GWR Crossing Boxes and their signals

[TheEdge]

Quick question on what the inter-war GWR would have done for a level crossing. I'm looking at doing a tiny shelf layout (well, glorified diorama really), single line, tiny halt, no sidings, small rural lane crossing the railway. 

Would that sort of crossing have had anything at all or would it have been open with a whistle board and a low line speed? If it did have a proper set of gates presumably there would have been a crossing keepers hut/cottage and some signals. Distant signals only with the gates functioning as the red? Or proper distant and stop signals? 

 

TIA

[bécasse]

Open crossings were almost invariably limited to lines operated under formal Light Railway Orders granted in accordance with the 1896 Act. Otherwise (and sometimes even on LRO lines), as you suggested, gates, homes and distants, or even just gates and distants, were provided along with a crossing keeper's house and/or box. There would be a small lever frame (outside or in the box) interlocking gates and signals, and there would be repeaters of the section instruments and bells. The gates would most commonly be worked by hand but they would still have locks to prove that they were locked clear of the railway before the signals could be pulled off. Distants for level crossings were usually the only worked distant signals on GWR single lines, at least post-grouping (and with a few specialised exceptions).

[Compound2632]

As well as considering the class of railway, the class of road needs to be taken into account, A public road would have to be gated; there would only be a signal box if the location was also a block post. This might be a station but not necessarily - on a busy line it might be necessary to break up a longer section into two shorter ones and a level crossing might be a convenient place to do so. Otherwise just a crossing keeper's house; this would have a bell or gong indicating acceptance of a train into the section and hence that the keeper should not open the gates for road traffic. (The general rule was that gates should normally be open to the railway and only opened for road traffic as required.) There would be no signals.

 

If not a public road but just an occupation crossing, then purely worked by the permitted users, with gates normally closed to the road; when open, such gates would not normally block the railway line.

 

None of this is specific to the Great Western but standard practice (governed by Board of Trade regulations) for British railways.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Compound2632

[The Johnster]

20 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

If not a public road but just an occupation crossing, then purely worked by the permitted users, with gates normally closed to the road; when open, such gates would not normally block the railway line.

 

 

Occupation crossings and those for public footpaths (not sure of the position regarding bridleways but it's probably as for public footpaths) had gates that were weighted or sprung to close across the occupation route/path, not the railway.  They were 'protected' by 'Whistle/SW' boards on the railway side, and by catch points if they were on a rising gradient.  Still do, TTBOMK, though there are no catch points any more.

[Michael Hodgson]

There's actually two sorts of private level crossings

• occupation crossings over private roads
• accommodation crossings where the railway spilt the landowner's property in two

It's a legal distinction, but they are treated the same way for practical purposes, and they are only supposed to be available for use by the locals whose existing rights were impacted by the original construction of the line.

 

Level crossing gates protecting the public from the trains became mandatory towards the end of the reign of William IV.  The Regulation of Railways Act 1842 added the requirement that the gates completely closed off the line when open to road users (part of the anti-trespass law that mandated fencing the line).

 

It is worth noting that at rural locations "Rule 99" (BR rule book 1950 or GWR 1933) would likely apply at the type of quiet location described by the OP.  It says "Unless special authority be given to the contrary , the gates at level crossings must be kept closed across the roadway, except when required to be opened to allow the line to be crossed. " This was obviously impractical in towns and more generally when road traffic increased dramatically, and so this dispensation was possible - but for many years this "special authority to the contrary" required approval from the Minister of Transport on a case by case basis.  Even today there are still a few "Rule 99 crossings" where you have to ask a keeper to open the gates.  Rule 100 says that at a non-block post (if there's no trains coming) the signals must be put to caution/danger before opening the gates - implying that they are normally left in off position.

 

 

 

Distant signals were nearly always provided, and Home signals protecting the gates were usual across the whole country, but the red target and lamp on the gate could legitimately be used instead as a stop signal.  This wasn't uusally considered good enough unless the line was very straight with an excellent view, so it tended to be places like rural Norfolk rather than the Welsh Valleys that dispensed with Home signals.  It's also worth noting that although you don't usually see signals off in  both directions at the same time on a single line,

 

 

[eastglosmog]

Little Farringdon road crossing on the East Gloucestershire had a crossing keepers cottage and small box (see: http://www.fairfordbranch.co.uk/Kelmscott.htm)

It had no stop signals and after the installation of the experimental single line AWS in 1906, no visible distant signals either.  The signal levelers in the box only served to energize the ramps.  Should be easy to model!

[TheEdge]

Thanks for the advice, its definitely confirmed what I thought was the case, a little bit of signaling to be done but nothing too complex, might have to model opening gates if I can.

 

5 hours ago, eastglosmog said:

Little Farringdon road crossing on the East Gloucestershire had a crossing keepers cottage and small box (see: http://www.fairfordbranch.co.uk/Kelmscott.htm)

 

That's precisely the sort of image and evidence I needed for proof of concept.

 

13 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

...but the red target and lamp on the gate could legitimately be used instead as a stop signal.  This wasn't usually considered good enough unless the line was very straight with an excellent view, so it tended to be places like rural Norfolk rather than the Welsh Valleys that dispensed with Home signals. 

 

Interesting that I learnt to drive real trains in 2017 and we still actually had a pair of these crossings where the gate was the stop signal with manual distants. 

[The Stationmaster]

GWR practice at (public road) level crossings varied to some extent based on local circumstances.  Normally if there was just a level crossing and it was not a block post there would be a Crossing Keeper's cottage, an open 2 lever ground frame to work the two Distant Signals and no stop signals.    The latter were not necessary because the red target and lamp on the gates were the stop signals when the gates were closed across the railway.  In many cases an additional lever was provided to work the gate locks

 

But if the location was a block post used to split the section or, more likely there to deal with siding connections (and probably also act as a block [ost) it was normal practice to provide stop signals interlocked with the level crossing.

 

There were clearly variations around the suystem - for example on former Cambrian lines crossings without stop signals seem to have been more common.  I have just madea quicj check of the situtaion in west Devon and Cornwall during the 1930s and the situation there was very mixed - with some public crossings not even having gatekeepers while in the case of those that did a few did not have stop signals but most did.

 

The Ashburton branch was interesting as it had one crossing protected by stop signals (at Staverton station and was a block post)  and one that was not protected by stop signals.

[ikcdab]

7 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

GWR practice at (public road) level crossings varied to some extent based on local circumstances.  Normally if there was just a level crossing and it was not a block post there would be a Crossing Keeper's cottage, an open 2 lever ground frame to work the two Distant Signals and no stop signals.    The latter were not necessary because the red target and lamp on the gates were the stop signals when the gates were closed across the railway.  In many cases an additional lever was provided to work the gate locks

This was exactly the situation at Leigh Woods and Roebuck on the Minehead branch.  The distants were NOT interlocked with the gates.

At both of these crossings, the gates were normally kept across the road and only opened if a road vehicle wanted to cross.

Sea Lane was originally worked the same way, but as the road became busier it became the habit to keep the gates closed across the railway and the distants at clear.  This resulted in an incident and the crossing was then converted to be fully interlocked.  The other two crossings stayed as they were until closure on 1971.

Ian