Continental Europe

Continental Europe

Postby AndiS » Sat May 17, 2014 10:19 pm

The following is heavy on the signalling side, but contains references to track diagrams and rolling stock drawings and photos, too. Since I did not want to list sites too often, some of them break the schematics a bit. I try to sort the stuff by countries, mostly. I cut out most of the non-English, non-official stuff.

Countless drawings of track diagrams are found at sporenplan.nl. Click on Sporenplannen top-left to bring up the map and click on a country. Descriptions are Dutch only, but you just browse for names anyway.

German track diagrams from the DB
This gives you track diagrams with the running signals, although without exact mileage of the signal location. But it is as authorative as it get for contemporary German railways.

In the initial map view, pan and zoom to the route of interest, then click the Select button, then click on lines on the map, holding shift to select more than one. After you made your choice, click on Show Data, and on Grid View on the window that will open. This brings up another window with a table. Save this table. It shows all the route sectors by the stations delimiting them. These station names are the important bit here.

Alternatively, you could note them on paper when you point the mouse at the bullets on the map (a little yellow box will pop up).

The other usable bits in the table are:
km from/km to: mileage in km with m added after the +. 69,2 + 54 is 69254 m from reference point.
Length of section
Permissible speed is only an upper limit.
Gradient too.
Minimum horizontal radius would be more useful if they would not show "upon request" so often in this table.
Same for maximum cant deficiency.
Class A/B ... columns show existence of PZB/LZB/ETCS
There are a few other interesting columns, but in the samples I saw, all they say is "upon request".

However, fitted with the concise station names, you can click Navigator and select "track diagram - station" in the pop-up.
Entering the station name without a spelling mistake takes you to a selection of stations containing this string.

In the diagram you get, red bars besides the track seem to be shunting signals (Sh1), two little circles left and right of a post are distants, a bigger circle at the end of the post is a main signal. Of course, distant and main signal can be combined, and Sh1 next to the main signal will be integrated into the signal screen.

The diagram makes no representation as to the signalling family used (Ks, HV, etc.). The locations are a bit on the schematic side, but the important information is whether a signal is there or not. Also, you will be able to trust the location relative to switches. This is often interesting with distant signals which can be interspersed in a bigger station entrance.

A link on the top right "Principles" downloads a PDF that does not offer too much detail information.


Rule books from DB
A few clicks onwards, you get here
https://fahrweg.dbnetze.com/fahrweg-de/ ... llung.html
where you click on "betrieblich-technisches Regelwerk - Zusammenstellung" to get a PDF that holds the links to the various documents.
These pages change all the time, which is why I put the general description here.
It is all in German.

sh1.org has a host of reference material in English.
The people at tf-ausbildung.de go a long way to explain the stuff - in German, but with loads of diagrams and in quite plain terms.
Mark Vogel shows scans of a translation of the 1935 rules to English on Flickr. He also has lots of photos of German signals there.
J Calverts's essay on German and Austrian railways looks into history and operation.


Austrian and Swiss signals

A few photos with description in German.
Official Austrian signal book in German
Official Swiss rule books in German


Danish signals

I love them for their integration of different concepts: visually different entry and exit signals, each with inner (block) versions, dwarf signals that can show the full range of aspects, and the UK style distinction between "all clear through the station" and "clear here, but stop somewhere in this station".

Carsten Lundsten's explanations in English.
The signals and their installation are described here in great detail in Danish (PDF at bottom).
All the track diagrams can be found here - with precise description of signalling of each site. (TIB-S are the track diagrams, TIB-G contains tables on braking capacity requirements.)


French signals

The first stop here is carreweb.fr, if you prefer English.
The authorative source is securite-ferroviaire.fr. Only in French, of course.
Mark Vogel has lots photos of French signals, too.

James P.G. Sterbenz describes of French signalling with side looks to Portugal and Spain, which complicate matters a little. But it's the only source in English for those countries that I can offer.

This page contains lots of scans of French track and gradient diagrams (Carnet de profils) together with other information.


Belgian railways

Historic and current information on signals (Règlement général de la signalisation), track laying (Manuel du Piqueur des Chemins de Fer) and much more can be found here.

J Calvert's essay on Belgian signals.


Italian signals

In 2007, they bowed to EC and abandoned the only European import of US madness for a boring scheme that any foreign driver will understand immediately. So the descriptions here refer to outdated rules.

Description of the CLS in English
J Calvert's view on them.
Mark Vogel's diagrams, with explanation in English
A cool fan site, in Italian, but with lots of quite clear diagrams.


Overview pages on other signals, in English

Dutch signals
Swedish signals (terse)
A bit on Hungarian railways including signs and signals


If you are not satisfied yet ...

Interesting details on diverse aspects of railway history with a focus on signalling, told with precision by J Calvert.

Mark Vogel's drawings of signal aspects of about 30 countries.

Lots of further links at thesignalpage.nl.


Information on German & Austrian freight wagons

DB Schenker's official site containing drawings and/or photos and some technical data.
Same for Rail Cargo Austria
Railfan page in similar style, focussing on contemporary German freight.
Collection of information in German and photos, focussing on epoche III; Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Photos of tank wagons from German manufacturer Kaminski.
Official elevations of Prussian rolling stock.
Lots of information on German railways from end of WW I to end of WW II is found at epoche2.de.
AndiS
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