Over the weekend of the 17th & 18th April, volunteers from the Wensleydale railway along with assistance from certified engineers were able to complete the longstanding aim of upgrading Ham Hall level crossing to modern standards. This is the culmination of server monts of effort by our team to eneble the crossing to achieve certification to allow the running of regular passenger services to Scruton and beyond.
In two hardworking session Rob Williamson, Andy Tarran, Alex Lomax, Andy Rutherford, Oliver Tann, Paul Garnett and Nick Whelan have worked with our head fixer Paul Warren to complete this milestone. Not only were the technical aspects carried out but the entire area was tidied up, with vegetation clearance, cable trunking, fence painting and a number of bunnies were relocated to warrens in safer locations away from the tracks.
This crossing was the prototype for all AOCL (Automatic Open Crossing with Lights) in the country and as such was non-standard. To bring it up to standards a number of modifications were required to the electronis and the actual light units needed to be upgraded from filament bulbs to LED units. As this is a safety critical item there are a number of things that our volunteers were not permitted to touch and we are greatful to a number of external certified people and companies who have helped us out with this project. The crossing is now in full working order, and as soon as the paperwork is signed off we will be able to start to plan future services to use the crossing and the line to Scruton and beyond.
The above images show some of the progress made to date.