Trivia: Level crossings that are unlikely to ever be removed

[Welly]

Saxilby West Bank LC, line rises to cross over the Fossdyke Navigation and this minor dead end road rises to cross the railway.

 

[stuu]

Was going to say this, whilst sat there last night waiting for 3 trains to cross i was looking around designing an alternative in my head.... and there isn't one, seems impossible to replace.

It's a lot easier than some others, as the A377 could be raised up to meet a bridge over the tracks without impacting property. Expensive though, so unlikely

 

[Neo9320]

Clay mills in burton on trent. Accident there a few year back when a man drove his car on to the crossing and down the tracks causing a train to collide with it. Crossing is unlikely to be closed due to sewage works on the opposite side. It’s the only access and it’s mainly heavy tankers using it so can’t imagine a solution would be cheap.

 

[james60059]

Narborough, only level crossing between Nuneaton and Leicester. As well as the station immediately next to it, there's a fair few buildings as well.

 

[RPI]

It's a lot easier than some others, as the A377 could be raised up to meet a bridge over the tracks without impacting property. Expensive though, so unlikely

Would be a hell of a steep climb from the roundabout!

 

[stuu]

Would be a hell of a steep climb from the roundabout!

Not really, if the junction was moved a little way north so that any bridge was perpendicular to the railway, the A377 could easily climb about 3m+ from north of the last property on the east side (~50m at 1:15), and then the new bridge could climb at a similar gradient to give around 6m height above the tracks. It would mean replacing the bridge over the river and rearranging access to the depot, but it is physically doable.

Of course any level crossing can be removed, it just depends on how much money can be made available

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Highams Park. (This one has been discussed before in a different thread)

 

[norbitonflyer]

High Street, Lincoln is virtually pedestrianised with very limited vehicle access, plus it has a lift equipped footbridge alongside, so could be closed with relatively little inconvenience. On a recent visit I was surprised how busy the line was. One closure lasted over 10 minutes.

Likely to get busier with the improvements to the "Joint" line - not least the Wennington diveunder. But mainly freight, so no direct benefit to the city's travelling public. With hindsight, closure in the 1980s of the "avoiding" line, which crossed the city using a series of bridges, was a mistake, but the formation has now been built on so there seems little likelihood of re-opening.
Concentrating services at Central station in 1985 actually made matters worse, as the majority of trains from the Newark direction terminate at Lincoln and now have to cross the High Street level crossing to reach Central station, where before they would terminate short of the High Street at St Marks station. (I don't know if consideration was given to closing Central instead, but St Marks was very run-down, less central (!), and probably too small anyway to cope with all the traffic).

Even today, only four bridges cross the railway through Lincoln, built between 1958 (Pelham Bridge, replacing the notorious "Durham Ox" three way level crossing - two railways and a road) and 2020 (the Eastern bypass)

 

[tiptoptaff]

Bishton, near Newport. Falls in to category 3. There is an adjacent rail-over bridge for low vehicles. Only high vehicles have to use the crossing. Only ever sees one school bus a day in each direction and the very occasional delivery van.

It's so infrequently used it would be difficult to justify the cost of a new road-over bridge or deepening the road under the current rail-over bridge

 

[matchmaker]

Any of the remaining crossings between Stirling and Alloa. It's very flat ground, so difficult to build a bridge. None of the roads have a huge amount of traffic so too expensive to build a bridge. All of the crossings are on the only road in/out of the villages so can't close the crossings!

 

[MontyP]

You can add Vine Road in Barnes just after the Hounslow loop splits from the Richmond line. A double crossing where it's extremely rare to get across both crossings without getting caught by at least one of them. Any bridge would be at least 100M long, and would prevent access to the Vine Road Recreation Ground. As a child I remember it being operated as two manually operated crossings.

Also West Barnes Lane (twice) once in Raynes Park and once again at Motspur Park station. Both due to lack of space.

I think that part of the planning for Crossrail 2 was to remove the W Barnes Lane crossings as the increase in services on the line wold mean that the barriers would be down the whole time. Not sure whether they planned to build alternative bridge crossings or just to close them. I often wondered whether it might be possible to sink the railway down into a new "cut & cover" cutting alongside (or even under) West Barnes Lane. It is a moot point with Crossrail 2 now defunct.

 

[thelem]

I will begin with the level crossing at Brockenhurst. Busy A-road, no suitable alternative route for traffic to divert to and right in the middle of a national park.

Brokenhurst doesn't actually look that built up compared to many other stations that have parades of shops on both sides of the road. To the south you've got signal box, station car par then some trees. Trickier to the north, as you'd need to demolish the bike shop (Brokenhusrt chambers) and the building on the corner of station approach - both of which are probably listed or otherwise protected.

To avoid that demolition you could re-route via North Road and Mill Lane, running a little further east than the current road. National park will definitely cause problems, but you could say that about anything in a national park that needs a new bridge.

I was going to suggest Cosham because it's so built up, but then I checked a map and saw it's got a great alternative route. Therefore I'm surprised it hasn't already been closed - pressure from high street traders perhaps?

 

[DelW]

Reigate - right at the end of the station platforms, and carrying a busy road from Junction 8 of the M25 to Reigate, Redhill and a big area to the south. For a while it looked as though it would prevent the proposed 3tph on the North Downs, but allegedly that objection had been overcome. However collapse of demand to Gatwick means that service is only 2tph for the foreseeable future anyway.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Okletor and Sandways on the Gunnislake line. Okletor has a history of near misses as the train has to stop and sound horn before passing over at 5mph. Some motorists think the driver is giving them way. The road also immediately forms a road junction after the crossing. The vehicular approach to the crossing and road junction is down a steep hill with poor sighting hence the train stopping and blowing horn before preceding at 5mph over crossing. The approach road is also in a cutting. But I cant see this crossing being removed as there is no other alternative.
Sandways is a much better crossing but the train service doesn't warrant its replacement.
There was a failed scheme in the 80s to bridge Red Cow crossing in Exeter involving much demolition of houses on the Red Cow Village side.

 

[mpthomson]

Malton/Norton, given the complexity of the 2 road junctions that it's within 20m of.

 

[WestRiding]

Crabley Creek. Because of the farmer.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Paignton. Very similar to Poole.

Topsham.

Pinhoe. All of these so far are immediately adjacent to the station.

Mount Pleasant in Southampton. Doesn't look impossible, but given how much time the barriers spend down per hour, I assume it would have been altered by now if it was feasible.

Eggesford another, surprised there aren't more pile ups when a car is waiting to turn right over the crossing whilst waiting for a train to pass.

Probably not helped by the 'old' school' signalling procedures used which means that trains in both directions seem to sit at Eggesford for about 5 minutes. Do the barriers open at any point between the first train arriving and the second departing?

The rural setting gives the station something of an 'Addlestrop' vibe, somewhat unfairly given that the line is thriving as rural railways go.

 

[RH Liner]

Newark Castle station crossing is a pain but I can’t see any easy solution.

 

[py_megapixel]

Norbury Hollow. I can't see how on earth a bridge could realistically fit there.

On the other hand, closing the road to motor traffic might be a possibility. In distance terms, the detour is rather circuitous, but it might not add that much time to journeys as the roads are good.

 

[RPI]

Paignton. Very similar to Poole.

Topsham.

Pinhoe. All of these so far are immediately adjacent to the station.

Mount Pleasant in Southampton. Doesn't look impossible, but given how much time the barriers spend down per hour, I assume it would have been altered by now if it was feasible.



Probably not helped by the 'old' school' signalling procedures used which means that trains in both directions seem to sit at Eggesford for about 5 minutes. Do the barriers open at any point between the first train arriving and the second departing?

The rural setting gives the station something of an 'Addlestrop' vibe, somewhat unfairly given that the line is thriving as rural railways go.

At Eggesford the barriers open once a train has passed, so when the Barnstaple bound train stops short, operates the barriers, crosses over them the barriers raise. Once the Exeter bound train is ready then the guard operates the barriers and they go. So they're never down for any extended period of time

 

[30907]

Harlech
A seriously complicated road layout in a built up area sited against a cliff.

And Barmouth, Porthmadog, Criccieth.

 

[Glenn1969]

Another vote for Smithy Bridge. Although I worry about how long the barrier would have to be down for if the service level was expanded I'm not sure how you can replace it without great expense

 

[Islineclear3_1]

St Dunstans in Canterbury adjacent to Canterbury West station.

And St Stephens east of the station

East Gates in Colchester, those along the West Coastway and many many others

 

[norbitonflyer]

North Sheen station, would require property demolition on south side to allow a road ramp (the property on north side, a Homebase store, is about to be demolished so would be easy to realign road)

I would add others on same line like Mortlake, due to too much property

SWR seem to have plans to mitigate the level crossing problems at those two stations, as the draft specification for the future timetable has only six off-peak trains each way through Richmond (4 fast, 2 stoppers), down from eight (4+4) in the pre Covid timetable. This will be done by terminating the Hounslow loop services at Twickenham. Whether the inhabitants of St Margarets, North Sheen and Mortlake will appreciate their train services being reduced from 4tph to 2tph remains to be seen, but it's unlikely to improve road traffic in the area despite the reduced downtime at the level crossings.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Very hard to see how St Fagans west of Cardiff could ever be replaced, sandwiched as it is between two steep hills and a river and ajacent to the main entrance to to Wales most popular visitor attraction, the National History Museum. Add to that the fact thet the village is a conservation area and it's a pretty much insoluable problem.

 

[Paul180]

Milford Surrey.

 

[sjm77]

I wonder how long those level crossings of the 4/5/6-track ECML north of Peterborough will last?

That's a very good question!

-Marholm LC I believe has closed and was just North of Werrington Jcn. I do remember it from the mid-80s

-Woodcroft LC is staffed with manually worked gates, not sure if interlocked with signalling but if so how many minutes per hour can the gates be opened? Not sure the road traffic could ever justify a bridge!

-Helpston LC I think is the longest level crossing in the UK, partly because the road and railway are at 45 degrees. A bridge here is viable. Probably as you leave the village Glinton Road would bend to the right towards the old railway station rising up along side the tracks before turning back over the railway towards the current Glinton Road.

-Maxey LC (the only one with 6 tracks and where the gap between the ECML and Stamford lines starts to widen further. A bridge here is definitely possible on the North West side of the current roadway without any buildings needed to be demolished. It would be expensive as a looooong bridge would be needed, however the road is well used.

-Lolham LC never used to be a busy road back in the day (not sure about today). The road rises up to cross the railway line from both sides so an underpass seems the most sensible solution should the water table allow. Alternatively it should be closed if a Tallington Bypass should be built around the South side of the village (see below).

-Tallington LC, probably the busiest of the crossings so far for road transport. A bridge is very difficult without destroying homes and business. This might have to wait until a bypass round the village was ever built. Less homes would be affected if the bypass was routed around the South side of Tallington but it may then have to cross the River Welland twice as well as the ECML!

Greatford LC, as with Lolham the road rises up from both sides to cross the ECML so an underpass would be most sensible. Away from the Fens there should not be drainage issues which could pose a problem at Lolham, although I am no expert!

 

[thenorthern]

The user worked barriers at Kents Bank Station and Cart Lane in Grange-over-Sands are unlikely ever to be removed as they are used to access Morecambe Bay which only the Guide to the Sands and occasional maintenance people use.

 

[plugwash]

I remember hearing that woodsmoor level crossing was removed and replaced with a footbridge, but then someone was attacked on the footbridge and it was turned back into a crossing.

Anyone know if there is any truth in that?

 

[py_megapixel]

I remember hearing that woodsmoor level crossing was removed and replaced with a footbridge, but then someone was attacked on the footbridge and it was turned back into a crossing.

I have a family member who used to drive through that area on a fairly frequent basis (including often actually over the crossing) and they've never mentioned that happening!

Woodsmoor would actually be one of the easiest to knock on the head, as there's already a nearby bridge. It's sufficiently nearby that some of the locals know the train times and divert their journey via the bridge when the crossing is likely to be shut, and even when the crossing is open it generally only extends the journey by a matter of seconds.