Rare Barriers at Clay Mills Level Crossing, Staffordshire

Date filmed: Friday the 14th of March 2025
Videos filmed between 17:16 and 18:00

Route: Birmingham to Derby Line (Cross Country Route)
Between Burton-upon-Trent (BUT) and Willington (WIL) Stations

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

Filming location: Meadow Lane, Burton-upon-Trent (DE13 0DA)

Some early evening railway action and a slightly longer than normal video filmed at this rare level crossing on the edge of Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, a level crossing on the Birmingham to Derby section of the larger Cross Country Route. This level crossing is located on the entrance road towards the Clay Mills Victorian Pumping Station, and is one of only a select few remaining level crossings anywhere to still have the 'British Rail Western Region' wishbone-style barriers in operation. Renewal and replacement have been on the cards for at least a few years, yet these very robust, classic barriers are still going strong in 2025 with no signs of any works taking place! Due to general wear, these are now quite slow in their operation, particularly when lowering, but have lasted a remarkably long time. The same could be said for one side's unusually high-pitched flat-tone alarm, although it was replaced shortly after this visit after three long years of producing that screech, very oddly enough.

170's and 'Voyagers' make up nearly all featured trains, but this is mixed up by both an engineer's freight train, and at the end of my time here, an empty coaching stock worked top and tail by Class 57 locomotives, heading to Derby for overnight stabling to work 'The Thames Valley Meanderer' railtour the following day. These passed by with a neat horn salute, but I was only seconds away from having my view of them at least partially blocked by one of the notorious Voyager trains!

Trains featured:
Intro - 0:00
-
Lowering 1 (0:45):
170 103 (Cross Country) - 2:35
1G52 Nottingham ➡ Birmingham New Street | 1 minute late
-
Lowering 2 (3:16):
66 762 (GB Railfreight) - 4:28
6G45 Toton North Yard ➡ Bescot Up Engineers Sidings | 2 minutes early
-
Lowering 3 (5:05):
170 620 (Cross Country) - 6:42
1M98 Newport (South Wales) ➡ Nottingham | 9 minutes late
-
Lowering 4 (7:20):
220 025 & 221 128 (Cross Country) - 8:32
1S53 Plymouth ➡ Edinburgh Waverley | 6 minutes late
-
Lowering 5 (9:10):
220 008 & 220 021 (Cross Country) - 10:22
1V64 Edinburgh Waverley ➡ Plymouth | 4 minutes late
-
Lowering 6 (10:58):
1) 170 104 (Cross Country) - 12:02
1V14 Nottingham ➡ Cardiff Central | On-time

2) 170 108 (Cross Country) - 12:30
1D72 Birmingham New Street ➡ Nottingham | 2 minutes late
-
220 019 (Cross Country) - 13:10
1E56 Banbury ➡ York | 2 minutes late
-
Lowering 7 (13:47):
1) 57 009 & 57 315 (West Coast Railways) & Railtour Empty Coaching Stock - 15:23
5Z56 Carnforth Steamtown ➡ St. Andrews Sidings | 56 minutes late

2) 220 012 (Cross Country) - 15:53
1M10 York ➡ Birmingham New Street | On-time
-
End-of-video picture showcase: 16:48

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: Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus in 4K, 30fps

Thanks for watching!