St. Andrews Junction Level Crossing, Bristol

Date filmed: Sunday the 17th of November 2024
Videos filmed at: 14:11 | 14:39

Route: Severn Beach Line
Between Avonmouth (AVN) and St. Andrews Road (SAR) Stations

Crossing type: Manually Controlled Barrier crossing (MCB)

Filming location: King Road, Avonmouth (BS11 9BT)

A level crossing located right at one of the busy main entrances to the Port of Bristol, near St. Andrews Gate roundabout and around a tight railway curve from Avonmouth Station. It's incredibly busy during the week with industrial traffic, but eerily quiet on bank holidays and weekends. This level crossing with loud alarms is controlled from the signal box located right next to it, which is also where Dock Junction and Avonmouth Station level crossings are controlled from and watched via CCTV. It also has control of the line right the way from the single line from Clifton Down to the end of the line at Severn Beach. Until a few years ago, a huge transporter bridge overshadowed the crossing, but with that now gone, the location feels very open.

The most notable feature of this crossing, which also makes it quite rare, is the barriers here. They are remarkably still British Rail 'Western Region' barriers, twin-arm, wishbone-style barriers which make incredibly satisfying motor noises as they raise and lower, and now only found at a small handful of crossings. Even though one remarkably still rests off of the floor, their overall condition isn't particularly great, and one barrier has also been partially snapped by high-winds as of fairly recent - this same barrier is also missing a 'boom' light. Also rather unusually, 5mph rail-speed signs have been fitted to each entry-side wigwag mast.

The same train is seen twice throughout this video, both before and after it terminated at Severn Beach station. This would be the last train for a good few hours this day due to crew issues, an issue which plagued this day's service on the line and significantly affected the overall service. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy these two videos I managed to get!

Trains featured:
Lowering 1 (0:00):
165 103 (Great Western Railway) (1) - 2:30
2K36 Bristol Temple Meads ➡ Severn Beach | On-time
-
Lowering 2 (3:33):
165 103 (Great Western Railway) (2) - 5:18
2Y39 Severn Beach ➡ Bristol Temple Meads | On-time
-
End-of-video picture showcase: 6:01

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

Filmed on: Panasonic HC-VX1 in 4K, 25fps

Thanks for watching!