King's Lynn (Tennyson Avenue) Level Crossing, Norfolk

Описание: King's Lynn (Tennyson Avenue) Level Crossing, King's Lynn, Norfolk

Date filmed: 14/07/2020

Route: The Fen Line
King's Lynn is the closest station

Location: B1144 Tennyson Avenue, King's Lynn
Trains:
Bonus video (Starts at 0:00):
Class 66 097 (DB Cargo UK) - Seen from the start
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Main Video (Starts at 3:50):
Class 387 120 (Great Northern) - 6:07

A very busy level crossing located within King's Lynn around half a mile from the town centre, and the last level crossing on the Fen Line which runs from Cambridge. To the day of recording, halogen lights remain in operation at this level crossing despite how busy for both traffic and pedestrians it is. Two of the barriers are of the longest kind due to there being wide footways shared by pedestrians and cyclists on one side of the road here, and there are two very noisy and rather high-pitched alarms here to warn pedestrians, one of which appears cracked and sounds with a fast tone. This level crossing is located on King's Lynn Junction and is controlled by the signal box of the same name located next to it in a very open environment with clear views of King's Lynn station and freight sidings from this fairly long level crossing on a road bend. As well as the hourly service to and from London King's Cross, this level crossing also sees a few freight trains per day which access and leave the branch line taking them to Middleton Towers glassworks. Since the station is only served hourly, there is a relative lack of passenger trains serving such a major town with a moderately-sized terminus station (probably one of the main reasons why the halogen wigwags have lasted for so long here). Lots of pedestrian and vehicle traffic typically builds up during each lowering.

The first few minutes of the video feature a red DB Class 66 pulling a heavy haul from Middleton Towers into the King's Lynn Freight Sidings, locally known as the "Sand Train", a few of which a day trundle along the branch line which leads to Middleton Towers as they head to or from other glass works across the country. This train had left Middleton Towers around two hours early, so the lowering of the level crossing was not caught in this instance as this caught me off-guard. A loud blast of the horn could be heard before the level crossing was lowered and the train slowed down for a token exchange which happened next to the signal box, during which the unique and distinct idling sound of the class 66 can briefly quite clearly be heard, and the train then slowly crossed into the freight sidings where it would sit until around 10PM that evening! The second lowering happened around a few minutes after for a passenger train to arrive from London King's Cross.

Thanks for watching!