For information only - No longer functional

Better Live Departure Boards

Improving the National Rail Enquiries web pages

	Do you find live departure boards full of the wrong sort of information?
	Would you like a clearer, more compact display?
	Do you want to home-in on trains to/from a particular station?

Firefox only
Why and how to install firefox now

Sorry, you don't appear to be using Firefox
or Javascript is switched off.

Have a look at the new format
Hey! It's a proper web page not just a list of trains

Basics
The first thing to notice is that trains are listed by their origin or destination.
Secondly the train times are listed across the page with at-a-glance indication of how it is running. Clicking on a train time brings up the complete journey schedule and status listing.
The usual options to switch between arrivals and depatrures and static and refreshing pages are easy to locate.

Extras
Delays are shown with amount delayed as giving a more easily understood picture of the state of running . . .
. . . Actual expected time, minutes left until that time and operator are shown at the top right.
Terminal stations can easily be grouped together (with these groups being automatically remembered for this station). For example if I frequently travelled from Crewe to Chester I might give Chester, Holyhead and Llandudno the group letter A so that they appeared together at the top of the table.

Bonus
The 19:01 to Birmingham is running 19 minutes late so it is expected to leave at 19:20 which is later than the 'next' train to Birmingham. This might mean that the 19:18 will leave first. (Of course the '18 may not be suitable for other reasons, and in practice the '18 may be delayed to accommodate the '01, but it gives warning of a possible upset in running order.)
The same principle can be applied to trains in the same group. If as in our previous example we'd grouped Holyhead and Llandudno together and the 18:43 was delayed say 20 minutes, then it would have a blue-dotted highlight as it suggests that it might now run later than the Llandudno at 18:56.
Also remembers your favourite stations.

Have a look at the new format Hey! It's a proper web page not just a list of trains

Basics The first thing to notice is that trains are listed by their origin or destination. Secondly the train times are listed across the page with at-a-glance indication of how it is running. Clicking on a train time brings up the complete journey schedule and status listing. The usual options to switch between arrivals and depatrures and static and refreshing pages are easy to locate.	Extras Delays are shown with amount delayed as giving a more easily understood picture of the state of running . . . . . . Actual expected time, minutes left until that time and operator are shown at the top right. Terminal stations can easily be grouped together (with these groups being automatically remembered for this station). For example if I frequently travelled from Crewe to Chester I might give Chester, Holyhead and Llandudno the group letter A so that they appeared together at the top of the table.	Bonus The 19:01 to Birmingham is running 19 minutes late so it is expected to leave at 19:20 which is later than the 'next' train to Birmingham. This might mean that the 19:18 will leave first. (Of course the '18 may not be suitable for other reasons, and in practice the '18 may be delayed to accommodate the '01, but it gives warning of a possible upset in running order.) The same principle can be applied to trains in the same group. If as in our previous example we'd grouped Holyhead and Llandudno together and the 18:43 was delayed say 20 minutes, then it would have a blue-dotted highlight as it suggests that it might now run later than the Llandudno at 18:56. Also remembers your favourite stations.

This only works with the Firefox web browser

Q: Why only Firefox?
A: Because it supports add-ins which enable me to write a program that allows me to remove the useful data from the original web page, reformat it and add other useful facilities.
Q: I don't have Firefox - why should I go to the bother of installing it?
A: A much nicer browsing experience customised to your personal preferences.
There are 101 good reasons you should use it: In particular blocking adverts and naughty scripts, changing the look and feel, make downloading videos simple and stripping the dross from web sites to give clean pages with the information you want presented how you want it.
Q: OK I'll give it a try... ...How do I get started?
A: Follow these instructions in new window

Simple to use

Install using the button at the top of this page. Then restart Firefox.
Now go to realtime.nationalrail.co.uk/ldb/sumdep.aspx?T=WTM (New window) You should see the reformatted version of Witham departures. The original format is shown underneath.

Notes

The first release was 26th December 2009 and is developing.
Your feedback will improve it. Tinkering by National Rail will probably break it. Please let me know
Version information is Here (new window)
It works by downloading the original NRES web page but before displaying it reads the data and reformats it.

Hacking

If you want to fiddle with the source then download it (a Greasemonkey script) by right-clicking here

Your suggestions are welcome send email