Level Crossing gates on long closed railways

['CHARD]

I'd overlooked the Milfracombe line, you're right - several sets of gates and equipment survive...

[Jenny Emily]

Trafford Park still has a few. There's one on Moseley Road, the one that crosses the roundabout in the centre of the park, another two down near the Freightliner terminal, ones on the way to the former Cerestar plant and another couple down by where the steelworks used to be. You can probably count the one by Kellogs too as this line is now shut. There used to be one near Weaste where the line once continued towards Salford quays, but I think that was dug out a couple of years ago.

 

Another off the top of my head lies at the end of the line that goes underneath the M4/M25 junction. Can't remember the place name, but I remember it being there ten years or so ago. There are also a couple on the line to Wisbech, though there keeps being talk of this line getting reopened. In Preston there's one at the end of the truncated Longridge line. I don't know if it got retained as part of the headshunt to the former coal depot.

[Moxy]

In Preston there's one at the end of the truncated Longridge line. I don't know if it got retained as part of the headshunt to the former coal depot.

 

That would be either Deepdale Mill Street which was near the coal depot, or Skeffington Road which was a bit further up the line towards Longridge.  You are right about the line being retained as a headshunt for the coal depot after the traffic to Courtaulds ceased.  The coal depot lasted until about 1983 IIRC.

[Ramblin Rich]

I'd overlooked the Milfracombe line, you're right - several sets of gates and equipment survive...

Where's that then

I haven't been able to find any gates going along streetview from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe, just those 2 remnants of track & cabins. Oh, and signals!

[jamie92208]

From memory there were some remains at Braunton where the road to Saunton Sands crossed the line but it's a few years since I was there.

 

Jamie

[Gwiwer]

From memory there were some remains at Braunton where the road to Saunton Sands crossed the line but it's a few years since I was there.

 

Jamie

 

Gates survive at next-door Wrafton where the station and down starter / Braunton distant are now a private home.  But they are not the level crossing gates!

 

 

The route into Braunton has been developed with a surfaced cycleway and footpath and new homes on the station site.

 

[Ramblin Rich]

From memory there were some remains at Braunton where the road to Saunton Sands crossed the line but it's a few years since I was there.

 

Jamie

This is the Saunton road (Caen St), with the pathway following the rail route

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.108781,-4.163277,3a,75y,86.09h,82.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxc3f-Y7MsPTCKQXbp7ed_Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[Ramblin Rich]

Gates survive at next-door Wrafton where the station and down starter / Braunton distant are now a private home.  But they are not the level crossing gates!

 

I'd found that one last night looking for crossing gates, then forgot where I saw it....

[highpeakman]

which prompts the question - was there a level crossing there at all when the railway was still in use?

 

I do not know the area (although I did visit in the 50s) so cannot comment but the link on this map may help the answer.

 

A 60s OS 1 inch

 

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=50.9553&lon=-1.2117&layers=11

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

 

There is a crossing gate at the former railway station in Grimoldby on the old loop line to Mablethorpe. I'm not sure if it is original, even though I have passed site many times over the last fifty years I can't remember seeing a gate until recently. I suspect the new owners have bought it from elsewhere.

 

Edit - Just checked Google street view and the gate wasn't there in 2009 but the gatepost was.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Grimoldby,+Louth,+Lincolnshire+LN11/@53.372594,0.089754,3a,75y,277.04h,71.56t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQ3Xx1CMPOesj5D8r3Fyr3w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DQ3Xx1CMPOesj5D8r3Fyr3w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D100%26h%3D80%26yaw%3D130.50644%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x47d7d4a19155169f:0x25e7bd268db9bca4

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[Eggesford box]

Gone now but I remember passing the crossing gates on the opposite side of the road from the Lynton & Barnstaples Pilton works when I used to walk to school in the seventies. I presume the gates at Instow are replicas as the crossing was converted to an AOCL in the mid to late seventies.

[Ramblin Rich]

I presume the gates at Instow are replicas as the crossing was converted to an AOCL in the mid to late seventies.

Hadn't realised that, but Steve Johnson Cyberheritage site has this shot, which is one of yours I think http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/north_devon_line_okehampton_web_optimised/81%20Return%20trip%20Instow%2027.1.83.html

[Jenny Emily]

Just remembered - Ramsden Dock Road in Barrow could be considered a surviving very long crossing. The rails are still embedded down the centre where people now park cars. I think this was part of the access to the Vickers works.

[Eggesford box]

Yes, thats one of mine. Had a ride down with the S&T as they had to activate the crossing manually as the rusty rails made it unlikely the crossing would work normally. With the red lights flashing, the warble alarm going and a railwayman either side displaying a red flag a woman still walked onto the crossing and was surprised by the presence of the train!

[L49]

Until very recently the line from Ipswich yard into the docks had a lovely set of crossing gates, but I noticed when I was working in the area over the last couple of weeks that they have gone. There is still a rather fine upper quadrant bracket signal protecting the crossing, even though the gates have been replaced by a rather immovable security fence! Interestingly, if you have a look on Streetview along Ranelagh Road, in one image the gates are there, in the next frame they have gone. Interesting what comes up with composite imaging!

 

Also, following on from the post about Church Road crossing, Bentley, I was driving around the course of the Hadleigh branch the other day, and I think there might still be an original crossing gate at Raydon Wood. If you look on Google, there is definitely the original post, which is now flanked by modern concrete pre-fab wall, but you can just about see a metal rod running diagonally from the top of the gatepost down behind the wall. It looks to me like the top of a crossing gate. When I eventually find time to walk the footpath into Hadleigh, I will have a nose around!

[Gwiwer]

I've had a look back at some older slides taken in 1977 around London's Royal Docks which once boasted a huge rail network.  The camera was a fairly basic one and my skills with it were not then what they are today.  

 

First we see the lines emerging from the Royal Albert Dock and crossing East Ham Manor Way.  This line had an advertised passenger service (though intended only for dock workers) from Custom House via stations at Dock Central and Manor Way (the site of which lies directly behind my position here adjacent to the roadway) to a Thames-side terminus at Gallions.   By 1977 a ship in the dock was a rarity.  They were still common in 1973 but the trade went downstream to Tilbury very quickly and the Royals closed to all commercial traffic in 1980.  The area has now been redeveloped out of all recognition with London City Airport now occupying the area beside the dock where the cranes stand silent in this view.

 

 

In 1977 the station house and a picket gate still stood at Connaught Road station east of Custom House where the surface North Woolwich, Gallions and Beckton lines all diverged.  The trackbed straight ahead is the Beckton line with the Gallions line diverging to its right.  The North Woolwich routes lie behind my position with the freight line at surface level and the passenger route at this point already in a deep cutting in order to enter Connaught Tunnel.  Nowadays the DLR closely follows the course of the former Beckton line and this site is midway between Prince Regent and Royal Albert stations though lies slightly to the north of the DLR alignment which has been dictated by wholesale changes to the road network.

 

 

Here is the remains of the freight-only railway as it entered the south side of the Royal Albert Dock over Connaught Road.  To access this it crossed the road-rail swing bridge which lies directly above Connaught Tunnel currently being refurbished for Crossrail use and which once formed part of the North Woolwich line.  This line continued along the south side of the dock for freight only and emerged immediately to the south of Manor Way station a few yards beyond the location shown above to reach a different terminal on Gallions Reach. Note the signal post in situ and, with apologies if it causes any offence, the graffiti which still typified the area in the 1970s when certain organisations were very active among the depressed dock areas with high unemployment and generally low educational standards.  Times have changed.  The University of East London and the London Borough of Newham are now among the most culturally diverse in all of London with a generally much brighter outlook than 40 - 50 years ago.

 

 

Not a level crossing gate shot at all but as I mentioned it above here's the Connaught Road swing bridge for road and rail which crossed the link waterway between the Royal Victoria and Royal Albert Docks and was swung to permit shipping to pass between the two docks.  Each dock also had direct access to the Thames so use of this bridge was not required for every move.  The rails were freight-only and no bus route has ever been scheduled over this bridge so other than on the roadway passenger traffic was not delayed.

 

 

Finally a set of gates which protected an access road crossing the original alignment of the Silvertown Trawmway from Factory Road.  This view is taken from the Silvertown Road flyover which was built to avoid another level crossing (and lengthy delays) with the passenger and freight North Woolwich route at Silvertown station.  The line shown was the surface route of the original Stratford - North Woolwich railway which was later rerouted via Custom House and the Connaught Tunnel to avoid delays every time the Royal Victoria Dock gate was opened.  At one time that would have been frequently every day causing extensive delays.  The part of the route over the dock gate was abandoned and this end at Silvertown retained as a kick-back siding shunted from the North Woolwich end.  Numerous spurs existed to serve the Thames-side industrial premises some of which can be seen in this view.  As with all things in the docks the once dense traffic died away and by 1977 this route was abandoned as seen here.  The final freight in the area was an occasional scrap train of a handful of 16t mineral wagons which ran to a spur (for Cohens scrap yard if I remember correctly) off the line almost down at North Woolwich station and survived until 1978.

 

 

 

 

[rockershovel]

Two sets at least survive in the Wisbech, Cambs area.

 

1) easy to see but hard to photograph, the set on the A47 Wisbech bypass. Track has been removed in recent years.

 

2) less well known, another set in the Boleness Road Industrial Estate area.

 

This line is sometimes said to be the W&U Tramway but I don't believe that is correct

[keefer]

nice pics and history Gwiwer - not my area of interest, but i did recognise the names etc. and realised i'd read about the North Woolwich Line on the abandonded stations site:

 

http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/North_Woolwich_line_7.html

 

also entries at disused-stations:

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/connaught_road/index.shtml

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/north_woolwich/index.shtml (has a map of the branches)

[Gwiwer]

Interesting to note from Keefer's links that the "station house" at Connaught Road, which was always referred to as such by locals when I lived briefly in the area, in fact appears to be crossing-keeper's house as it lay beyond the station to the east judging by those maps and photos.

 

It also shows that Connaught Road was served only by Gallions trains and not those on the Beckton line which agrees with my recollection of local histroy.

 

My July 1922 "Bradshaw" shows a service of no fewer than 37 trains to Gallions on Mondays - Fridays between around 06.30 and 19.00, with 26 on Saturdays (none Sundays) finishing at 16.00.  By contrast the Beckton route saw just four trains between 05.30 and 22.15 with three on Saturdays and the first and last running also on Sundays.  Beckon is now a huge residential and commercial area; at that time the only traffic would have been workers heading to or from the gas works with trains timed to suit shift changes.  

 

When I lived there the service from Stratford to North Woolwich ran half-hourly during Monday - Friday peaks only though an unadvertised off-peak service also existed.  Most trains were used by fewer than five passengers.  Subsequent the off-peak service was also advertised and the service extended from an 18.30 shut-down to 21.30.  Patronage lifted slightly.  Then the link from Stratford - Dalston was reinstated and the line electrified with a service every 20 minutes most of the week.  Patronage shot up.  Today that route is closed but the DLR covers most of the ground by various routes at close headways and Crossrail is soon to arrive as well.  Custom House station will once again be as busy as it was almost 100 years ago - if not much more so.

[Ramblin Rich]

Thanks for those links, I recall a plan in Railway Modeller many years ago based on Custom House & Silvertown Tramway, possibly by John Glover. I was intrigued by the pictures with class 31 hauled freights - almost American style with the proximity of roads & crossings. Very evocative but sadly long gone.

[melmerby]

Any crossing left overs from the Burton brewery system?

 

The seemed to be hundreds of them when you drove through B-o-T pre by-pass!

 

Keith

[Moxy]

Thanks for those links, I recall a plan in Railway Modeller many years ago based on Custom House & Silvertown Tramway, possibly by John Glover. I was intrigued by the pictures with class 31 hauled freights - almost American style with the proximity of roads & crossings. Very evocative but sadly long gone.

 

I remembered that article too, so I looked it up.  It was in August 1980 edition (yes, 35 years ago!), a 12' x 10' L shape, suggesting it could be operated with 2 DMUs and 2 shunters with 8 wagons.

 

Thanks

 

Moxy

[Fat Controller]

I remembered that article too, so I looked it up.  It was in August 1980 edition (yes, 35 years ago!), a 12' x 10' L shape, suggesting it could be operated with 2 DMUs and 2 shunters with 8 wagons.

 

Thanks

 

Moxy

Apart from the traffic from Ward's scrapyard, wasn't there traffic from the Tate and Lyle refinery at Silvertown, both domestic (pale-blue Covhops) and international (Polybulks)?

[Gwiwer]

Yes there was though it was very sparse by 1978 when I left the area.  I don't recall a Tate & Lyle working that late at all in fact.  A single Polybulk came down perhaps once a month behind an 08 in early 1977.

[Ramblin Rich]

I remembered that article too, so I looked it up.  It was in August 1980 edition (yes, 35 years ago!), a 12' x 10' L shape, suggesting it could be operated with 2 DMUs and 2 shunters with 8 wagons.

 

Thanks

 

Moxy

35 years! Shows the memory still works at least

We seem to have drifted off the subject of gates still existing today....