Date filmed: 31/07/2023
Videos filmed between 13:05 and 14:03
Route: Ashford to Ramsgate Line
- Thanet Parkway (THP) is the closest station
Crossing type:
Previously: Automatic Half Barrier Crossing (AHBC)
Now: Manually Controlled Barriers crossing with CCTV (MCB-CCTV)
Filming location: Foads Hill, Cliffsend (CT12 5EW)
A collection of footage filmed over the course of about an hour at this level crossing on Foads Hill in the quiet village of Cliffsend just outside of Ramsgate. Owing thanks to the nearby construction of the all-new Thanet Parkway Railway Station, this level crossing was fully renewed from an automatic half barrier crossing to a full-barrier manually-controlled level crossing in July 2023, opening nicely in time for the new station to begin to enter action. The level crossing opened a week before the new station did, and is controlled and monitored from East Kent Signalling Centre about 40 miles away in Gillingham. A very short timer also separates the pairs of barriers lowering from when the first pair have lowered. Unlike the other two renewed level crossings on this line at Wye and Chartham, 'Yodalarm YO3' alarms have been used here as opposed to E2S 'Apello' alarms.
The level crossing was fully renewed because of not only improvements to line speed, but also because of its awkward distance to Thanet Parkway station making it not practical or ideal to simply fit stop/non-stop controls like they did at nearby Sevenscore level crossing (on the other side of the station, otherwise completely un-changed) as the crossing would activate too late for non-stop services and too early for stopping services, risking either activating too late or timing out as a train didn't pass within the set time. Understandably, signallers appear to still be getting used to the operation of this level crossing as demonstrated in lowering three when it was lowered a little bit early for a Ramsgate-bound train which was stopping at Minster. This easy mistake was rectified within a minute with the barriers raised for a further minute or so until it was time to lower them for this train, and luckily no-one was inconvenienced by it.
A total of seven different lowerings are featured. Enjoy!
Video guide:
Intro cut-aways - 0:00
Before & after shots - 0:44
-
395 029 (Southeastern) - 1:16
1J37 Margate ➡ St. Pancras International | On-time
-
Lowering 1 (1:51):
395 028 (Southeastern) - 2:48
1L39 Ramsgate ➡ St. Pancras International (Via Dover Priory) | 1 minute late
-
Lowering 2 (3:15):
375 302 & 375 624 (Southeastern) - 4:06
2W48 Ramsgate ➡ London Charing Cross | On-time
-
Lowering 3: Eventually cancelled - no train (4:31)
-
Lowering 4 (5:13):
375 707 & 375 616 (Southeastern) - 6:05
2R30 London Charing Cross ➡ Ramsgate | On-time
-
Lowering 5 (6:43):
395 007 (Southeastern) - 7:30
1L30 St. Pancras International ➡ Ramsgate (Via Dover Priory) | 4 minutes late
-
Lowering 6 (7:54):
395 021 (Southeastern) - 8:36
1J32 St. Pancras International ➡ Margate | 3 minutes late
-
Lowering 7 (9:09):
395 011 (Southeastern) - 9:57
1J41 Margate ➡ St. Pancras International | On-time
Train details sourced from:
Real Time Trains: www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear...
Open Train Times: www.opentraintimes.com/maps
Traksy: traksy.uk/live
Filmed on: Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus in 1080p 60fps
Thanks for watching!