Borough: London Borough of Havering
Date filmed: 21/02/2019
Videos filmed between 12:56 and 13:01
Route: London, Tilbury & Southend Railway
- Between Dagenham Dock and Rainham (London) Stations
Location: Manor Way, South Hornchurch
No trains are featured. This video just shows the level crossing cycling twice.
A very rare pedestrian-only, request-to-cross level crossing located on Manor Way in South Hornchurch, East London. It was once a normal road level crossing that lead to an industrial estate, but the construction of the High Speed One railway cut this road off and for years there was just a footpath/cycleway over the HS1 bridge which didn't actually go anywhere. This was one of quite a few level crossings in this area affected by the construction of HS1. Due to its infrequent pedestrian use, this level crossing is modified so that it's operated on request. Pressing the button on one of the two signalled-pedestrian-crossing-styled units gave a raise request to Upminster IECC, and then the barriers would be raised for a user to cross. After about two minutes, or whenever the signalman/signaller gave a manual input, the barriers would then lower again. The lights would then remain turned off, only flashing when the alarms sound for the barriers to lower.
Brand new LED warning lights (Wigwags) were installed at this level crossing at the time of this visit. This came as quite a surprise, as this is a very infrequently used crossing since the footpath didn't really go anywhere after the HS1 footbridge. This was also rather peculiar as within only a month or so of them being installed was the level crossing and stub of this footpath permanently gated off. The equipment remained in situ for at least a few years after the fences were built.
Please note that parts of the video have been edited as to cut out talking in the video or a long wait.
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