(Ft. 34046 'Braunton' on 'The Sunset Steam Express') Chilworth Level Crossing, Surrey

The steam locomotive and its express service pass at 6:06 in Lowering 2.

Date filmed: 11/07/2023
Videos filmed between 20:25 and 21:07

Route: North Downs Line
Chilworth (CHL) Station

Crossing type: Manually Controlled Barriers crossing with CCTV (MCB-CCTV)

Location: Sampleoak Lane, Chilworth
Trains featured:
Lowering 1 (0:00)
1) 165 105 (Great Western Railway) - 1:53
2O36 Reading ➡ Redhill | On time

2) 165 104 (Great Western Railway) - 2:39
2V04 Redhill ➡ Reading | On time
-
165 109 (Great Western Railway) - 3:15
1O88 Reading ➡ Gatwick Airport | Passed on time
-
Lowering 2 (🚂) (3:44):
Southern Railways West Country Class 34046 "Braunton" - 6:06
Trailing: 47 805 / D1935 "Roger Hosking MA"
1Z94 Chertsey ➡ London Victoria "The Sunset Steam Express" | Passed 23 minutes late
-
Lowering 3 (6:46):
165 116 (Great Western Railway) - 8:08
1V66 Gatwick Airport ➡ Reading | Passed on time

Some evening footage filmed beside Chilworth Station at the retro level crossing located just next to it on a quiet road within the village of Chilworth in the Surrey Hills to the southeast of Guildford. The main highlight of this video is about six minutes in where S.R. West Country Class 34046 'Braunton' is seen majestically thundering through on the "Sunset Steam Express", a summer evening service which both starts and finishes at London Victoria and does a loop via the Surrey Hills at sunset. Here it is seen passing 23 minutes late, unfortunately just missing the 'golden hour' where the sunset is at is prettiest. Nevertheless, it still looked and sounded amazing as it absolutely shattered the quiet village peace, and the signature smell that comes from a steam locomotive was very much present! Numerous other local services can also be seen throughout the video. Enjoy!

Originally dating back to the 1970s and still remarkably remaining un-changed in 2023, this level crossing still has its 'Godwin Warren Engineering (GWE)' barriers, albeit with slightly newer arms, but more notably it also still has mechanical bells. These ones chime very slowly (only about five or six times per lowering), but they're still perfectly audible. By quite a margin, the newest feature of this level crossing is its LED wigwags / road traffic lights. The dis-used signal box is still here and in surprisingly good condition, as the signalling was transferred to Guildford quite a while back, and that's where crossing operations are now done from.

Train details sourced from:
Real Time Trains: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear...
Open Train Times: https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps
Traksy: https://traksy.uk/live

Thanks for watching!