Athlone LCCC

Irish Railway Record Society

Athlone Level Crossing Control Centre

OLIVER DOYLE

OPERATIONS SCHEMES DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, IÉ

From the time when railways were first built in Ireland and Great Britain, it was recognised that at places where the railway crossed public highways at the same level, trains must be given the right of way because of their inability to stop in a short distance, owing to their weight and the low coefficient of friction between the steel rails and steel wheels. Consequently by the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, Parliament imposed rigorous rules to ensure the safety of the public on the highways, and required that all public level crossings should be both manned and gated, with ‘good and sufficient’ gates kept normally closed against the road, so as to fence the railways in. But the Act allowed directions to be given by the President of the Board of Trade that the gates should normally be open to the road and closed across the railway; and, over many years, as the volume of road traffic increased, so that the crossings were used more frequently by road than rail traffic, such directions were issued for nearly every busy level crossing. However, at such crossings, protecting signals interlocked with the gates had to be provided to ensure trains were stopped in good time if the gates were open for road traffic.

As time progressed, directions were given for level crossings which were not busy to be normally closed against the railway without protecting signals. This led to entries being made against each level crossing stating whether they had protecting signals or not. In some cases protecting signals were provided in one direction only depending on visibility. Today no such arrangement exists on Irish Rail. In early days the protecting signals were normally worked by a small lever frame, but in later years a simple mechanical mechanism was devised whereby the closing of the second gate against the road cleared the protecting signals. Some little-used level crossings over public highways, where there was a reasonable alternative route, continued to have the gates closed to the road at night with no provision to call a gatekeeper to operate the gates. In addition to being labour intensive, the gates tended to be closed for long periods, particularly where two goods trains were approaching on opposite lines. This could be as much as 12 minutes.

Where level crossings existed at stations they were normally worked by the signalman, usually by means of a wheel linked mechanically to the gates or by the signalman simply working each gate manually. In Ireland , where the level of rail traffic was much lower than in Great Britain , some gates were operated by the wives of permanent way workers, some being paid a sum per week while others received an annual payment. In most cases the rate of pay for level crossing keepers took into account that they had a rent-free house. In the first years of my railway career, I recollect paying a gatekeeper £1 (€1.27) each Christmas as the annual payment.

As horse movements through level crossings almost disappeared with the expansion of motor traffic, the gates were simplified from a strong rectangular cross-braced frame to a boom with wire-mesh skirting.

The next development in crossing gate design was to replace the gate with a lifting barrier. In 1954, the gates at Warthill Level Crossing, British Railways North Eastern Region, were replaced by barriers on an experimental basis to quantify the effects before presenting legislation before Parliament. The statutory rules for level crossings remained substantially unchanged from 1845 to 1954, 112 years, when the British Transport Commission Act of that year permitted the use of lifting barriers at manned crossings. This development had no impact on the labour costs though it did reduce the delay slightly to road users. Coupled with the development of automatic level crossings in Western Europe and the increasing volumes of road traffic, the Ministry of Transport was under increasing pressure to implement changes to the method of operation of Britain ’s railway level crossings. In September 1956, Colonel D. McMullen of the Ministry of Transport Railway Inspectorate went to France Belgium and Holland to evaluate automatic half-barriers in operation. At the time France had 700 such crossings. However, there was a fundamental difference between the road users in Western Europe and Britain in that in the latter level crossings were protected by robust gates with protecting signals while on the European mainland crossings were traditionally open with mainly flashing lights warning of approaching trains and users there were aware of the correct use of such crossings.

Section 6 of the British Transport Commission Act, 1957, permitted the use of Automatic Half Barrier Level Crossings but it was not until 15 April 1959 that BR (London Midland Region) applied for permission to install the first Automatic Half Barrier crossing. The first such crossing was commissioned at Spath, Staffordshire, on the Churnet Valley line of the former North Staffordshire Railway between Uttoxeter North Junction and Rocester. The crossing was monitored by the Uttoxeter North Junction signal box where the position of the barriers and state of the power supply was indicated. A two-way telephone allowed communication between the signalman and the crossing users in the event of the barriers being down for an undue length of time. There was much discussion regarding the length of time between a train activating the level crossing and the passing of the train. While the line speed was 45mph, it was suggested the barriers be timed for 60mph and this eventually was settled at 55mph on the basis that the line was used by express freight trains hauled by steam locomotives not necessarily fitted with speedometers. On 2 February 1961, the crossing was inspected and tested by Col. McMullen, Railways Inspecting Officer, using a locomotive and saloon, who appeared satisfied and approved the crossing being brought into use. Finally, on 5 February 1961, Spath was commissioned, becoming the first AHB installation in Britain or Ireland .

It was not long before motorists disregarded the road signals and the first such offender, a local man, was fined £8 (€12) a considerable sum in 1961. After a further seven people were brought before Uttoxeter Court , the Clerk of the Court felt compelled to write to the railway regarding the road signage. Not being responsible for road signage the railway forwarded the correspondence to the Ministry. There was, it seemed, a widespread feeling that the signage was inadequate and the red flashing lights too dim. A long debate ensued as the provision of an amber warning light in advance for road traffic but this was rejected out of hand by the Ministry which put the problem down to the wilful disobedience of the road signals by motorists.

After commissioning, the Ministry insisted on attendance at the crossing to monitor its operation. As the roadway through the crossing led to the popular tourist attraction at Alton Towers , road traffic proved heavy on occasions and with a T-junction 100 yards from the crossing, tailbacks were inevitable – even in 1961. When the railway wanted to withdraw attendance in June 1961, the Ministry was not satisfied and required the attendance to continue and the tailbacks to be monitored. Given that the person doing the monitoring was a railway employee – the LMR reported in September that there had been no further occurrences and they could not understand why anyone had thought there was a problem in the first place. On 26 September 1961, Colonel W. P. Reed, Railways Inspecting Officer, agreed to the attendance being withdrawn on condition that road signs be erected “Do not stop on crossing”. This was to be of significance some seven years later. He also required attendance during the winter to monitor the crossing’s operation during high winds and snow - however, neither were a problem. The line closed in 1965 and so the first AHB level crossing had a rather short life. Meanwhile other AHBs were commissioned and CIÉ, anxious to effect economies, installed its first such crossing at Grange, MP 105 Dublin-Cork line, two miles north of Limerick Junction station.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 162, published February 2007.