Waiting for four trains at level crossing

aiden_g1 · 25 Jun 2017

Arksey Level crossings near Doncaster on the ECML (and those immediately before and after) often see in excess of this. My personal maximum wait has been for 8 trains without the batriers lifting. They are notorious in the town and waiting times of 20 minutes are not unheard of..

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Statto · 25 Jun 2017

On the double track at Tipton station before the remodelling of the WCML early 2000s it wasn't unusual to get caught at that level crossing & wait for a few trains to pass, which happened to me on a bus i was on, & saw 4 trains go past.

LAX54 · 25 Jun 2017

snowball said:
I would imagine automatic signals are avoided on the approach to a controlled level crossing, so rather than reverting to danger, the signals will not clear in the first place until a route for a train is set.

CCTV: Controlled Signals. AHB's can be Autos.

As for amount, Chitts Hill can see 7 or 8 pass over crossing, and Manningtree can see 4 or 5.

LAX54 · 25 Jun 2017

robbeech said:
I think the signaller plays a bigger part in this than we might think.
Quite often i will sit eating my lunch in (outside) the pub near Carlton Loop and watch 3 trains pass, by which time there is a bit of a queue forming. On several occasions i have known the barriers to raise until the last vehicle has gone past to be then lowered again immediately. Of course this is all done safely, likely without a single train seeing a double yellow (i assume signals revert to danger when the crossings are open) but if there are no vehicles there they can stay down for a very long period of time between trains.

Indeed it can be down to Signaller, who at the back of his mind knows if he raises the barriers to clear a few cars, and then delays the next train, because either he gets busy elsewhere, or the crossing is blocked, then the delay will go down the Signaller as 'OC'

A Challenge · 25 Jun 2017

Bookd said:
Not 4, only 2 trains cross on the single line at Addlestone but the crossing can be closed for a while, and there is a feature that I have not seen elsewhere.
If driving from Weybridge towards Addlestone, before the left turn into the town, there is a digital road sign to warn that the crossing is closed so that motorists can continue to the next junction and take a longer but quicker route.

Here is a link to a street view of the sign. Is it because of long signaling blocks?

wimbledonpete · 25 Jun 2017

Have waited for 4 quite often at either Motspur Park station or the one further up the line at West Barnes Lane.

The Planner · 25 Jun 2017

A Challenge said:
Here is a link to a street view of the sign. Is it because of long signaling blocks?

It will be down to where the strike in point is for the crossing I expect. If it is a fair distance from the crossing then the barriers will be down for an extended amount of time.

LAX54 · 25 Jun 2017

And of course, the more trains that run, and that increases year upon year, then the barriers will be down for longer, as the headway between trains gets smaller and smaller

Lockwood · 25 Jun 2017

Bookd said:
Not 4, only 2 trains cross on the single line at Addlestone but the crossing can be closed for a while, and there is a feature that I have not seen elsewhere.
If driving from Weybridge towards Addlestone, before the left turn into the town, there is a digital road sign to warn that the crossing is closed so that motorists can continue to the next junction and take a longer but quicker route.

When I worked out of Chertsey, I made a mental note of when the morning trains were (0804, 0807, 0834, 0837) and the rough minutes past the hour for the rest of the day to try and help stop us getting stuck there.
My crewmates often found that quite helpful and I would often be asked as we were given a job in Weybridge/Walton "Will the barriers be up, or should we go the other way round?"

I'm not familiar with the trackwork at Addlestone, but I thought it was double line throughout, not single? The crossing is certainly double.

I've seen four at Bedhampton quite a few times.

al78 · 26 Jun 2017

Littlehaven (in Horsham) crossing used to be notorious for long waits and queues of traffic. The problem is the crossing is adjacent to the station, so the barriers go down for any train coming from Horsham and stopping at Littlehaven, so people have to wait for the train to stop, load/unload, then move off past the crossing. Before the platform was extended, trains coming from Crawley that stopped at Littlehaven straddled the crossing if they were more than four coaches in length, which again, meant having to wait for the train to stop, load/unload and depart and clear the crossing. Sometimes, the time taken to wait for these stopping trains to move off is just long enough that another train coming from Crawley or Horsham triggers the barriers to stay down. At its worst, you could wait for three trains, at least one of which would go through the stop-unload/load-depart procedure, which resulted in waiting times over 12 minutes. Now the platform has been extended to cater for 12 coach trains this has, I believe, eliminated the worst of the waiting times.

Tim R-T-C · 26 Jun 2017

Kildwick on the Airedale Line often has three in rush hour and I have seen four before.

They have talked about building a bridge for years, but without major work, not going to happen as there are houses on one side and a factory estate opposite.

61653 HTAFC · 26 Jun 2017

I've had 4 before at the old Silk Mills crossing on the Western outskirts of Taunton, another crossing that has been closed and replaced with a bridge.

GW43125 · 26 Jun 2017

Lockwood said:
When I worked out of Chertsey, I made a mental note of when the morning trains were (0804, 0807, 0834, 0837) and the rough minutes past the hour for the rest of the day to try and help stop us getting stuck there.
My crewmates often found that quite helpful and I would often be asked as we were given a job in Weybridge/Walton "Will the barriers be up, or should we go the other way round?"

I'm not familiar with the trackwork at Addlestone, but I thought it was double line throughout, not single? The crossing is certainly double.

I've seen four at Bedhampton quite a few times.

Double track throughout the line through Addlestone. Also, I see someone mentioned strike-in points. MCB crossings don't have strike-in points, it's manual.

Bigfoot · 26 Jun 2017

Dr_Intoxicated said:
I have waited for 3 quite often at Feltham, it seems to depend on the signaller sometimes they are prepared to raise the barriers for a very short time less than 1 minute, other times the barriers are down for quite a while before the train arrives, particularly on the down line. It also does not help now that the up 458/5s foul the crossing.

Won't be long till it's closed forever. Though project is behind.

Deepgreen · 26 Jun 2017

Ashtead sees this very often, where signallers seem unwilling to trust the up platform starter to do its job and protect the crossing! North Sheen is another example of a very busy two track crossing.

GB · 26 Jun 2017

GW43125 said:
Double track throughout the line through Addlestone. Also, I see someone mentioned strike-in points. MCB crossings don't have strike-in points, it's manual.

Manual crossings should have a calling point which notifies the signaller to lower the barriers. Effectively very similar to strike in points.

Dr_Intoxicated · 26 Jun 2017

Bigfoot said:
Won't be long till it's closed forever. Though project is behind.

Yes I have been told it is about a year late with work on the road bridge starting in January 2018. The plans for the enhanced pedestrian and cycle bridge look quite attractive.

I believe the hold up was due to an objection to the removal of some trees to facilitate the widening of the road bridge. The whole scheme is linked into general improvements to Feltham town centre.

D6975 · 26 Jun 2017

At Melton Ross the manually operated barriers were ones where the 'normal' position was for the trains to run and the road be blocked. It wasn't uncommon for the barriers to be across the quiet road for lengthy periods. When someone wanted to cross, the barrier operator rang up to get permission to open the crossing. I've not been there since the Barnetby resignalling so I don't know if it's still like this.

Xenophon PCDGS · 26 Jun 2017

When on holiday in West Sussex, we became used to the barriers staying down for three trains in Chichester, in the area near to both the train station and the bus station.

Tio Terry · 27 Jun 2017

I know that when we were trying to find an extra 19 paths each way along the electric spine the crossings north of Oxford could see the barriers down for at least 30 minutes with 750m long trains. Then only up for around 6 minutes before a further 30+ minute blockage.

Lets see what the resignalling brings!

merry · 28 Jun 2017

I have sat at Norwell (on the ECML) for 7 or 8 trains in a row on occasion. Worst was after a blockage at Retford had just been cleared, so the up 'queue' was striking in one after another, probably on double yellows. With the down traffic being released as well, there was a train every minute or two for some time...thankfully a nice day so sat there with the windows down & watched the trains go by. Much more pleasant than the office!

Waiting for four trains at level crossing

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