Doncaster PSB - Marshgate Junction

Marshgate Junction

Marshgate Junction to the north of Doncaster station forms the junction of the lines from the station to the double track to Leeds, York (ECML) and Thorne (thence Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby). The new layout entailed considerable changes from the then existing layout and it was estimated that the junction remodelling would take nine months of weekend work. A decision was made to carry this out during five weeks' continuous work in the spring of 1979 when the operation of trains through the area was drastically reduced and the Leeds line was closed for a period of time. Although there were some inevitable diversions and retiming of trains, disruption of services was kept to a minimum and the project was completed on schedule.

The previous Marshgate Junction allowed for a maximum speed of 60 mph on the Doncaster - York main lines with diverging speeds of 25 mph on the main lines to and from Leeds and Thorne. Other speeds were 15 mph. The remodelling of the layout in association with other improvements in the Doncaster station area allowed speeds of 105 mph through the Doncaster section of the East Coast Main Line route. The divergence to and from the Leeds line allowed a maximum speed of 70 mph. Other improvements on the Doncaster PSB area included raising the maximum permissible speed at Retford from 80 to 115 mph and at Newark from 80 to 100 mph.

Design of the scheme was governed by the need to satisfy operating requirements of speed and headway. Besides employing what was then modern signal equipment, an associated comprehensive communication network was necessary to achieve reliability and efficiency.

Track rationalisation and resignalling proceeded side-by-side, starting in the Grantham area and working progressively northwards while at the same time the new Doncaster signalling centre was constructed on a site south of the station and on the east side of the main line.