Grain Level Crossing, Kent

Описание: Date filmed: 29/11/2021
Video filmed at 16:00

Route: Grain Branch Line (Hundred of Hoo Railway)
Closest timing point: Grain (Old Station) (On Realtime Trains)

Location: Grain Road, Isle of Grain
Trains:
Class 66 (GBRF) - 1:59
Colnbrook Lafarge GBRF ➡ Grain Foster Yeoman GBRF

A unique level crossing found at the edge of the large London Thamesport in Grain at the eastern edge of the Hoo Peninsula of north Kent. It's on the Hundred of Hoo Railway and is only used by a handful of trains per day accessing the large industrial estate / port. A signalling team will not arrive to activate this level crossing and man the small, old on-site crossing keeper's box until a train is close by, and the train also has to slow down or stop on the level crossing whilst the driver exchanges a token with this signalling team (this ensures that only one train uses the long, single-track branch line at a time as the other token exchange point is at the junction with the Cliffe Branch Line at the other end of this single-track railway). The road here is busy and frequently used by HGV traffic, and it gets narrower as it bends over this level crossing.

This level crossing is one of only a small handful of level crossings which have manual gates, LED warning lights (wigwags) and alarms, as most level crossings that still have manually-operated gates have road traffic lights. Level crossings with this sort of set-up come and go, as they're most likely a cost-effective, slightly safer intermediate stage (safer for the signalman than just having gates and no visual warnings for drivers warning people to stop as the gates are closed) whilst a level crossing awaits a full-renewal, something which may be happening here within the next year or so (from the time of making this video). The warning lights are well-needed here as the bendy road over the level crossing makes views between the signalman and drivers quite obscured. Unusually, this level crossing has only one alarm, and this alarm is located on an electrical cabinet next to the small signal box at this level crossing. It very oddly doesn't start sounding until the red lights show, and even then it stutters as it begins to sound. This alarm stops sounding when the lights are turned off once the gates are re-opened to road traffic.

This level crossing was filmed at sunset by me on this day. I filmed this video in Ultra-High Definition at 60 frames per second for quality. The train seen passing is a class 66 with a special, more recent commemorative livery.

Thanks for watching!