Tag: level crossing

December 26th – The signal box on the preserved railway ay Chasewater Heaths is wonderfully authentic – because up until a few years ago, this signal box stood monitoring the level crossing that existed at Hademore, near Whittington in Staffordshire. 

When that line was expanded to four tracks and the signals upgraded, the level crossing was replaced with a bridge, and the box transferred to Chasewater Railway. I’ve actually spoken to the signalman at Hademore whilst waiting for the barrier out on a ride many times. It’s odd to see it here.

Never went a bundle on the colour they painted it, either; it was always white, not orange.

May 25th – A ride out on a grey day. I’d intended to get a good, long ride in but the weather had been pretty horrid and my heart wasn’t in it. I contented myself with a ride over Chasewater, down through Burnwood, out around Whittington and back through Weeford and Shenstone.

I forgot my camera, too, and so I had to make do with the phone – which rarely makes for a good picture.

At Chasewater, I noticed that the yellow ribbons for the Stephen’s Story appeal in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust were spreading up here, too, and were on cars, fences and gates around the railway. It was a nice thing to see.

This is a remarkable phenomena.

You can donate to the Stephen Sutton appeal here.

June 15th – The signal box at Chasewater Heaths, on the preserved coal line around Chasewater, has an interesting provenance. It originally stood at Hademore, near Fisherwick, east of Whittington, Staffordshire, where it controlled the level crossing. Upon expansion of the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Mainline, two more tracks were laid though the site of this box, and the crossing removed. The signal box was shipped, almost intact, to Chasewater Heaths to control the sidings proposed there. I have to say, I preferred it in white, rather than mustard brown… many is the time when I shouted conversation with the signalman as I waited at that crossing. Sadly, it it’s new home, it seems unmanned.

June 28th – In stark contrast to the busy main lines of Leicester, the South Staffordshire line near Lichfield lies silent, mothballed, and slowly decaying. The last trains to trip this forlorn crossing at Fosseway, near Wall, would have been oil trains to the the long since gone Charringtons terminal at Anglesey Sidings. I wonder if these barriers will ever descend for passenger traffic again? A sad indication of the lack of transport vision in the country.