Wheel operated level crossing barriers

[Dagworth]

I only recently found out that there are a handful of level crossings on Network Rail lines where the barriers (not gates) are lowered and raised by the signaller in the box turning a wheel to operate the barriers rather than the more usual motors/hydraulics.

 

How many of these crossings are still in operation and where?

 

Andi

[Michael Hodgson]

Very few gate wheels survive, whether gates or barriers. 

 

Nearly all barriers are power operated, the exception to this being a fairly small number of surviving User-Worked Crossings on very minor roads, usually private, where the barriers are usually down and road users have to work a pump to raise them.

The drastic reduction in the number of signal boxes has meant that more and more crossings are no longer worked directly by signallers on site, they are increasingly either automatic (triggered by trains) or operated remotely and supervised by CCTV

 

In fact level crossings in general have reduced considerably in number over past several decades, policy of Dept of TransportBR/Railtrack/Network Rail to remove whenever they can justify; bridges (or re-routing of roads) is much preferred on grounds of safety for both road and rail users, and to reduce inconvenience to road traffic.

 

 

[micknich2003]

They were a former N E Region thing, I don't know if used elsewhere, one remains at Driffield, possibly another survives.

[Ken.W]

Not Network Rail, but there's one at Alston Station, South Tynedale Railway

Originally from How Mill on the Newcastle - Carlisle line

[Michael Hodgson]

9 hours ago, micknich2003 said:

They were a former N E Region thing, I don't know if used elsewhere, one remains at Driffield, possibly another survives.

Yes, that region did a lot of pioneering work on level crossings.  Another thing the NE region did that didn't catch on across the rest of the network was the use of motorised gates which ran on rollers, rather than installing barriers.  Don't think there's any of those left though.

 

The first "Continental-style" lifting barriers were also NE region, at Warthill in 1953 on a line now closed.  Note the lack of an Amber light on the wig-wag and the big Stop boards (I believe these rotated like some very early railway signals).  Full-width barriers, pivoted on the "wrong" side of the road in that descending booms effectively close off the exit to the crossing before the entrance.

 

[DCMarvel]

Thornton Cleveleys on the Wyre railway to Fleetwood used a wheel system until automatic barriers were installed after passenger sevices stopped in the late 60's.
The barriers were quite unreliable and even after the line was fully closed but the barriers left in place, they came down for no reason a couple of times and blocked the road for hours causing a lot of problems. After that they took the arms off and fenced off the rail access.

There are several level crossings on the Cumbrian coast railway either side of Millom that are still operated manually by a operator who sits in a portacabin.

[Reorte]

10 minutes ago, DCMarvel said:

Thornton Cleveleys on the Wyre railway to Fleetwood used a wheel system until automatic barriers were installed after passenger sevices stopped in the late 60's.
The barriers were quite unreliable and even after the line was fully closed but the barriers left in place, they came down for no reason a couple of times and blocked the road for hours causing a lot of problems. After that they took the arms off and fenced off the rail access.

There are several level crossings on the Cumbrian coast railway either side of Millom that are still operated manually by a operator who sits in a portacabin.

On this one at least https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.2147058,-3.316832,3a,75y,9.74h,80.56t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ss6-bV9_qlte91zCH-3nEow!2e0!5s20090401T000000!7i13312!8i6656 the barriers appear to be hand-operated.

 

Any idea what the black lever is for? There doesn't seem to be any pointwork anywhere near there, are the barriers locked in place by the signals (or vice-versa)?

 

edit: just spotted it's actually a brown one, not black, and two of them, so I guess it is locking the gates.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Reorte

[russ p]

10 hours ago, micknich2003 said:

They were a former N E Region thing, I don't know if used elsewhere, one remains at Driffield, possibly another survives.

 

I think there is another set at Nunthorpe  

[Michael Hodgson]

29 minutes ago, Reorte said:

On this one at least https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.2147058,-3.316832,3a,75y,9.74h,80.56t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ss6-bV9_qlte91zCH-3nEow!2e0!5s20090401T000000!7i13312!8i6656 the barriers appear to be hand-operated.

 

Any idea what the black lever is for? There doesn't seem to be any pointwork anywhere near there, are the barriers locked in place by the signals (or vice-versa)?

 

edit: just spotted it's actually a brown one, not black, and two of them, so I guess it is locking the gates.

Those are gates not lifting barriers.  I don't know the location but it looks like a conventional gate keeper-worked level crossing.  I don't see block repeaters above the frame which would be quite common, but they may well be in the portacabin.  Or he may simply be called by phone or bell from the nearest signal box when the signaller needs the crossing.

 

You have Distant and Home in each direction (yellow & red levers respectively).  Levers 3 and 6 are both brown - one (probably no. 3) will be the gate lock, the other could be a lock for the wicket gates, but may be a release. All have full length handles, so they are mechanical signals, not colour lights.

[Reorte]

21 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Those are gates not lifting barriers.  I don't know the location but it looks like a conventional gate keeper-worked level crossing.  I don't see block repeaters above the frame which would be quite common, but they may well be in the portacabin.  Or he may simply be called by phone or bell from the nearest signal box when the signaller needs the crossing.

 

You have Distant and Home in each direction (yellow & red levers respectively).  Levers 3 and 6 are both brown - one (probably no. 3) will be the gate lock, the other could be a lock for the wicket gates, but may be a release. All have full length handles, so they are mechanical signals, not colour lights.

Good point about gates, I assumed talking about gates due to the mention of wheels although the OP explicitly says "where the barriers (not gates) are lowered and raised by the signalman in the box turning a wheel." There's another crossing a bit closer to Millom with lifting barriers and a Portacabin; I'd assumed they were powered barriers though.

 

The mechanical signals are visible from the Streetview image.

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

 There's another crossing a bit closer to Millom with lifting barriers and a Portacabin; I'd assumed they were powered barriers though.

Powered barriers would not usually be worked from a ground frame outdoors - the control equipment might as well be indoors where it and the employee are protected from the weather, but most such crossings (if they can't be closed) have already been converted to save on wages either to automatic or to CCTV and getting a signaller to work it remotely.

 

With gates, the crossing keeper has to go outside to push them over manually, and of course traditional practice gave him either a cottage or a hut to shelter in, but the lever frame was outside.

 

Portacabins can also be used as replacement signal boxes.

 

[Reorte]

13 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Powered barriers would not usually be worked from a ground frame outdoors - the control equipment might as well be indoors where it and the employee are protected from the weather, but most such crossings (if they can't be closed) have already been converted to save on wages either to automatic or to CCTV and getting a signaller to work it remotely.

 

With gates, the crossing keeper has to go outside to push them over manually, and of course traditional practice gave him either a cottage or a hut to shelter in, but the lever frame was outside.

 

Portacabins can also be used as replacement signal boxes.

 

This is the other one I was on about - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.2082005,-3.2942504,3a,90y,46.59h,82.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7qemoPCGkBdnWUePxUDD5Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 - so worked remotely from somewhere else? Makes sense (there are plenty of those all over the country after all).  What does look odd to me on this though is the parallel crossing road loop, any idea what that's all about?

[Skinnylinny]

It looks like the gates to the fields either side, when opened, actually create a route across that parallel crossing (which has a cattle grid either side of it, unlike the road part). Effectively an occupation crossing, but sharing a signaller phone with the normal road one?

[HillsideDepot]

It is for Horse Drawn Vehicles and Animals, as there is a cattle grids at the crossing on the "main" road.

 

[Reorte]

42 minutes ago, HillsideDepot said:

It is for Horse Drawn Vehicles and Animals, as there is a cattle grids at the crossing on the "main" road.

 

Ah, well spotted.

[Michael Hodgson]

It's a standard automatic half barrier(AHB) crossing.  There's a hut nearby so that it be controlled locally when necessary.

There are yellow post-mounted phones to contact the signaller in emeregncy.

 

There are signs directing horse-draw/animals towards the other gates, and I the other sign on those gates requires users to phone for permission to cross.  The signaller would check that nothing is approaching before giving permission, and the user would be asked to ring back from the other side to confirm the crossing is again clear.

[Right Away]

Apologies for drifting slightly.... 

The clatter of level crossing gates as they struck the securing latches across the roadway, heralding the approach of a train; another much lamented sound, practically consigned to history.

Late 50’s, early 60’s summer school holidays alongside the ‘box, watching the bobby wrestling with the wheel, then letting go as inertia did the rest. That sound has spurred many an expectant passenger into almost Olympian feats, racing to reach the station lest they miss their train.

 

Technological advances have given us innumerable benefits. Many will disagree but nostalgia aside, it’s almost awful to consider that had the domestic technical revolution predated itself by half a century or so, I could have missed out on all this as I sat bug eyed in front of some screen.

Now that would have been a waste.

I wonder how many of today’s youngsters, in fifty years time will be able to look back with the same kind of fondness. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Right Away
correction

[rogerzilla]

Grosmont has one.

 

[kevinlms]

On 16/06/2022 at 19:30, Reorte said:

On this one at least https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.2147058,-3.316832,3a,75y,9.74h,80.56t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ss6-bV9_qlte91zCH-3nEow!2e0!5s20090401T000000!7i13312!8i6656 the barriers appear to be hand-operated.

 

Any idea what the black lever is for? There doesn't seem to be any pointwork anywhere near there, are the barriers locked in place by the signals (or vice-versa)?

 

edit: just spotted it's actually a brown one, not black, and two of them, so I guess it is locking the gates.

In the 2016 photo, the large 2-door cabinet has been split into 2 single cabinets. So what's going on here?

[Michael Hodgson]

10 hours ago, rogerzilla said:

Grosmont has one.

 

 

The NYMR fully deserved the prestigious Westinghouse Signalling Award it won in 2001 for constructing this (new) box in 1870s NER style.  The level crossing is unsual, with two gate wheels, which warrants some explanation.  The road is narrow and the crossing is wide, serving three tracks and an island platform.  The gate wheel you see being used operates both gates on the station platform side of the road.  Those alone are  long to close off the road completely.  However the original legal requirement was that gates closed off both road and rail alternately.  So another pair of gates is provided on the opposite side of the road, and the second wheel works those.  As can be seen in the video instead of swinging across the road, when not across the line they swing away from the road to end up parallel to the track pointing Southwards towards to the short tunnel. 

 

The two wheels are so arranged that it is possible to wind both at the same time, using one hand on the handle of each wheel.  They are fixed in a space on the lever frame which could otherwise accomodate several levers, and there is another lever at the very end beyond the second wheel.  Normally a four gate crossing has all four gates worked by one wheel, but that can be heavy work, especially if winding the gates against a stong wind.  The NER favoured this arrangement in some places where this might prove too difficult with a single wheel.

 

There are no fewer than five brown levers associated with this level crossing.  No 1A and No1B, either side of the wheels, work the gate stops.  Some level crossings have a single lever to lock wicket gates, others have a lever for the wicket on each side of he line.  Here no 2 lever locks the Up side Wicket, 3 the Down, and no 4 locks an additional wicket on the island platform, which is necessary to keep passengers on the platform whilst a train is using the crossing.

 

 

 

[HighlandRailwayman]

Nunthorpe, Driffield and Barton Hill are all that remain as wheel worked barriers on NR NE region. Although i believe all three sets are on borrowed time and are to be renewed at some point with traditional hydraulic barrier packs.

[russ p]

1 hour ago, HighlandRailwayman said:

Nunthorpe, Driffield and Barton Hill are all that remain as wheel worked barriers on NR NE region. Although i believe all three sets are on borrowed time and are to be renewed at some point with traditional hydraulic barrier packs.

 

That's a shame .

Think it's been asked before but how many of that othe NE Region curiosity still exist,  electric boom gates?

[Mark Saunders]

55 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

That's a shame .

Think it's been asked before but how many of that othe NE Region curiosity still exist,  electric boom gates?

Cambois crossing was the manual version of the boom gates till replaced circa late 1980’s.

[russ p]

2 hours ago, Mark Saunders said:

Cambois crossing was the manual version of the boom gates till replaced circa late 1980’s.

 

There were a few manual sets on the Redmire branch too

[8K77]

Barton Hill on the York to Scarborough Line Still has them. 

 

Thanks,

8K77