SimSig:Chester

Welcome to Chester signalbox.

The Chester 'box covers the Chester area, to the border with Wales, and a number of smaller boxes in the area.

You can find an overview of our control area below.

Signalboxes

• Chester is the main signal box in the area. We control as far out as the east throat of the station, and as far as Capenhurst on the Merseyrail line towards Liverpool, and as far as Shotton and Wrexham in the west.
  • We've got a little bit of third rail electrification in the Chester station area - both the Merseyrail lines in and out of the station are electrified, as is platform 7, but there's no further third rail in our area.
• Hooton covers the Hooton station area of the Merseyrail network, from Spital in the north to Overpool and Capenhurst in the south. It's quite nice being here, just pushing Merseyrail trains backwards and forwards!
  • All lines at Hooton are electrified with third rail, with the exception of Hooton Long Siding.
• Ellesmere Port covers from Overpool station as far as Ince & Elton station, on the line down to Hooton. We fringe at Ince & Elton with Helsby signalbox, using Absolute Block.
  • Only platform 1 at Ellesmere Port, and the lines towards Liverpool are electrified.
• Beeston Castle is on the main line between Chester and Crewe. It's a simple box, with one running track in each direction, with a trailing crossover available for emergency use only. We fringe with Crewe here, using Absolute Block.
• Mickle Trafford covers a very short section of the Chester to Warrington line, where the line towards Manchester via Altrincham branches off. This box covers as far as Delamere on this branch, fringing with Cheshire Lines after a short section of single track. The line to Warrington fringes with Helsby, using Absolute Block.