Plumpton Level Crossing

[SprinterMan]

When I visited Plumpton a few years ago, I remember it had quite an odd level crossing. It had the old-style wooden gates rather than barriers, but they moved by themselves, as opposed to the man from the signal box coming out and pushing them. Have they always been like this, and how do they work? Are they electric? I was wondering if the same thing could have been done at Frinton then the town cold have kept it's gates.

Adam

 

[Tomnick]

Although there are one or two examples of motor worked gated (Briggs, for example), most are either hand worked or mechanically worked by wheel (Plumpton, presumably, being an example of the latter). If that's how it is, it'll have been so for a long time. Such crossings aren't suitable for remote operation.

 

[John Webb]

Operation of the wheel in the box moves a series of links and cranks to move the gates from one postion to the other. These links are contained in ducts running under the roadway, which is why they can't be seen. But note the line of 'manhole' covers on the north side of your photo which almost certainly give access to these items. I can't immediately find a diagram on any internet site, but I think there must be something out there! There are diagrams in the reprints of Lewis "Railway Signal Engineering" (3rd edition edited by J H Fraser) ISBN 1 899890 04 1 and "Mechanical Railway Signalling - Part 2" by H Raynar Wilson, ISBN 1 899890 21 1.

 

[SprinterMan]

Thanks for the info guys.
I have found this website, which is very good indeed.
http://www.signalbox.org/last/crossings.php
Could electric wheels not be fitted to the Frinton gates like the boom gates on this website, as this would have been a lot better than removing the gates.
Adam

 

[GB]

Level crossings are not there to appease the self appointed posh and righteousness of residents. They are there to do a job within set parameters and regulations... for which the barriers do do.

 

[a1a.a1a]

I've never been to Frinton so can't be sure what it's like but some of these little villages / towns have strict planning rules for shops ect in order to stop the place becoming like every other town on the planet 'Mc D' signs in brown vice yellow seem to come to mind and a ban on neon signs for example - I wonder if anything similar has been thought of for these places with L/Cs in a town ?

 

[SprinterMan]

I've never been to Frinton so can't be sure what it's like but some of these little villages / towns have strict planning rules for shops ect in order to stop the place becoming like every other town on the planet 'Mc D' signs in brown vice yellow seem to come to mind and a ban on neon signs for example - I wonder if anything similar has been thought of for these places with L/Cs in a town ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...removed-by-Network-Rail-in-dead-of-night.html

The was quite an upset about it at the time :P

 

[PFX]

"Paris has its Eiffel Tower, London has Tower Bridge and in Frinton we have the gates. All over the world people talk about them. They are the symbol of Frinton."

I've heard of the Eiffel Tower. I've heard of Tower Bridge. I haven't heard of Frinton. I haven't heard of its crossing gates (until today). I'm sure with the loss of the gates, Frinton has since entered a state of siege from modernity and criminality... Hehe.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

I'm sure with the loss of the gates, Frinton has since entered a state of siege from modernity and criminality... Hehe.

As the line used to go - "Dover for the Continent, Frinton for the incontinent".

 

[jopsuk]

As the line used to go - "Dover for the Continent, Frinton for the incontinent".

I thought it was "Harwich", not Dover? On the basis of them both being destinations from Liverpool Street.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

I thought it was "Harwich", not Dover?

Bu**er, I thought that, but at my age my memory is ...





... what were we talking about?

 

[SprinterMan]

Definitely Harwich, that article says so.

Its proximity to the port of Harwich, which offers ferry sailings to Denmark and the Netherlands, also made it the butt of an old joke among railway passengers: "Harwich for the continent, Frinton for the incontinent."

Adam

 

[pompeyfan]

Littlehaven in Sussex has similar gates. i remember being delayed on the way back from Sutton there for nearly an hour as the gates were stuck in the open position, and so the train couldn't even cross the line under caution and the gates were obstructing the line.

in regards to brands having a secondary 'modest' branding, the co-operative food use blue writing on a white background in more 'snobbish' places instead of their blue on lime green.

 

[lincolnshire]

The level crossing gates at Brigg, was an electric motor driving an hydraulic pump / motor arrangment under the signal box, whilst upstairs in the box was a short lever arrangemnet which contriolled the flow of oil to the hydraulic gate motor so that you could vary the speed of the gates going across the road, so you didnt crash the gate stops in the road.

Lincoln high street had the same arrangment for its gates, as once when it broke down they nicked Brigg, s tempoarily as lincoln was more important. At Brigg they had to drag the gates across the road by hand while it was on its holidays at Lincoln.

If there was a power cut the gates could not be moved as it was an A.C. motor driving it aqnd had no back up.

 

[Cletus]

I thought it was "Harwich", not Dover? On the basis of them both being destinations from Liverpool Street.

Or perhaps locally to Dover it was Deal for the incontinent?

 

[a1a.a1a]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...removed-by-Network-Rail-in-dead-of-night.html

Brilliant read! thats definitely one of the places I ment when I were on about McDonald's.... 'No Chippy till the early 90's' ¿? What on earth did they eat :eek:

 

[a1a.a1a]

Littlehaven = Lights, Sirens and Red / White booms since Sunday 30th Sept 2012.

 

[aylesbury]

The people in Frinton most certainly would not eat fish and chips or drink beer ,they crossed the railway and did it!