West Coastway Line (Lancing Panel)

The West Coastway Line runs along the south coast of England for approximately 60 miles, linking Brighton to Southampton via Worthing, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Havant and Portsmouth.

West Coastway Line (Lancing Panel)
DescriptionA busy 16 mile section of the West Coastway Line in southern England, controlled from the Lancing Signal Box panel.
Country United Kingdom
Time period2023
Train Operating CompanySouthern, Thameslink
Simulation difficulty5/10 stars
AuthorJamieT
WebsiteWest Coastway Line (Lancing Panel)
Rolling Stock
Route map

West Coastway Line
Angmering MCB-CCTV
Angmering
Roundstone MCB-CCTV
Ferring MCB-CCTV
Goring MCB-CCTV
Goring-by-Sea
Durrington-on-Sea
West Worthing Middle Siding
West Worthing Sidings
West Worthing
West Worthing MCB-CCTV
Worthing MCB-CCTV
Worthing
East Worthing
Lancing
Lancing MCB-CCTV
Shoreham Viaduct
Shoreham (Station) MCB-CCTV
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham (East) MCB-CCTV
Southwick
Fishergate
Portslade MCB-CCTV
Portslade
Aldrington
Brighton

Simulation

The simulation depicts approximately a 16 mile (26 kilometre) section of this busy line from Arundel Junction near Littlehampton to Aldrington near Brighton & Hove in early 2023. During this time the section between Portslade and Angmering is controlled from the Lancing Signal Box panel, beside Lancing station. The box has been active since resignalling took place in 1988, making the neighbouring signal boxes at Portslade, Shoreham-by-Sea, Lancing, Worthing, Goring-by-Sea and Angmering redundant. The line runs parallel to the south coast and is fairly straight, with a continuous speed limit of 70mph (113kmh).

There are a total of ten level crossings on this section which are of the type Manually Controlled Barriers, monitored by CCTV (MCB-CCTV), these are all monitored and lowered from the Lancing Signal Box. There are additionally three Footpath (FPC) and one User-Worked (UWC) crossing found between Goring-by-Sea and Arundel Junction, although these do not require any action.

Southern operates services along the line, which include those between Brighton and Worthing, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Portsmouth, and longer-distance services to London Victoria. There are also some additional peak time services to and from London Bridge and Littlehampton, operated by Thameslink. The included timetable simulates services on a Monday in January 2023 and includes all services between 5:00am and 1:00am the following morning.

Timetable

The timetable included represents a Monday in January 2023, with the following services:

West Coastway Line (Lancing Panel) Services
Train Operating Company Origin Destination Frequency (tph)
Southern London Victoria Littlehampton 2
Brighton Portsmouth Harbour 1
Brighton Southampton Central 1

Several additional peak services are operated by Southern, and Thameslink operate a single train to and from Littlehampton each peak.

Operational Tips

  • During the morning peak, a couple of services terminate at West Worthing and subsequently change direction at the West Worthing Middle Siding to return towards Brighton & Hove.
  • Worthing station has three platforms, platform 1 is used for terminating services. The simulation however only requires platform 2 for trains towards Brighton & Hove, or platform 3 for trains towards Arundel Junction.