West Somerset Railway General Discussion

More level crossing wibble, I'm afraid...

I noticed that when the trains crossed Seaward Way, the barriers were (manually?) closed, and in addition two men with Stop/Go boards were stationed either side of the crossing to stop the road traffic.

I couldn't see for sure, but wondered if maybe these additional measures were needed because the wig-wags were not operational, or were they in fact working but additional measures were deemed wise?

And hand signalling was employed. I understand that the crossing is not controlled by the box, but is activated automatically by treadles, which given the manual operation I think I saw, are possibly not currently working?

Was the hand signalling used to avoid the need to set up Minehead box, or is there another operational reason for it?

I hope this doesn't come over as critical, I'm just interested in the operational and rules aspect behind how it all worked.

 

Watching the movements this morning, I think the persons with the Stop signs were standing on the off side of each carriageway, i.e. where there is no half barrier and they were there to ensure nobody dodged round the half barriers. Of course, the new design will have full barriers.

 

I have gained the impression from watching previous moves that the LC system is left to work 'as normal', but that the flagmen are there as 'belt and braces' in case of a problem.

Having said that, given that there is currently (usually) a STOP lamp on the track just on the station side of the crossing, it may be the case that the Up direction circuits have been disconnected to enable shunt moves to take place between the Main and Bay lines without triggering the crossing.

Hopefully there is someone on here who can clarify please?

 

Yes I think they are having the flags to stop a car come crashing through the barriers on the sides with no barriers because you are not allowed half ones they are not modern enough and there are videos of people walking round them and silly things

 

Whilst AHBs are inherently less safe in terms of allowing people access across when lowered, I think they are "allowed" in the sense that they are still in use on the British network. Whether a new one could now be installed though is a different matter...

 

The present arrangements for using the crossing are to ensure that if there is a failure of the barriers (i.e. they commence to rise before the line is clear) then the road traffic and pedestrians will continue to be held back. So far the barriers have not failed in use, and the system is working as it currently should. The new crossing will be full (not half barriers) and the crossing will be manually controlled from the signalbox , the signalman initiating the barrier sequence, and the barriers then rising automatically after the passage of the train. This will give better flexibility in terms of train operation, and the full width barriers are a response to the greatly increased traffic since the crossing was first built. All descriptions here are subject to formal agreement of the ORR, although there has been informal discussion.

 

Thanks for the clarification, Frank

 

So how do you crash through a barrier on the side with no barrier ???
Even with full barriers people still do silly things, like try to climb over them with bicycles etc.

The whole point about half-barriers originally was the facility - at automatic crossings - to allow cars to 'escape' at the far side and not be trapped if the barriers came down as they were driving across. Where the crossing is monitored by a signalman who also controls the protecting signals, then full barriers are acceptable as the signalman will be expected to check that the crossing remains clear after the barriers have lowered before clearing the signals.

 

That loco at Williton is an Andrew Barclay ,No. 1219

 

catching up. I think the situation would be that if the Charity owned the land (whether by freehold or leasehold) then they would hold the Light Railway Order/Transport and Works Order. The correct term for the PLC in this case would then be “trading subsidiary”. They wouldn’t sell the tickets but would adopt the commercial operations eg shop/catering/engineering. I believe this would be similar to the structure adopted by the Isle of Wight among others.

The logistics of transferring a Light Railway Order are uncertain to me post TWA 1992. I would suggest that there might be some requirements to “upgrade” the LRO (which was made in the 70’s) and this would probably result in an application for a new TWO by the charity and the ultimate cancellation of the present LRO.

Just my take on it but open to be corrected.

regards

Matt

 

I was watching the moves today, great to see trains running, but I missed 9351 and 7822 going back to Minehead. Can anybody let me know what happened and,if they did,when did they return and did the take the coaches that had been in the down patform at Bishops Lydeard to Minehead? TIA

 

Ther is an engine shed at bishops lydard where they can keep them.

 

Just to avoid doubt. the IOWSR is run by a charitable trust who holds the LRO and is the freeholder. It is the membership body. A wholly owned subsidiary is responsible for souvenir and refreshment sales but the tickets are sold by the parent trust. There are other places with a similarly straightforward structure.

 

The Locos & stock are staying at BL for training purposes etc tomorrow & be ready for any Santa trains in mid December.....?

 

9351 and 7828 remained at BL. The coaches that were in platform 1 were moved to the up sidings.

 

Anyone able to say why the DMU was loco-hauled rather than under its own power?

 

I seem to recall that the main argument against having gates on the crossing when it was first installed was that the crossing should be automatic, which was not possible with gates.

 

For anyone watching the webcams today, or even in the area, 9351 and D6566 are being used for footplate and guard refresher training between BL and WN.

 

There was a diesel

 

9351 sat at Bishops Lydeard (10:30) awaiting departure for Williton.
Load: 5 mk.1s. <BJ>