Colour of Level Crossing Gates

[Michael Hodgson]

I was re-reading an accident report in which a bus crashed into a level crossing, in 1946 killing ten passengers and injuring most of the rest on the bus.

 

Although not relevant to the accident - which was attributed to brake failure on the overloaded and inadequately maintained bus - the report mentions that the heavy wooden gates were dark in colour, having been renewed only the previous year and protected with creosote.  It recommended that gates be painted white or a light colour when the acute shortage of paint was over.

 

I assume this was only a wartime/post-war expedient, but how common was it for gates not to be the customary white?

[Wickham Green too]

I've never heard of anything other than white for crossing gates ........ and I'm a little surprised at creosote being used as contemporary goods wagons were simply 'unpainted' !

[Gwiwer]

I have never come across gates other than white although it bears saying that "white" came in many shades of dirty.  The appearance on approach however was still basically of white gates (both structure and, where fitted, mesh) with the large red circle which was often half on one gate and half the other forming a circular "stop" marker when the gates were closed to road traffic.  

 

Even the humblest occupation or footpath crossing required the gates to be painted white and not creosoted.  Something which is still true today where such things exist and of course booms and barriers are also white (alternating with red on the booms themselves) with white skirts for full barriers.  

[Wickham Green too]

10 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

....... with the large red circle which was often half on one gate and half the other forming a circular "stop" marker  ...

... though the large red circle was diamond shaped on some railways ! ( Any other shape ? )

[Michael Hodgson]

28 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

... though the large red circle was diamond shaped on some railways ! ( Any other shape ? )

I've seen triangular or semi-circular, when the target has fallen off one of the gates (or it's been replaced following accident damage)

[Tom Burnham]

Some at least of the crossing gates on the heritage Kent & East Sussex still have red diamonds rather than discs.

[The Stationmaster]

As far as I can trace (and I might be missing an edition) 'the Requirement' to paint level crossing gates white did not appear until the 1950 edition -  possibly a consequence of the incident mentioned by the OP?   However no doubt gates were usually painted white before that because being of timber construction the best, and most readily available, paint to use on them would have been white lead.

 

Occupation and accommodation crossing gates are not required to be painted white (unless there has been a change in recent years)  although I do know of a few instances of white painted examples being around in the 1970s.  On my patch in the mid-late 1970s we had over 100 accommodation/occupation crossings and as far as I know the gates were only painted pale coloured at one of them - which happened to have galvanised metal gates.  All the rest were timber and unpainted although they had probably sometimes been creosoted in past years.  Only one of our footpath crossings had gates the rest usually had a stile (or the remains of one.

[asmay2002]

I'm speculating, but I wonder if crossing gates were normally painted in the same colour as companies' used for signal posts (presumably both being maintained by S&T dept).  Some companies did use creosote on signal posts at some times and other colours were possible (e.g. Midland used Lemon yellow, LNWR, NER, LCDR - Buff at some time). 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by asmay2002

[Compound2632]

On 08/11/2021 at 21:01, asmay2002 said:

I'm speculating, but I wonder if crossing gates were normally painted in the same colour as companies' used for signal posts (presumably both being maintained by S&T dept).  Some comnpanies did use creosote on signal posts at some times and other colours were possble (e.g. Midland used Lemon yellow, LNWR, NER, LCDR - Buff at some time). 

 

It would seem that on the Midland, crossing gates like fencing generally, were the responsibility of the Engineer - Alfred Langley's signature is on a level crossing gate drawing in the Midland Railway Study Centre. That would suggest the colour was the same as that of painted wooden fences: white, according to Midland Style.