Bells on a wire by level crossings - electrified railway - where is this?

[Ken H]

This cropped up on a Bus facebook group
Its a Leeds City Transport bus going over a level crossing. Its from an era when there were no electrified lines in Leeds but its probably a private hire widening the area where it could be
But of interest to the rail section of this site are the rows of bells either side of the crossing, presumably to protect the wires from high vehicles
Was that a general thing in early electrification? And is it an installation still done today?
I think I have only seen 1 row of bells and that was on the West Coast line somewhere near Beattock. And that was some time ago.
Anyone know the location

 

[The exile]

Nearest would be the Woodhead line - but didn’t that have very generous clearances hardly requiring bells given the lower voltage? (remember photos of 506s with pantographs almost at full stretch)

 

[32475]

I was trying to work out the last two letters on the bus registration plate. If it’s NV then that suggests Northamptonshire or if it’s NW then that’s Leeds.

I’d say the photo was taken in the 1960s so this favours Northamptonshire since the WCML and line through Northampton had overhead electric by then whereas I don’t think there was any around Leeds then but ready to stand corrected.

 

[randyrippley]

I was trying to work out the last two letters on the bus registration plate. If it’s NV then that suggests Northamptonshire or if it’s NW then that’s Leeds.

I’d say the photo was taken in the 1960s so this favours Northamptonshire since the WCML and line through Northampton had overhead electric by then whereas I don’t think there was any around Leeds then but ready to stand corrected.

looks like NNW380 to me
that was a 1950 Leyland Titan of Leeds
there is a photo of the bus at https://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/?p=7725 , taken in 1966 on an enthusiasts tour of Sheffield.
Could this be a shot from that tour?

 

[32475]

looks like NNW380 to me

Sounds like we need input from a bus expert. There’s a crest on the side of the vehicle which might help.

 

[Quebec]

This cropped up on a Bus facebook group
Its a Leeds City Transport bus going over a level crossing. Its from an era when there were no electrified lines in Leeds but its probably a private hire widening the area where it could be
But of interest to the rail section of this site are the rows of bells either side of the crossing, presumably to protect the wires from high vehicles
Was that a general thing in early electrification? And is it an installation still done today?
I think I have only seen 1 row of bells and that was on the West Coast line somewhere near Beattock. And that was some time ago.
Anyone know the location


View attachment 145590View attachment 145590

Could be Worsbrough, where the A61 crosses the Trans-Pennine Trail (formerly the Penistone to Wath electrified line). Can't copy the image, but Google street view seems to show the buildings in the photo (looking up the hill from the southern side of the crossing).

 

[Andy873]

looks like NNW380 to me

It does to me too, and I agree a bus expert would be very helpful with this one.

 

[Gloster]

Based on a look on streetview, it does look like the crossing at the bottom of Park Road and the Woodhead line. The house on the right appears to be still there and there are buildings with the same porch up to the left.

 

[randyrippley]

This links to a Youtube video "History of the Worsbrough Railways"

At 4:57 there's a railway crossing on the Woodhead route with an identical set of bells. May even be the same location though it's hard to judge

 

[Rescars]

I have no local knowledge to add to the suggestions about location. The photo does seem to have a 1500v DC feel to it though. What intrigues me is the utility or otherwise of the bells. I appreciate that road vehicles tend to have shorter braking distances than trains, but if you were driving a high-sider (a very high-sider to exceed the height of a double-decker bus in that era) and heard those bells, something tells me you would have brought the wires down long before you had reacted to the sound and slammed on the brakes.

 

[randyrippley]

Another example of cow bells at a level crossing on the Altrincham line at Deansgate Junction signal box. Scroll down the page, the photo is very near the bottom

British Railway Signal Boxes and ground Frames

History and development of railway Signal Boxes and ground Frames in Britain for railway modellers

igg.org.uk

One oddity on the Altrincham line is at Deansgate Junction signal box (which controls the diverging line to Skelton Junction and now operates the signals on the Chester line through Altrincham and Hale), in the 1930s when the line was electrified there was quite a lot of industry in the area, hence a number of large lorries with even larger loads were expected to use the level crossing. To prevent people hitting the wires the simple expedient adopted was to run a cable across the road on each side from which were suspended a number of cow bells. Non of the other level corssings on the line have had these (at least since the later 1960s) and to date I have traced no formal explanation or other location equipped with these bells.

And another video of a crossing with cowbells - Woodsmore crossing in Stockport. Only on one side as it seems to be one-way. This is post-renovation, yet the bells were retained

It does to me too, and I agree a bus expert would be very helpful with this one.

It is NNW380 - look at the title at the bottom of the photo, and compare the crests with the photo I linked to.
The original photo shows a mid-1960s Hillman Minx, which would fit my suggestion of being taken during the 1966 enthusiasts trip to Sheffield

 

[Harpers Tate]

Agree with @Gloster post 8. Modern view (google streetview) - note white houses in the background are pretty much unchanged.

 

[Pinza-C55]

Nearest would be the Woodhead line - but didn’t that have very generous clearances hardly requiring bells given the lower voltage? (remember photos of 506s with pantographs almost at full stretch)

Woodhead was 1500 volts DC which would still be enough to make your hair stand on end.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I think it's quite possible that the excursion had stopped (although obviously the bus is moving in the photo) to photograph passing trains. On my way to the Carlton bus scrapyards I've been stopped there quite often myself, for the passage of a train of 21t coal hoppers with two EM1s on the front and two more on the back struggling up the bank (wish I had taken photos). Perhaps the enthusiasts had also detoured around Barnsley to visit the bus scrapyards for which the area is well-known.
I can remember travelling underthe cow-bells on the MSJA (I was upstairs on a double-decker - it seemed close) but I thought that was near Altrincham station. The only level crossing on OH electrified lines around here was Banbury Lane (now bridged) and I'm struggling to remember whether there were cow bells there. I do distinctly remember them somewhere on the A.C. lines in the early days - there may have been ones at Rugby electric depot, on the internal access road, or at another D.E.D..
1,500 v conductor in contact with a road vehicle would not, I suggest, earth because of the insulation of the tyres but if the driver left the vehicle they would have to jump out of the cab making sure that they were not in contact with the road surface and the vehicle at the same time.

 

[Rescars]

I think it's quite possible that the excursion had stopped (although obviously the bus is moving in the photo) to photograph passing trains. On my way to the Carlton bus scrapyards I've been stopped there quite often myself, for the passage of a train of 21t coal hoppers with two EM1s on the front and two more on the back struggling up the bank (wish I had taken photos). Perhaps the enthusiasts had also detoured around Barnsley to visit the bus scrapyards for which the area is well-known.
I can remember travelling underthe cow-bells on the MSJA (I was upstairs on a double-decker - it seemed close) but I thought that was near Altrincham station. The only level crossing on OH electrified lines around here was Banbury Lane (now bridged) and I'm struggling to remember whether there were cow bells there. I do distinctly remember them somewhere on the A.C. lines in the early days - there may have been ones at Rugby electric depot, on the internal access road, or at another D.E.D..
1,500 v conductor in contact with a road vehicle would not, I suggest, earth because of the insulation of the tyres but if the driver left the vehicle they would have to jump out of the cab making sure that they were not in contact with the road surface and the vehicle at the same time.

Makes you wonder what might have happened if your vehicle was fitted with one of those trailing earthing straps which were quite popular in the sixties!

 

[ac6000cw]

The photo does seem to have a 1500v DC feel to it though.

I agree - the compound catenary OHLE (with an auxiliary intermediate wire between the catenary and contact wires) in the photo certainly suggests that it was 1500V DC, although I think there was some of that style of OHLE used on early 25kV electrification.

 

[Elecman]

I agree - the compound catenary OHLE (with an auxiliary intermediate wire between the catenary and contact wires) in the photo certainly suggests that it was 1500V DC, although I think there was some of that style of OHLE used on early 25kV electrification.

Correct the early 25Kv OLE was compound style with the intermediate carrier wire

 

[Ken H]

Sounds like we need input from a bus expert. There’s a crest on the side of the vehicle which might help.

Its a Leeds City Transport bus.
From buslistsontheweb website which lists all buses with their original owner. Its says NNW380 was a Leyland PD2/1 with a leyland body configured H3026R (Highbridge, 30 upstairs, 26 downstaors with rear entrance, first owned by Leeds City Transport new March 1950

 

[Ken H]

Thanks for your answers. I have forwarded the Worsborough location to the Leeds City Transport Facebook bus group, thanking this forum.

 

[6Gman]

This cropped up on a Bus facebook group
Its a Leeds City Transport bus going over a level crossing. Its from an era when there were no electrified lines in Leeds but its probably a private hire widening the area where it could be
But of interest to the rail section of this site are the rows of bells either side of the crossing, presumably to protect the wires from high vehicles
Was that a general thing in early electrification? And is it an installation still done today?
I think I have only seen 1 row of bells and that was on the West Coast line somewhere near Beattock. And that was some time ago.
Anyone know the location


View attachment 145590View attachment 145590

Such an arrangement of bells was certainly widely used on the Great Eastern in the early 1960s.

 

[izvor]

Yes I remember seeing them on the LT&SR around Stanford-le-Hope and elsewhere.

 

[Pinza-C55]

Makes you wonder what might have happened if your vehicle was fitted with one of those trailing earthing straps which were quite popular in the sixties!

If you mean if the roof of the bus touched the wires, the Faraday Cage effect would kick in and the electricity would travel round the outside of the bus to the earth.

 

[Barnsley]

Definitely Park Road, Worsbrough Bridge