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Whats the Busiest LC...

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Simming

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In terms of traffic over it? including cars, pedestrians, cows, sheep, effers, and so on and so forth.
 
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Oracle

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Sunningdale on the SWT Ascot line has a dual carriageway, the A30, and gets horrendous queues. It always did when [as I can remember] it was THE main through route to the South and South-west. This must have been taken in the Fifties. However a decade later and when the gates were down there were huge jams. Now of course we have the M3 but it's still busy!

http://www.chrishodgephotos.co.uk/pixcma2/dodge05.jpg
 

eezypeazy

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Here in the North East, the busiest level crossings are probably the two at The Boldons (Boldon Lane?) between Sunderland and Heworth. They are automatic full barrier crossings, and each has at least 6 trains per hour in each direction (5 Metros, one Northern and freight). One of the crossings is near a busy road junction and, for safety reasons, is manned by a keeper who has no control over the crossing, but can ring a controller if road conditions are too busy to safely operate the crossing (so I understand!).

There must be other, equally busy crossings... Lincoln city centre springs to mind...

eezypeazy
 

matt

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The Level Crossing in the centre of Poole gets very busy.
 

Oracle

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Apart from Poole, what about the two at Chichester centre, and also at Brockenhurst? However my personal experience is Junction Road, Totton. I have known waits for three trains!
 
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Mount Pleasant crossing would be the most busiest by number of trains, around 12tph both directions each hour.
 

37372

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The LC at Denaby used to be really busy with it being a main road towards Doncaster and traffic used to back up for more than a mile when the barriers were down for the trains.
Now a bridge has been built over the line and just traffic from the local leisure centre use the LC now.
 

Tom B

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37372 said:
The LC at Denaby used to be really busy with it being a main road towards Doncaster and traffic used to back up for more than a mile when the barriers were down for the trains.
Now a bridge has been built over the line and just traffic from the local leisure centre use the LC now.

Ah yes, I've seen a photo somewhere of an O2 going past with a bleddy massive queue of traffic!

Tom said:
Mount Pleasant crossing would be the most busiest by number of trains, around 12tph both directions each hour.

Mount Pleasent? Where's that?

(I'm thinking of a place by that name in Doncaster, but I doubt it's that)
 
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Tom

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It's just north of Southampton Central and is literally next to Northam depot.
 

Max

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I was led to believe that Spring Bank in Hull is the only dual carriageway level crossing in the country. The queues there can be horrendous at rush hour. Sometimes over a mile back!
 

Oracle

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I know that this point has been mentioned before but in my humble opinion Sunningdale, with its central reservation either side and four lanes is a 'dual carriageway' crossing.
 

Simming

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camborne LC can get busy, in rush hour, as it jams up the roundabout down the road....


....thats when a fookin train appears.

And yea, lostwithel can be super busy, with all that mainroad traffic!
 

paul1609

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Automotivehistorian said:
Apart from Poole, what about the two at Chichester centre, and also at Brockenhurst? However my personal experience is Junction Road, Totton. I have known waits for three trains!
Ford and Yapton level Crossings East of Barnham have all the trains that Chichester has plus the Littlehampton to Bognor Shuttles.
12 tph off peak and 14 tph peak.

In terms of road traffic I'd nominate Bedingham AHB on the A27(T) a mile east of Lewes. Its not uncommon for queues to back up 2 to 3 miles in the peaks. Plans have been announced to replace it with a bridge.
 

trains2

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I would have to agree with Mount Pleasant for the south, I've been there and the gates have been down at one time to allow 7 trains to pass! It is a 4 track line, 2 are the main lines to Winchester, 1 is a loop with another loop coming off it, and the 4th is a relief for when coming off the Fareham line, so it is possible to have four trains over the crossing at the same time (2 of them would be slowing to stop though).

What I find most amusing is when the loop is used to hold a Freightliner for a bit, the liner draws right up to the far signals as close as he can as he knows he has to clear the crossing. Thing is it only takes about a load 15, so its often sat there over the crossing for up to 10mins! Even if the train did just fit, overlap wouldn't be sufficient and it would still be blocking the crossing. Luckily it doesn't happen very often, short trains are still held but liners are usually sent straight through.
 

TheSlash

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Mount Pleasant is a nightmare, it's something to do with them blocking off a bridge further up towards St Denys and the general fact that to get anywhere in Southampton city centre, you usually have to drive round 3 sides of it, encounter 30 sets of traffic lights, 25 of which will be red and do some impressive driving.
 

Oracle

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I just went over MP...does anyone remember the industrial crossing a bit further down towards what was Southern TV, then TVS and then Meridien? It can be hellish to get across at times! I know as I used to have my firm in Portwsood Road!
 

ChrisCooper

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Oulton Broad North LC is very busy. It only has 1tph in each direction, but traffic on the road can be very heavy, since it's used as an alternative to the A12 through Lowestoft. What makes it worse is that just under a mile further on is a lifting bridge, and when these both operate around the same time it can really get conjested, although they try and open the bridge between trains, so that traffic has had chance to clear. It was especially bad last time I was over that way since there were roadworks in Lowestoft, so many people were going through Oulton Broad. Due to it being in a built up area, bridging would not be easy. The most likely solution is eventually to build a bypass around both Lowestoft and Oulton Broad, bridging the railway and the river, but this would be expensive (both the need for a fairly long bridge, probably with a lifting span, or else high enough for all river traffic, and also the need to pass through marshy areas either side), and have a lot of environmental issues (being in the Broads National Park).
 

tubenutter

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A mate of mine who used to live in Tipton told me that he used to have to travel to work every morning from one side of the level crossing (the side of the Wolverhampton-bound platform) to the other and occasionally if he overslept and left one or two minutes late he would get held at the LC. He said that the barriers closed, then 15 minutes later would open -- about 2 or 3 cars from the much longer queue could get through then they would close again for another 15 minutes.

Having stood on Tipton station a few times waiting for trains I have noted that the stay closed for a very long time for each train that passes.
 

Kris

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The Level Crossing in the centre of Poole gets very busy.

I don't think we can really count Poole. Doesn't exactly see many cars and I've never even seen a service vehicle in 19 years.

Matt - what's it like at Canley and Tile Hill now without the crossings (I'm a Canley kid origionally and can remember the old boxes and wheel operated gates!)

Red Cow at Exeter surely counts for the biggest crossing in the country. I think it used to be 8 tracks - down to 4 now I think?
 

1D53

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One East of Cross Gates (does only see farm vehicles mainly). 11/12tph.
 
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