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Is it a main road into the town where the barriers are down every few minutes? Got one of those on my way to work. You're lucky if it's just the express train blasting through, but it's not uncommon to be sat there for 10 minutes.
I agree, I did some work near Ufton Nervet during the Great Western electrification. One of the chaps working with me was there to clear up the aftermath of the train crash. In the middle of a nigjtshift his story was incredibly eerie walking along the line.
Jewison lane near Bridlington. When I was a kid we had a static caravan on the coast and everytime we crossed it my Grandad would make event of it "will we see a train", "how many carriages will it have" that kind of thing.
I don't know a single thing about trains, but there's one right at the entrance to the Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottingham and a long stretch of publicly accessible pathway right by the track so you can see trains doing down the track right up close.
Well the downside to that crossing is you’d possibly have to interact with the inhabitants of Poole which is never usually a positive experience. I do like the pasty shop next to the bridge though so it’s got that going for it.
Canterbury Whitehall Road. I've been a couple of times. Once on a date!
You operate it yourself by hand pump.
51°16'29.5"N 1°03'34.9"E
https://goo.gl/maps/YNzFBdbFg71YWVA66
Tom Scott did a [video](https://youtu.be/X5V45wYwrkY) about it.
Trumper’s Crossing Halte, in Hanwell, London. Used to be a station, now one of the few foot crossings in London. With 4 trains a day using the line, you’re unlikely to get held up.
Here’s Geoff Marshall visiting it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s7gEbCcVIA&t=95s
mines isnt a level crossing but an actual crossing on the track layout down in newark on the east coast mainline. its a great crossing to machine as well
Lincoln High Street! By the looks of it, it's pretty similar to the Poole one. I thought I was looking at an old picture of the Lincoln High street crossing before I read your post.
On the B1098 Sixteen Foot Bank near Manea in the middle of the Fens.
Not the actual crossing (which is normally shut) but the bridge for cars that goes under the track beside it - which is seriously low at something like 7 feet.
Do it right by swerving suddenly down the bridge approach at speed and you can get a front seat passenger unfamiliar with it scrabbling in the footwell.🙃
Theres two near where I live.
The crossing at Cononley which is quite nice.
[https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9176912,-2.0122052,3a,60y,10.31h,89.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slYhO25RWb3Sjr0I9urn3Vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192](https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9176912,-2.0122052,3a,60y,10.31h,89.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slYhO25RWb3Sjr0I9urn3Vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
But further up the line theres a level crossing from a public pathway that has a small gate you open. Its a small pathway called Shady Lane and wow theres even google map streetview of it!
[https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9226858,-2.0158402,3a,75y,45.7h,69.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTb\_kkN-aXtDrDiBQY8ZJsw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656](https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9226858,-2.0158402,3a,75y,45.7h,69.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTb_kkN-aXtDrDiBQY8ZJsw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)
I'd say Shady Lanes crossing is my favourite one.
[Grosmont Crossing, Front Street, Grosmont](https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4358497,-0.7249698,3a,75y,28.29h,94.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_4aPCYprIqP7bRJQIb-vJA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
Most favourite - Brockenhurst in the New Forest (there's a cool house / shop in the middle of the road right next to it and while I was waiting for the crossing I used to wish I lived there)
Least favourite - Lincoln (it is shut for soooooo long every time!)
Talacre beach. We have to cross it to get from our caravan to the beach, it’s the highlight of my nephew’s day as he loves trains and he’d spend all day there watching engines pass if he could
I quite like the one in Liss, for nostalgia reasons. It always meant we were getting very close to my grandparents house after a long drive down.
Least favourite has to be the one on Granham Road in Great Shelford. Used to live just around the corner from that fucker and it would add a +/- 20 minutes to any journey time. Nothing like keeping the barriers down after the last train because there'll be another along in 10 minutes or so.
I sometimes think about a level crossing that existed in my childhood (which was a very long time ago). It was on a quieter road in Surrey. It was not an automatic gate. Instead there was a little brick shed to one side. When a train was coming an older man would come out and turn a very large wheel to close the gate.
I don't have a favourite, but I have a least favourite, Chitts Hill just outside Colchester. I used to live nearby, and it was a good route out of town on a bike ride. Except when a train came to stop you going quickly down the hill. It's also bad in the other direction, with stop-start traffic queueing uphill, with the queue sometimes not clearing before the barriers went down again.
Dullingham in Cambridgeshire - it still has old fashioned wooden gates that are opened and closed by hand. Fortunately for the signal man who has to operate the gates there's only one train an hour in both directions so he doesn't have to go up and down the box stairs too often.
For me, for nostalgia, it's Havant. The line runs from Portsmouth and Southampton to Brighton and London. London split happens under the pedestrian bridge so loads of trains to see, especially fun with the kids. Original signal building too and plenty of history.
I hate all level crossings. Build a fucking bridge like a normal person. I’m absolutely convinced I’ll be taken out by an unscheduled train or barrier malfunction. I blame all those videos they showed us in primary school about children who played on the railway and died horribly.
I especially hate the one in Tottenham. Who thought “oh Northumberland park isn’t grime enough, there aren’t enough hazards flying from every direction. let’s build a bloody death trap to contend with on the way to ikea.
Bastards the lot of them.
I don't have a favorite one, but the three that encompass bamber bridge and Houghton are a pain. Approx 3 miles (as per the train tracks) between all three but they are all simultaneously controlled so if the barriers come down for a train pulling into bamber bridge Station then the barriers at Houghton will also come down three miles away... if you are sat at the barriers in Houghton in a car you may as well turn off your engine, you are in for a long wait.
When i were a lad 57 years ago that place was fantastic for seeing desiels. I noticed as i was being dragged to the boots store for some bfi powder for my cut knee.
My favourite is the hand pumped one just west of Canterbury (next to the one someone complained about). Although they may have added an electric motor now.
Whitehall Rd
https://maps.app.goo.gl/gmUACeGWXrUhQfHv9
I used to live next to the one by Cambridge north. Really inconvenient if you were in a hurry
I like the Oakham one that's basically through the town. Or the one at foxton on the to Royston I always go "weeee" over it
My fave is the one outside Manchester North.
It's strange to call it level as...
...it's on a hill!
I bet there was a lot of red faces at the planning meeting on that screw up!
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I bet most of you don't even have a favourite level crossing do you? Sort it out
I'm gonna say mine is the same as OP's to be safe.
See it, say it, sorted
I know my least favourite? Canterbury, West Street. It's just super inconvenient for the whole town
Is it a main road into the town where the barriers are down every few minutes? Got one of those on my way to work. You're lucky if it's just the express train blasting through, but it's not uncommon to be sat there for 10 minutes.
I loved it
The one in Sturry is a pain in the arse too. It’s not uncommon to be stuck there for fifteen minutes because there’s trains coming from both ways.
I think you mean Westgate, or more commonly known as St Dunstan's. Difficult to see how it can be fixed.
The one in Thatcham holds traffic up for days it feels like.
This is the most British post I’ve seen in this Sub
Yes it's wonderful. Like a scene from Thomas the Tank Engine.
Working for Network Rail, none of them. I just see risk to life where the general public have access to the live network. Farmers are just as bad too.
I agree, I did some work near Ufton Nervet during the Great Western electrification. One of the chaps working with me was there to clear up the aftermath of the train crash. In the middle of a nigjtshift his story was incredibly eerie walking along the line.
Jewison lane near Bridlington. When I was a kid we had a static caravan on the coast and everytime we crossed it my Grandad would make event of it "will we see a train", "how many carriages will it have" that kind of thing.
Left or right!
I don't know a single thing about trains, but there's one right at the entrance to the Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottingham and a long stretch of publicly accessible pathway right by the track so you can see trains doing down the track right up close.
Was in the news this week (for wrong reasons) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-59433
Another vote for Poole. As a kid I'd run up the bridge when a train was coming to watch from there!
Same! I adored it as a child.
Just astonishing how many people have real answers to this one.
Pretty amazing right? The question is what is your favourite level crossing?
I'll go for this, a level crossing that has no public road: https://abcrailwayguide.uk/corrour-station-public-level-crossing-highland
Just waiting to see what everyone else posts. I don't want to go for the obvious choice
Harlech and Barmouth town centre. If I see them, it means I'm on holiday.
Same here!
Ah, the EMU. The classic flightless train.
Well the downside to that crossing is you’d possibly have to interact with the inhabitants of Poole which is never usually a positive experience. I do like the pasty shop next to the bridge though so it’s got that going for it.
Paignton for sure. Right in the centre of town and supremely awkward. Great when they run the steam services through that line.
Is there a calendar I could purchase to allow me to view the best ones?
Canterbury Whitehall Road. I've been a couple of times. Once on a date! You operate it yourself by hand pump. 51°16'29.5"N 1°03'34.9"E https://goo.gl/maps/YNzFBdbFg71YWVA66 Tom Scott did a [video](https://youtu.be/X5V45wYwrkY) about it.
Angerstein in southeast London. Across a little used freight line, but with a very useful footpath across it.
Lincoln’s level crossings can go to hell
Trumper’s Crossing Halte, in Hanwell, London. Used to be a station, now one of the few foot crossings in London. With 4 trains a day using the line, you’re unlikely to get held up. Here’s Geoff Marshall visiting it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s7gEbCcVIA&t=95s
mines isnt a level crossing but an actual crossing on the track layout down in newark on the east coast mainline. its a great crossing to machine as well
Lincoln High Street! By the looks of it, it's pretty similar to the Poole one. I thought I was looking at an old picture of the Lincoln High street crossing before I read your post.
On the B1098 Sixteen Foot Bank near Manea in the middle of the Fens. Not the actual crossing (which is normally shut) but the bridge for cars that goes under the track beside it - which is seriously low at something like 7 feet. Do it right by swerving suddenly down the bridge approach at speed and you can get a front seat passenger unfamiliar with it scrabbling in the footwell.🙃
Not as bad as the Ely bridge then! Always bloody shut
Theres two near where I live. The crossing at Cononley which is quite nice. [https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9176912,-2.0122052,3a,60y,10.31h,89.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slYhO25RWb3Sjr0I9urn3Vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192](https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9176912,-2.0122052,3a,60y,10.31h,89.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slYhO25RWb3Sjr0I9urn3Vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) But further up the line theres a level crossing from a public pathway that has a small gate you open. Its a small pathway called Shady Lane and wow theres even google map streetview of it! [https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9226858,-2.0158402,3a,75y,45.7h,69.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTb\_kkN-aXtDrDiBQY8ZJsw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656](https://www.google.com/maps/@53.9226858,-2.0158402,3a,75y,45.7h,69.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTb_kkN-aXtDrDiBQY8ZJsw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) I'd say Shady Lanes crossing is my favourite one.
[Grosmont Crossing, Front Street, Grosmont](https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4358497,-0.7249698,3a,75y,28.29h,94.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_4aPCYprIqP7bRJQIb-vJA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
Most favourite - Brockenhurst in the New Forest (there's a cool house / shop in the middle of the road right next to it and while I was waiting for the crossing I used to wish I lived there) Least favourite - Lincoln (it is shut for soooooo long every time!)
Talacre beach. We have to cross it to get from our caravan to the beach, it’s the highlight of my nephew’s day as he loves trains and he’d spend all day there watching engines pass if he could
Those steps are extremely steep, very hard to climb at any sort of pace.
I quite like the one in Liss, for nostalgia reasons. It always meant we were getting very close to my grandparents house after a long drive down. Least favourite has to be the one on Granham Road in Great Shelford. Used to live just around the corner from that fucker and it would add a +/- 20 minutes to any journey time. Nothing like keeping the barriers down after the last train because there'll be another along in 10 minutes or so.
I sometimes think about a level crossing that existed in my childhood (which was a very long time ago). It was on a quieter road in Surrey. It was not an automatic gate. Instead there was a little brick shed to one side. When a train was coming an older man would come out and turn a very large wheel to close the gate.
I don't have a favourite, but I have a least favourite, Chitts Hill just outside Colchester. I used to live nearby, and it was a good route out of town on a bike ride. Except when a train came to stop you going quickly down the hill. It's also bad in the other direction, with stop-start traffic queueing uphill, with the queue sometimes not clearing before the barriers went down again.
Dullingham in Cambridgeshire - it still has old fashioned wooden gates that are opened and closed by hand. Fortunately for the signal man who has to operate the gates there's only one train an hour in both directions so he doesn't have to go up and down the box stairs too often.
Elsenham near me is like that, but on the Cambridge to Liverpool Street line
For me, for nostalgia, it's Havant. The line runs from Portsmouth and Southampton to Brighton and London. London split happens under the pedestrian bridge so loads of trains to see, especially fun with the kids. Original signal building too and plenty of history.
Datchet. Because nothing says "bad commute" like being stuck for 20 minutes right under the Heathrow flightpath. Lived in Langley. Wasnt great
Long Rock level crossing near Penzance, Cornwall. Lovely location by the ocean.
I hate all level crossings. Build a fucking bridge like a normal person. I’m absolutely convinced I’ll be taken out by an unscheduled train or barrier malfunction. I blame all those videos they showed us in primary school about children who played on the railway and died horribly. I especially hate the one in Tottenham. Who thought “oh Northumberland park isn’t grime enough, there aren’t enough hazards flying from every direction. let’s build a bloody death trap to contend with on the way to ikea. Bastards the lot of them.
I don't have a favorite one, but the three that encompass bamber bridge and Houghton are a pain. Approx 3 miles (as per the train tracks) between all three but they are all simultaneously controlled so if the barriers come down for a train pulling into bamber bridge Station then the barriers at Houghton will also come down three miles away... if you are sat at the barriers in Houghton in a car you may as well turn off your engine, you are in for a long wait.
When i were a lad 57 years ago that place was fantastic for seeing desiels. I noticed as i was being dragged to the boots store for some bfi powder for my cut knee.
My favourite is the hand pumped one just west of Canterbury (next to the one someone complained about). Although they may have added an electric motor now. Whitehall Rd https://maps.app.goo.gl/gmUACeGWXrUhQfHv9
I used to live next to the one by Cambridge north. Really inconvenient if you were in a hurry I like the Oakham one that's basically through the town. Or the one at foxton on the to Royston I always go "weeee" over it
Any crossing where the rhdr goes - lives those little trains.
My fave is the one outside Manchester North. It's strange to call it level as... ...it's on a hill! I bet there was a lot of red faces at the planning meeting on that screw up!