Level crossings

[alanch]

Hi. From the photo you can see a level crossing for 3 tracks from a road into a goods and coal yard. My problem is the closest gate which at the moment sits in total isolation. From what I can gather a goods/coal yard would not have been fenced off from the running lines. So should there even be an inner gate and if so what if any fencing?

[Walkingthedog]

I reckon if there is a gate there would be a fence. Do the gates reach right across the three tracks?

[alanch]

Yes they do. But I cannot find any evidence for such a fence on the real thing. All the photos I have seen show the yards without fencing to main lines.

[Brian]

Hi
Its a misconception that level crossing gates have to close off the railway completely. Its vital they close off the road access, but its not necessary for them to clause fully off access to the railway.

[Walkingthedog]

That makes sense.

[LC&DR]

Prevention of access to the railway has been a controversial topic and there have been a number of debates upon this subject. Firstly for many years the railway companies only had an obligation to protect neighbouring land from interference from passengers and staff, by providing a boundary fence. Although not a legal obligation the boundary fence had the additional advantage of preventing people from outside the railway from getting on to the track. However Railways also made Bylaws which forbid access to the railway by "Unauthorised Persons" and were entitled to impose fines on anyone "Trespassing" on the railway and erected signs at stations and other places informing the public of this.

However cases of persons injured or killed by coming on to the railway and being hit by trains or electrocuted were subject to heavy criticism by Coroners and the Railway Inspectorate especially where it was proved that a fence was inadequate or a gate had been left open, and in more recent times the law was changed to oblige the railway to maintain a robust fence to keep people off the track.

Authorised persons having access to the railway included persons delivering of collecting goods at station as well as passengers at stations, and where the only means of getting from one platform to another was by way of a foot crossing, it was inevitable that these non-railway personnel would be exposed to moving traffic.

There are still many thousands of places where persons may cross the track and in past times there were many more. Such places include foot path crossings, some with user worked gates but many without, and access gates at farms and other places which allowed farmers to move livestock and vehicles across the track.

Ideally all these access gates should be kept closed to prevent children and animals straying on to the line. The railway Bylaws impose penalties on anyone who fails to shut these gates after use, but it is a difficult bylaw to enforce.

So it was normal to have a fence with a gate to protect a goods yard,