Rare Steam Railway Level Crossing on Ferry Slipway: Kingswear (Britannia) Level Crossing, Devon

Date filmed: Saturday the 26th of July 2025
Videos filmed at: 12:41 | 12:58 | 13:07

Route: Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway
Between Churston and Kingswear Stations

Crossing type: Manually Controlled Barrier crossing (MCB)

Filming location: A379 Bridge Road, Kingswear (TQ6 0DZ)
Featuring:
- ‪@UKLevelCrossingsChannel‬
- ‪@UKLCSandT‬
- ‪@RH_TransportPhotography‬
- ‪@ElectraLevelCrossings‬

For more information about the railway: https://www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk/

A unique level crossing located on the slipway to the Kingswear High Ferry, which leads across the river to Dartmoor from Kingswear / Brixham, Devon. It's on the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway a few minutes out of Kingswear, and in this video is seen activating three times - twice for a steam service before and after turning around at Kingswear, and then a third time for a Class 45 which had just worked a Rail-tour from Derby, and was likely running to re-fuel or stable elsewhere until its return. There is no parking close to this level crossing, with the best bets to access it being via the ferry itself or parking at Kingswear's Marina and walking 15 minutes to get here. There's also the option of Long Wood Car Park, but this is up quite a steep hill.

It's very unusual to see a level crossing on a slipway to a ferry, and I believe this might be the only crossing in the country where this is the case. Equipment wise, the level crossing is also unique in the fact that it has three barriers, making it the only level crossing in England with this number of barriers, which are themselves still the incredibly rare-to-find electromechanical 'drive-up / drive-down' gearbox barriers. Along-side these, it still retains halogen bulb-type wigwags, also now very rare, and it is the only level crossing on this railway which still has them. It is believed the small signal cabin beside the crossing controls the whole line, though it certainly controls the Kingswear area's signalling, and also probably the only CCTV level crossing on a heritage railway anywhere.

Trains featured:
Intro - 0:00
-
Lowering 1 (0:38):
British Railways 7827 'Lydham Manor' - 2:29
Paignton ➡ Kingswear
-
Lowering 2 (3:21):
British Railways 7827 'Lydham Manor' (2) - 5:00
Kingswear ➡ Paignton
-
Lowering 3 (5:54):
45 118 'The Royal Artilleryman' Light Locomotive (Inter City) - 6:35
From Kingswear
-
End-of-video picture showcase: 7:27

Filmed on: Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus in 4K, 30fps

Thanks for watching!