Official name: Pembrey Level Crossing
Welsh name: Pen-bre a Phorth Tywyn
Date filmed: 25/01/2022
Videos filmed at: 14:00 | 14:11 | 14:21
Route: West Wales Line
- Near Pembrey & Burry Port Station
Location: Church Road, Burry Port
Trains featured:
Lowering 1 (0:00):
2 Class 153s (Transport for Wales) - 3:00
Fishguard Harbour ➡ Cardiff Central
-
Lowering 2 (Starts at 3:52):
Class 175 (Transport for Wales) - 5:27
Milford Haven ➡ Manchester Piccadilly
-
Lowering 3 (Starts at 6:06):
Class 175 (Transport for Wales) - 8:15
Manchester Piccadilly ➡ Carmarthen
A level crossing located within the village of Burry Port a few miles west of Llanelli along the West Wales Line, and controlled from the signal box located next to it. To this day, even at the start of 2022, this level crossing still retains one of the last active Main-Line sets of twin-arm Field & Grant barriers in Wales, and these are in quite a tired state seeing as one lowers very slowly. These barriers are very noisy in their operation (plus some of them sounded like their motors could use some lubrication!), and the entry (left-hand) side barrier motors also seemed to 'rev' until all four barriers were locked into the 'lowered' position! The barriers here really do give quite a lot of character to this level crossing. Contending with all this noise are two loud alarms, and these are known to completely silence during the night-time hours due to being fitted onto the same circuitry as the bells which this level crossing would've had in the past.
The signal box here also still lets trains through this part of the line using Semaphore signals (of the 'lower-quadrant' kind to be precise), which is another rare and classic sight on the railways to still be going and working, so this level crossing and its integration into this part of the West Wales Line still remains as a classic with quite a lot of retro charm! Unfortunately, this seems to be short-lived, as a massive renewal and conversion to a remotely-controlled / monitored crossing is due to take place from September 2023, which would also see the semaphores and signal box go. Whilst the level crossing currently has two active lines through it, there's a clear sign that a third line once ran through it too, its rails still visible in the road surface in the level crossing.
All three lowerings featured in this video happened within around 20 minutes or so of each other, and feature the hourly off-peak service, as well as the return of the afternoon Fishguard Harbour service, and quite a lot of barrier noise too!
All three videos were filmed in 4K (Ultra-High-Definition).
Thanks for watching!
25 июл 2024
