Middleton Towers rail barrier damaged by freight train

[TheTallOne]

A rare 60-year-old railway barrier was seriously damaged after a train struck it when an operator lowered it too early.

The crossing gate was knocked down by a sand freight train leaving the disused Middleton Towers station last Saturday afternoon.

The Lynn News has been told that this was an avoidable incident, caused by an error by a member of the crossing gate crew.

The gates, the closest ones to the station house along Station Road, are considered rare and are not easy to replace.

Alex Brammer, the managing director of Middleton Towers Restoration Group - which is currently fixing up the station - said this is because they are bespoke and are made overseas.

“A member of our group saw a photo on social media which showed that the crossing gate had been severely damaged,” he told the Lynn News.

“The crossing gate was let go before the last wagon had left the station. The whole gate was just completely ruined.

“They had to close the whole road to replace it with a temporary metal one.”

A Network Rail spokesperson confirmed: “An incident was reported on Saturday, May 18 at the road crossing next to the disused Middleton Towers station.

“A crossing gate made contact with a freight wagon as it was passing and was damaged.

“This has since been replaced with a temporary gate until permanent repairs can be made later in the year.”

The temporary replacement is planned to be in place until in September or October, allowing for a new gate to be purchased and delivered.

“We are of course disappointed that the gate is now gone, but we are very grateful that Network Rail will order a bespoke like-for-like replacement,” Mr Brammer added.

“We completely understand that accidents happen and we hope that nobody is reprimanded for the incident.

“As soon as you see the replacement one go up, you just get the feeling that it is going to be up forever.

“We are just happy that they are being replaced, and we are happy that no one was injured. Accidents happen.”

Middleton Towers was the first station on the old Lynn and Dereham railway, which closed to passengers in 1968.

The restoration group’s aim is to fully restore the station and repurpose it, to be used as a tea room and museum to pay tribute to the former rail line.

Rare railway barrier seriously damaged after being lowered too early and struck by train

A rare 60-year-old railway barrier was seriously damaged after a train struck it when an operator lowered it too early.

www.lynnnews.co.uk

Shame to see such old barriers in that state. Not sure if it’s a repair or a replacement, sounds like a replacement designed to look like the old barriers.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Stump of the line running South East out of Kings Lynn towards Swaffham in Norfolk, with the former Middleton Towers station about three and a bit miles from Kings Lynn Jctn? How intensively used is the line nowadays?

 

[Magdalia]

Stump of the line running South East out of Kings Lynn towards Swaffham in Norfolk, with the former Middleton Towers station about three and a bit miles from Kings Lynn Jctn? How intensively used is the line nowadays?

Usually 2 trains per day in and out Mondays to Fridays.

 

[Gloster]

I appreciate that we are dealing with a non-technical journalist probably getting much of their information from Facebook or the like, but ‘barrier’ and ‘lowered it too early’: it looks as though whoever was on the gates started to swing it to reopen the road and misjudged just how the train was moving so it caught the buffer of the rear wagon (n.b. this is purely my opinion). But nearly six months to replace something that any carpenter or metalworker could knock up in a couple of days, including painting. And is it really going to be ‘bespoke and made overseas’? Of course you would need a possession to fit the new one, but that is hardly hi-tech. I hope that this is just overblown reporting and gossip: if it isn’t the railway is an even more insane state than I thought.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Back in 1980 I recall a (non-standard) wooden level crossing gate getting smashed on the South Eastern Division after vandals had unfastened it and left it to swing into the road at a time when the line was closed.
In those days there was a BR joinery workshop at Angerstein Wharf that could make a replacement gate but they clearly had other things to do as well and it took many weeks. The gate operator was very fed up with the faff and risk of running across the road with bunting as well as working the remaining three gates. The crossing relied on manual gate locks to release the signals so it was a proper headache.

 

[ac6000cw]

This is the location on StreetView - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.7...4bMM5Tk5gjMosIfA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

As you can see, it's very close to the end of the line (the loading bunker is easily visible if you zoom in), with a 5mph rail speed limit.

 

[rick pike]

Gate turned into firewood? Just another day on the Denby branch.

 

[Taunton]

Gate turned into firewood? Just another day on the Denby branch.

Looks like termite damage ...

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Gate turned into firewood? Just another day on the Denby branch.

Eh? Might need to explain or expand on that. Thought the Denby branch was in Derbyshire.