Castleford Gates Level Crossing, West Yorkshire

Date filmed: 17/04/2023
Videos filmed at: 11:48 | 11:53 | 11:58 | 12:04

Route(s): The Hallam Line | The Pontefract Line
Between Castleford and Woodlesford / Normanton Stations

Crossing type: Manually Controlled Barriers crossing (MCB)

Location: A655 High Street / Albion Street, Castleford
Trains featured:
Lowering 1 (0:00):
158 795 (Northern) - 0:58
2L63 Leeds ➡ Sheffield
-
Lowering 2 (1:20):
158 795 (Northern) - 2:08
2L63 Leeds ➡ Sheffield
-
Lowering 3 (2:25):
66 181 (DB Cargo UK) - 3:10
6M16 Tees New Yard ➡ Knowsley Freight Terminal

Also passed:
150 206 (Northern)
2L12 Sheffield ➡ Leeds
-
Lowering 4 (4:11):
150 206 (Northern) - 4:55
2L12 Sheffield ➡ Leeds

A busy level crossing located near an industrial area in the West Yorkshire town of Castleford. In this video, two passenger services are seen twice as each was seen both before and after they reversed at nearby Castleford Station, though the second was completely blocked from view on its journey into the station by a freight train headed for Knowsley passing this location about eight minutes early. These passenger trains are timetabled to stop, serve, and reverse at the nearby station while faster trains overtake them towards Normanton or Woodlesford via the more direct leg of the triangular junction around Methley and Altofts Junctions.

As of when this video was filmed, most passenger services, other than the odd late-night / early morning trains for route retention, reversed at Castleford Station after coming from either Leeds, Sheffield, or Glasshoughton, and trains which then depart for Leeds / Sheffield can still be seen twice within the space of about five minutes. The line beyond towards Milford Junction was mostly only used by freight, and only one platform at Castleford's station remained open. However, since these videos were filmed, the second platform at Castleford Station has since re-opened, connected by a fully accessible footbridge, and Transpennine Express now serve the station on some runs between York and Manchester, and they now use the line beyond towards Milford Junction in the day regularly, although this still appears to be a peak-time-only affair as more drivers become familiarised with this route. Having at least some drivers familiarised with the route is a must, as services still need to run even in the case of engineering work / problems elsewhere.

This level crossing itself has only one narrow footway across it, with most pedestrians opting to use the adjacent underpass to skip waiting here. It has quite a retro and tired feel with some of the barriers having damaged skirting, and the two on the side of the underpass being chopped slightly to size even. The alarms here are fairly loud, though one has a rather odd-sounding tone as it is rather old now. A former signal box stands beside the level crossing here in a very run-down state, though it still draws more attention than its functional-looking replacement in the far corner from it, which is where the level crossing and the area's signalling is now controlled from. This current signalling centre is little more than an elevated portacabin.

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

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