is in, unload, crossover, reload, away.
 

swt_passenger

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Is there not a reversing siding on the corner ( Blyth and Tyne route?) near the signal box?
There are also up and down loops north of the station. IIRC it’s previously been said they could be used to reverse an electric service, so I expect XC have a couple of options.

Reversing at a different location (when planned) isn’t usually an issue, even services that reverse on a weekday at Southampton in normal course simply run beyond to a loop and come back about 25 mins later, and as a mobile cleaner is on the train south of Reading, he/she does a thorough clean while in the loop. Catering supplies are topped up at Reading during the call there. So for Morpeth it would probably be a Newcastle cleaner on the train from Newcastle.

I suppose Newcastle is a XC catering depot?
 

DarloRich

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There are also up and down loops north of the station. IIRC it’s previously been said they could be used to reverse an electric service, so I expect XC have a couple of options.

I know. I am unsure if you can cross from the up line to down line or vice versa via those moves.
 

a_c_skinner

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Morpeth to Carlisle Northern Services reverse in the sidings where the line to Hepscot Jn leaves the main line - northern end of the Blyth and Tyne. Marked reversal siding on Quail.
 

scotrail158713

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I presume Morpeth was the termination point because the work was happening between there and Berwick and there are no further InterCity stops between the two
There may well be work down there as well but there’s work being done between Edinburgh and Dunbar at weekends just now so that’ll definitely impact these services
 

androdas

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Cross Country services to Edinburgh and beyond have been terminating at Morpeth for a few weekends due to engineering work. Presumably the trains need to be serviced and and crossed for their return journeys and I'm wondering how the procedure is carried out. Does Morpeth have a crossover, facilities for servicing, tanking etc. or are such functions carried out at Newcastle?

Morpeth seems rather a strange place for principal long distance services to be terminated and turned!

Access for RRBs might be a factor as well, Morpeth has a bus circle and relatively good access to the A1. The next station North that could take intercity trains at Alnmouth has pretty tight access roads.
 

deltic08

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I know. I am unsure if you can cross from the up line to down line or vice versa via those moves.
Down to Up in the station but the signal is halfway along the Down platform. I think XC is too long to set down in the southern half of the platform before the crossing, and from Up to Down north of the station.
 

jymiee

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Down to Up in the station but the signal is halfway along the Down platform. I think XC is too long to set down in the southern half of the platform before the crossing, and from Up to Down north of the station.

No that is in fact exactly what they were doing.

Train (always a voyager for this reason) would stop at the signal on the down and unload. Then leave the station crossing onto the up in the process. Then change ends and pull into the up platform for boarding.

A travelling cleaner did Newcastle-Morpeth-then presumably Newcastle (I joined the buses at MPT so can't confirm) on the day I travelled.
 

deanmachine

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Access for RRBs might be a factor as well, Morpeth has a bus circle and relatively good access to the A1. The next station North that could take intercity trains at Alnmouth has pretty tight access roads.

Nope, nothing to do with RRB, you can turn a tri-axle coach around in Alnmouth station car park, just. Ask me how I know. :lol:
 

SteveM70

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Nope, nothing to do with RRB, you can turn a tri-axle coach around in Alnmouth station car park, just. Ask me how I know. :lol:

The access road up to the station from the main road is (from hazy memory) not particularly wide and has a lot of parked cars on it so regardless of turning at the station itself it’s probably not ideal
 

philthetube

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The only places any servicing is done is on depots. So it is in, unload, crossover, reload, away.
I suspect that servicing referred to tidying train for return journey rather than maintenance.
 
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