Narrow-Gauge Trains & Rare, Wheel-Operated Barriers at Alston Level Crossing, Cumbria

Date filmed: Tuesday the 9th of June 2026 Route: South Tynedale Railway Alston Station Crossing type: Manually Controlled Barrier crossing (MCB) Filming location: Station Road, Alston (CA9 3JB) For more information about the railway (It's truly lovely; You should probably visit if you're nearby): https://www.south-tynedale-railway.or... A selection of passenger and shunting movements seen at this rare level crossing beside Alston Station, at the southern end of the South Tynedale Railway - the highest narrow-gauge railway in England (this one's a 2-foot gauge). Originally it had manual gates when the railway opened in the 1980s, but it appears to have been converted to have the current wheel-operated barrier system thereafter when the control was moved from a small crossing hut to the present signal box, donated from Ainderby on what's now the Wensleydale Railway. The barrier system was designed in-house by the British Railway's North Eastern Region's signal & telecommunications engineer in the 1960s, and is worked by turning a wheel in the signal box. There is only one example on Network Rail of this Eastern-Region barrier system remaining at Barton Hill, but this install here at Alston is the only remaining one anywhere at all with the original, prototype timber / plywood barrier booms (originally seen at the system's trial at Oxmardyke in East Yorkshire), and these ones are very well-kept. As such, these are now meriting of the 'rare' in their description. In one of the shots featured, you can just about see the mechanical linkages moving as the barriers are lowered an raised. An alarm sounds (likely) whenever the barriers' wheel is not secured, as a warning that the barriers are about to move, and the strange-sounding one here can be heard throughout - I can guarantee it'll get on your nerves more than most as the video progresses. It can be seen that there are two alarms here, with one looking as if its front might have been stolen. It has been in this state for a good few years now, and it's that it could've actually been that the old sounder broke, with insufficieny funding or need to replace it. These videos feature either service trains from / to the railway's other end at Slaggyford, or shunting movements as locomotives run around their trains via the nearby works. The first features an arrival from the other end of the line, unfortunately timed with a torrential downpour occurring upon its arrival. Two different locomotives are seen, with both a Battery-Electric locomotive and a diesel locomotive seen, and the latter can be seen giving quite a show upon its departure. In that same last clip a drone can be heard, flying a little too close... Trains featured: Intro shots - 0:00 - Lowering 1 - 'bit damp (0:48): No. 22 'Newcastle' (South Tynedale Railway) (1) - 2:25 - Lowering 2 (4:15): No. 22 'Newcastle' (South Tynedale Railway) (2) - 6:10 - Lowering 3 (7:02): No. 22 'Newcastle' (South Tynedale Railway) (3) - 8:05 - Lowering 4 (9:09): No. 22 'Newcastle' (South Tynedale Railway) (4) - 10:45 - Lowering 5 (12:04): No. 18 'Old Rusty' (South Tynedale Railway) - 13:12 - End-of-video picture showcase: 15:01 Filmed on: Panasonic HC-VX1 in 4K, 25fps Thanks for watching!