The nearer car has been described as a Morris 10, which went out of production in 1948, replaced by the quite different Morris Oxford. KJW numbers were issued in Wolverhampton between July 1952 and June 1953, so one or the other of these two points looks incorrect.
Were red targets used in locations where the gates were protected by signals? Does their absence suggest that there is a signal box just out of shot and the gates are within station limits?
Are we certain the rear car is a Morris? There is something about the boot shape which looks a bit like a Hillman.
It's a shame we can't see more of the third car which is hidden by the nearside gate post (apart from its offside rear wing). Is it on the road, or parked (rather unwisely) just beyond a junction?
I'm beginning to wonder if we're looking at a station that has it's platforms staggered. hence the need for the wicket gates?
The posts with reflectors help to line traffic up with the crossing, particularly in the absence of a kerb and possibly in a snowfall. May also be to deter parking on the verge on the approach to the crossing?
There were several variations in targets - not just round ones. It looks to me, although the gates are some distance away, that in this case they may have been square?
We've established that we're in the post-WW2 era. Photography became much cheaper after the war, particularly when stocks of spare 35mm and other film became available. I was taking my first photos around 1954 when I was eight years old, albeit on 120 size film and with the help of relatives.
Are/were there many crossing keeper's cottages next to stations?
Are we sure it's a crossing keeper's cottage? It could be part of a station building of some sort.
If it was added as a wartime measure it wouldn’t have had a relatively elaborate cottage.
Many crossings had non-block signals worked by the keeper from a ground frame. Often there were just distance with the target on the gate serving as the stop signal, but poor sighting could explain the stop signal.
Mow Cop- http://www.mowcop.info/htm/thumbs/tn039.htm
The pole doesnt feel high enough
Ridge tiles don't match...
The cottage is a mirror image! There's a Geograph photo from 2000 when it (at Little Bowden Crossing, confusing though that may be) still had its barge boards ... and guess what they look exactly like. So the two must have been built as part of a single railway building contract.
Starting to feel like a really plausible lead!
- Doing a google earth along many lines (open and closed) in the area, I think too much has changed over the years to make this identifiable via that method?I noticed this on Google a short while before you mentioned it, but had dismissed it for some reason. Have just taken a closer look, the road/rail angle is about that which I was trying to get at above (a slight skew), and zooming in close there are remnants of building foundations in the undergrowth (where the cottage would have been if this were the original picture location). Next to said foundations and beside the track there is also a brick foundation remnant that could have been the base for a signal post. What do others think? This is Leigh Crossing (west of Uttoxeter) on Dodsleigh Lane. The fencing doesn't necessarily match, but it has been a few years since the original picture was taken!
Here is an undated picture of Lamport station [from ebay]. It has the signal!
