Up - down, shake it all about ...

I've got myself all flustered ... tell me if I've got this right.

Case 1 Mainline

--------------- 'Up' -> trains to London 'Down' -> trains from London

Case 2 Branch

------------- 'Up' -> trains to the junction with the main line 'Down' -> trains along the branch from the junction

Case 3 'Mainline' built before there was a connection to London

--------------------------------------------------------------- 'Up' -> Trains to BigTown (or town where Rly Co has it's Offices/depots) 'Down' -> Trains from BigTown as above

Which assuming I'm correct above what happens with branches/lines that are essentially circular?

And taking 'case 3' above what happens when BigTown railway finally gets a connection to London and it turns out that the existing 'up' and 'down' lines are pointing the wrong way?

Reply to
Chris Wilson
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< snip >

I think we should leave this for Jerry to answer. Sounds like his sort of thing!

:-)

TOS

Reply to
The Old Salt

"The Old Salt" wrote in news:drjg4b$gdg$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk:

I think you're being mean, I actually agreed with him with the other day.

Reply to
Chris Wilson

I think all the above come with a dose of "except when it isn't", and/or "it is all mixed up, unless and until there is a rethink to rationalise it"...

Reply to
Arthur Figgis

Nah, I think you should astound us all by showing us just how deep your knowledge goes...

Reply to
:::Jerry::::

"Chris Wilson" wrote

If you travelled from Derby to London St Pancras on the Midland Railway you were travelling 'down' to London.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

'It' seems to have spread to uk.media.tv.misc now :(

Reply to
Rich Mackin

OK, what about the South London Line - both ends at a major terminus? Or any orbital line connecting two similar size towns?

Don't tell me - "up" is the town that is 1 yard closer to Charing Cross!

And which way is the Eastbound train going on the Circle Line?

And what about where two lines intersect, each with a different up direction?

A chap could go mad thinking about this!

Cheers, Steve

Reply to
Steve W

More often than not.

Usually

There were some of these, the Midland for example thought Derby to be the centre of the universe.

The boss decided.

Sometimes they changed it, sometimes they stayed the same.

Keith

Reply to
Keith

As far as I can see everything you wrote looks right Chris, and its not unknown for a line to change its direction mid way along. For example, the line from Fareham to Southampton was originally two branches, one from Fareham to Netley and one from St Denys to Sholing if I remember correctly. When they eventually met at Netley and became one line you went "Up" from Fareham to Netley and then "Down" to Southampton (with no pun intended if you are a football fan).

What I do remember well about this is standing on a commuter rail station in Northern Virginia one day and idly remarking to a group of railfans that they were about to miss what they were looking for because "it's wrong-roading on the down line - look - over there". (I had applied the same logic that if London was "UP" then so was Washington DC)

Boy did that bring their collective tilt light on and left me having to give a long explanation of the concept of "UP".

Elliott

Reply to
Elliott Cowton

What you say is correct! It stems from the days when railways (the pricipal ones) gave all of their distances from London to specifically identify any point on their system coupled with the habit of saying "Up" to town meaning London and in the case of us more civilised people who did live at the centre of the universe - Bristol. The circular routes do pose a problem and I suppose that the direction from the main terminus would generate a down train in each direction until it reached the arbitary mid-point, then ,like at the north pole, where every direction is south, all trains become Up trains!

Reply to
peter abraham

Thanks everyone ... after I discoverd my error with the slip (see seperate post) my brain started turning to cheese making a start on drawing the track plan for my website (not finished/upoaded yet so don't go looking). Just wanted the labels on it to make sense.

Thanks again.

Reply to
Chris Wilson

I will correct myself before someone else does.

You go "down" from Southampton to Netley and then "Up" again from Netley to Fareham and vice versa.

That will teach me to post during a bout of insomnia caused by a cat fight taking place inside the house...

Elliott

Reply to
Elliott Cowton

As a matter of interest (see someone else's comment about exceptions), trains in the South Wales valleys go "up" the valley and "down" to Cardiff.

PhilD

Reply to
PhilD

The message from "Steve W" contains these words:

Chester and Exeter St.Davids spring to mind. Trains leaving the station in either direction were heading "Up". In the case of Chester, heading West was Up for the GWR (London Paddington, via Shrewsbury and Birmingham), but Down for the LMS (North Wales coast and Holyhead); trains heading East were Down for the LMS/GW Joint Line (Manchester Exchange via Warrington BQ), but Up for the LMS (London Euston via Crewe).

Reply to
David Jackson

In message , Chris Wilson writes

Case 4 South Wales Valleys

-------------------------- 'Up' -> Trains going (generally) uphill, i.e. away from Cardiff/Newport 'Down' -> Trains going (generally) downhill, i.e. towards Cardiff/Newport

Reply to
Jane Sullivan

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