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Level crossing of tram + railway


AberdeenBill

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The Middleton Light Railway ( part of Leeds tram system ) crossed the Middleton Colliery Railway at Parkside. In one of the Leeds tram books there is a posed picture of a Middleton bogie and a colliery loco next to each other. Probably all buried under the M621 now.

The good news is that the iron work for the tram/train crossing still exists and is currently in store at the Middleton Railway in Leeds. Until the Engine House was built in 2005 it was on display.

 

I'm sure that we have got plans to find a suitable location to display it again.

 

Taking a look at maps for most street tramway systems there are often many locations where there are level crossings often also with a road whereas the Middleton one is on a private right of way.

 

If anyone want's to look at the crossing then if there is any one free at the railway then we can show you.

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One example from Germany: There also is a railway/tram intersection at Markkleeberg, south of Leipzig - right across a level crossing for road traffic, actually:

 

 

_dsc5063uvzk.jpg

 

The railway goes left to right and the intersecting OHLE piece is fed with the tram's 600 V DC, so that it is, if course, insulated against the 15,000 V AC railway OHLE. Electric locos therefore must cut out the circuit breaker so as to not bridge the insulation, which would be very bad!

 

 

 

_dsc5060pjn7.jpg

 

The track is set up such that the tram wheelsets "hop" over the railway rails, which of course is safe only at low speed and can be a noisy procedure for obvious reasons.

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I've modelled the Northern Pacific's Naches Branch crossing North 6th Avenue in Yakima, with the YVT's line to Selah. The wiring wasn't strung up in this staged photo featuring Daylight '4449:

 

post-6819-090479400 1287604282_thumb.jpg

 

I've driven the route quite a few times with one of the YVT's Porto Streetcars, the rules say you must stop prior to the crossing, and if an approaching train can be seen, wait for it to pass. One of the senior Motormen with 30 years experience has only once had to wait for a train.

 

I've seen a few photos of 298 with both trolley poles up, not to help tension the wire as I thought but because they were afraid of dewiring, and having the front pole already up meant only having to throw the hot switch without having to stop.

 

I'm now looking for a photo of the layout taken from this angle:

 

post-6819-035107900 1287605326_thumb.jpg

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While not in UK, the railway line crossed the tramline behind the train in this view at the Gabba fiveways in Brisbane. The cricket ground is to the left background of this shot.

 

The Gabba branch crossed three tramlines, Stanley Street (shown in the photo) Logan Road and Ipswich Road enroute around the fiveways from the Gabba yard to Albert.

 

This fabulous image diagrams the whole Gabba branch. I must contact the ARHS to see how I can purchase a copy.

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One example from Germany: There also is a railway/tram intersection at Markkleeberg, south of Leipzig - right across a level crossing for road traffic, actually:

 

The railway goes left to right and the intersecting OHLE piece is fed with the tram's 600 V DC, so that it is, if course, insulated against the 15,000 V AC railway OHLE. Electric locos therefore must cut out the circuit breaker so as to not bridge the insulation, which would be very bad!

 

I think I can see an insulator in the tramway overhead in your second photo, so hopefully if the 15kV was bridged into the system it would only trip out that short section rather than energising the whole tramway of Leipzig!

 

I found one in Bremen some years back where a minor shunting track crossed the airport tram route. This had a diamond crossing similar to a normal tramway one but with wider flangeways for the railway. A DB locomotive actually went across when I was waiting for a tram - as far as I can remember there was no automatic crossing gate but the crew unlocked a box and worked a switch that put all the traffic lights to red. I checked it out recently on Googlemaps and there was an elevated highway under construction along the line of the railway so the crossing has probably gone by now.

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I think I can see an insulator in the tramway overhead in your second photo, so hopefully if the 15kV was bridged into the system it would only trip out that short section rather than energising the whole tramway of Leipzig!

 

 

Yes, you're right - it's just on top of the pantograph head. I figure they would have been wise to use insulation suitable for 15 kV on all four spots around the crossing, for the very reason you mentioned. I am, however, not sure about the procedure if a locomotive should become stuck right inside that neutral section, as this section is, to my knowledge, de-energized entirely when a route is laid in for a train and the level crossing's closed. The most logical option would be to allow for it to be temporarily powered with 15 kV, of course. I'm not really sure just how frequently this kind of thing might happen, but it would be foolish not to allow for the possibility.

 

Another look at the place, viewing along the railway:

 

_dsc5061w8pw.jpg

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While not in UK, the railway line crossed the tramline behind the train in this view at the Gabba fiveways in Brisbane. The cricket ground is to the left background of this shot.

 

The Gabba branch crossed three tramlines, Stanley Street (shown in the photo) Logan Road and Ipswich Road enroute around the fiveways from the Gabba yard to Albert.

 

This fabulous image diagrams the whole Gabba branch. I must contact the ARHS to see how I can purchase a copy.

 

 

The 'Gabba Fiveways was a very interesting crossing because there were also trolleybuses involved. However, Queensland Railways, at that time, had no electrified track in existence, so there were no conflicting voltages involved, which did simplify things a bit.

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Yes, you're right - it's just on top of the pantograph head. I figure they would have been wise to use insulation suitable for 15 kV on all four spots around the crossing, for the very reason you mentioned. I am, however, not sure about the procedure if a locomotive should become stuck right inside that neutral section, as this section is, to my knowledge, de-energized entirely when a route is laid in for a train and the level crossing's closed. The most logical option would be to allow for it to be temporarily powered with 15 kV, of course. I'm not really sure just how frequently this kind of thing might happen, but it would be foolish not to allow for the possibility.

 

Possibly the section is short enough that if the loco has two pantographs they can just raise the other one instead. 25kV systems need neutral sections where the phase of the feed changes, I imagine 15kV also has these, and there doesn't seem to be a big problem with "gapping" even in the UK where most trains have only one pantograph.

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I have just come across an old Ordnance Survey plan that seems to show a tram/rail level crossing in Aberdare. There was a triangle of track in the vicinity of Dare Valley Junction and Gladlys Junction and the tramway depot was within the triangle. The tracks emerging from the tram sheds converged into a single line that crossed the west side of the triangle, apparently on the level.

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OS Maps of Birmingham around 1900 show the connection between the goods sheds on either side of Curzon St crossing a street tramway.

Charles

 

See Godfrey Edition Warwickshire 14-05

This is the line to Nechells which was abandoned about 1904 which I believe was a Horse tram service.

There is a picture of one of the trams (with horses) on page 27 in "The Tramways of the West Midlands" published by the Light Rail Transit Association. Sadly it's not in Curzon Street!

 

Keith

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The 'Gabba Fiveways was a very interesting crossing because there were also trolleybuses involved. However, Queensland Railways, at that time, had no electrified track in existence, so there were no conflicting voltages involved, which did simplify things a bit.

 

Moving slighty further south!!!!

 

 

Melbourne has 4 tram squares, where the tram lines cross electrified rail tracks. This means the power must be switched from 600V olts DC for trams to 1500Volts DC for trains.They are interlocked & in fact have railway style rotating disc for the road traffic. Although what the average motorist makes of this, I don't know. :unsure: They do have boom gates as well these days.

 

One of the crossings is on a steep grade (the road) and there is a set of catch points as well in the roadway. There are lots of flange marks heading across at an angle, meaning the catch points well and truly do their intended job.

 

A thread can be found here.

 

http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11343196-0-asc-s0.htm

 

Kevin Martin

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Did the Heyworth Branch close before the Bury line went overto tram operation, if not that would count. I remember seeing an article in Modern Railways about the building of the new station in Bury and the creation of a brand new flat crossing where the Heywood branch intersected, this of course is now the hump back bridge onthe East Lancs railway. Not however sure if the branch had closed before the trams came on the scene.

 

Jim

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... in Glasgow ... The traffic was worked variously by battery electric, Steeple cab electric (using the tram wires), and steam locomotives

The steeple cab locomotive is preserved at Bo'ness, complete with its tramway-style bow collector.

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I can give you two examples in Lincolnshire, one urban and one rural:

 

The Lincoln Corporation Tramway (at around 2 miles one of if not the shortest municipal electric tramway in the country) ran down the High Street, crossing two main railway lines on the level, the GCR on the approach to St Marks' station (closed 1985, station now an Argos, unusual octagonal brick single storey gate-box survives as a burger bar) and the surviving GNR line 300 yards further north. This crossing was controlled by HIgh St (GN) box (which still stands, out of use since summer 2008) and unusually controlled the trams with a pair of somersault arms facing up and down the road.

 

Further afield, the GNR's Willoughby to Sutton on Sea branch had a road level crossing on the outskirts of Sutton called "Tramway Crossing". The line wasn't the first to reach the small resort town, for in 1883 there opened the 2'6" gauge Alford and Sutton Tramway, which operated a steam-hauled street running line for both passenger and goods services. Sadly, the opening of the standard gauge in 1889 took away the bulk of the tramway's traffic and it closed that same year, but the gate-box controlling the level crossing was never renamed, and was thus known as "Tramway Crossing" right up until the line closed in October 1970.

 

Further afield, one of the most impressive bits of level crossing equipment I've ever seen was where the LILO (Linz local railway) crossed a city centre street on the approach to the lokalbahnhof. This modern electrified light railway (a tramway with attitude, and some interesting old locos) had to cross a road used by 'trackless trams' (as trolleybuses were originally known). Now, the trouble with trolleybuses is that since they don't have metal rails to complete the electric circuit they have to have a pair of overhead wires (and points and crossings at route junctions- a veriatble railway in the sky) so it would be impossible to have all the knitting at the crossing at the same voltage. The solution used was to run the Lokalbahn wire slightly lower and have a series of flat S-shaped steel bars attached to it and electrically live, holding their cars' pantographs down clear of the trolleybus wires while leaving a gap for their poles. The line has since been diverted into the town's main station (Hauptbahnhof) and I don't think that crossing exists anymore, so I'm glad to have seen it when I had the chance.

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Did the Heyworth Branch close before the Bury line went overto tram operation, if not that would count. I remember seeing an article in Modern Railways about the building of the new station in Bury and the creation of a brand new flat crossing where the Heywood branch intersected, this of course is now the hump back bridge onthe East Lancs railway. Not however sure if the branch had closed before the trams came on the scene.

 

Jim

 

IIRC the flat crossing was in place when both lines were 'heavy rail' and the Heywood-Bury line closed before the trams started. The adjacent cutting was actually filled in and had to be dug out again to build the ramp when it was decided to extend the ELR to Heywood. (I think this extension only took off when it was realised that there would not be any access to the ELR over the tram track due to reduced clearances.)

 

On the old Manchester tramway system (pre 1949) there were several rail/tram crossings, notably in Trafford Park and on the old 53 routes where lines crossed to serve Bradford Pit and Johnson's wire works. There was also a factory line that crossed Ashton Old Road (trams closed 1938) and ran right down the middle of a side street for some distance.

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An example from Fife - East Wemyss, the Wemyss & District tramway ( 3`6`` in gauge ) from Leven to Kirkcaldy crossed the standard gauge Wemyss Private Railway from the Michael pit. A photograph on page 85 of A W Brotchie`s book The Wemyss Private Railway by the Oakwood press. The tram car shed in the background of the photo is still in existance and used as a shop.

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Possibly the section is short enough that if the loco has two pantographs they can just raise the other one instead. 25kV systems need neutral sections where the phase of the feed changes, I imagine 15kV also has these, and there doesn't seem to be a big problem with "gapping" even in the UK where most trains have only one pantograph.

 

I've never come across gapping as being a problem with neutral sections unless someone has put one in the wrong place and trains have to stop there (and even then I only saw it on a design - we talked the slightly dumb electrification engineers out of it very quickly, especially as it was on a rising gradientblink.gif). Trains, and presumably trams, would simply coast through the neutral section and to minimise risk of any electricity 'going the wrong way' the trains would no doubt lower their pans although whether trams would need to do the same is very doubtful in my view.

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I'm surprised nobody yet has mentioned the level crossing at Grimsby Docks station, claimed (by the LNER publicity department, I think) to be the world's busiest level crossing. It featured two double-track railway lines and a double-track tramline; the trams were replaced by trolleybuses in the 30s and the whole thing replaced by a bridge in the 60s.

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Yes - no less than six of them! Most notoriously 'Botanic Gardens' which will feature on a forthcoming layout from Hull MRS

There's a new book on the Hull system due out later this year which will have details of the crossings mentioned. Should be the definitive work on the system.

 

Incidently, I wonder if Botanic Gardens would make a good model...

 

the gate-box controlling the level crossing was never renamed, and was thus known as "Tramway Crossing" right up until the line closed in October 1970.

It ended up at the Legbourne Railway Museum.

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I've never come across gapping as being a problem with neutral sections unless someone has put one in the wrong place and trains have to stop there (and even then I only saw it on a design - we talked the slightly dumb electrification engineers out of it very quickly, especially as it was on a rising gradientblink.gif). Trains, and presumably trams, would simply coast through the neutral section and to minimise risk of any electricity 'going the wrong way' the trains would no doubt lower their pans although whether trams would need to do the same is very doubtful in my view.

 

THere are 2 Neutral sections in Scotland where trains do occasionally become trapped: On the Up Argyle Line immediately south of Rutherglen station, and on the Up ECML east of Longniddry station. The only solution is either for the stranded train to gravitate clear of the Neutral section, if possible, or wait for an assisting train. I have long wondered why these Neutral sections are located as they are; In neither example was the station built after the route was electrified.

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