(Request Crossing) Ley Level Crossing, Gloucestershire

Date filmed: 11/12/2021
Videos filmed between 14:31 and 14:43
Route: Gloucester to Newport Line
- Between Gloucester and Lydney Stations
Location: Ley Road, Upper Ley
Trains:
Class 170 (Cross Country) - 1:29
Nottingham ➡ Cardiff Central
-
Class 170 (Cross Country) - 5:15
Cardiff Central ➡ Nottingham
-
Lowering 1 - 0:11
Request to Raise - 1:50
Barriers raise - 2:39
Lowering 2 - 3:14
An unusual level crossing located a few miles south west of Gloucester on the line towards Newport (South Wales). This is a small, remote level crossing with fairly short barriers just off of a tight road bend on a very quiet road, and the two wigwags on the side away from the tight road bend itself are turned inwards. The road here is very lesser-used, albeit a public highway, and this level crossing probably sees more trains than cars. Both of the alarms are quiet and located on the same side of the road at this level crossing which was renewed to what it is currently in the early 2010s when it was once a level crossing with manual gates which were opened and closed crossing keeper, presumably only when a vehicle wanted to cross.
Despite being on a publicly-accessible through road, this level crossing is one of only a handful of level crossings which are only operated on request. This type is officially known as a Manually Controlled Barriers On Call (MCB-OC) level crossing. To cross, users must press a button which lights up when the request for the barriers to raise has been sent, and the barriers should be raised as soon as possible thereafter if no trains are due, or be raised as soon as possible after all nearby trains have passed. Once the barriers are raised, it seems as though they won't be lowered again until a train is due, as the barriers were raised from a previous request to cross when I arrived, before being lowered again a typical few minutes before the first train passed. The road lights (wigwags) only activate and flash when the barriers are being lowered to save electricity, yet the barrier (boom) lights remain turned on the whole time.
Two trains are featured in this video. The level crossing is first seen lowering from a previous request. A few minutes later, after the first train has passed, I requested the barriers to raise again in order to cross back over, and it took around 40 seconds from the request being administered to the barriers being raised on this occasion. Shortly after I cleared the level crossing, the barriers lowered again and the lights turned off. Once the second featured train is seen passing into the distance, the video ends with a closing shot of the lowered barriers.
Thanks for watching!

[@inkysquid4]

I hope it has a big booming speaker saying: 'ACCESS DENIED'

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Imagine if it did! 😅

[@NWLevelCrossings]

Amazing Video and Crossing!👍🏻 Some Great mini Barriers!😅👍🏻

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thank you very much!

[@TheChannelThatHatesRedBull]

Great video 👍. Definitely an interesting crossing.

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thanks!

[@NELincsTrainspotting]

Great video, nice crossing

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Cheers! 😁

[@freebrickproductions]

Great video!

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thanks!

[@bayernbahn1549]

Once again a great video about a special level crossing! Are there actually many trains there?

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thank you! About four passenger trains an hour typically pass here. Some additional freight trains also pass too

[@pakroomitrains]

Great 👍👍👍 bro

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thanks!

[@TexasRailfan21-RailfanRyan]

Why did the light shut off is there no train coming?

[@jackmctaggartfm8087]

Because its a request crossing and is what you call a MCB-OC

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Specifically, saving electricity. Not really feasible to have the lights flashing for ages on end whilst nobody requests a raise

[@ChrisJG1988]

I really don’t see the point in these crossings, why not just leave the barriers up and only lower them when there is a train coming, I wonder what the reason is for leaving the barriers down?

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Especially not here to be honest. A vehicle did pass in my time here, and the barriers were raised from a previous request when I got to it, so this is a tad pointless here especially given it's a public through road. Crossings of this type are mostly only designed for no-through roads and farm tracks that are rarely used as to, mainly, keep the signallers' efforts concentrated elsewhere.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Road usage is usually very low. Many hours of day and all night, there's as many if not more trains as cars. Less work for the signallers.

[@berks-southeast-lc-cjr]

Why did the lights go out? For none level crossing experienced people this looks like a malfunction. Or worse a power cut to the crossing!

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

It'd mainly be because the red lights constantly flashing may be misleading as the barriers aren't raised until someone requests to cross - people would think there's a train coming, even when there are none due, and not use the crossing.

[@berks-southeast-lc-cjr]

@@SouthEastLevelCrossings makes sense

[@nigelkthomas9501]

What kind of weird level crossing is that? Barriers go down then the lights stop flashing. Why? No-one should have to press a button to request to cross.

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

It's on a very lesser-used road, and the crossing keeper only used to have to open the gates on request. That seems to be the thinking behind having this kind of crossing here. When the barriers are requested to raise, they usually stay raised until a few minutes before a train passes here.