Rother Valley Railway

Interesting - there is a video of the A48 level crossing on the Dean Forest Railway. The barrier is not down for that long in the video which should help people to see that the delays which some are expecting are not going to happen. I visited the DFR a couple of weeks ago and saw these barriers in action.

 

Did I see 58 seconds somewhere earlier?

And isn't there a pelican crossing on the other side of the roundabout, where anyone can stop the traffic as often as they like? The delay caused by the railway really is minimal.

 

That's correct.

 

More news today - link here - the VSOE building has been dismantled and is moving to a new site.

 

The RVR facebook entry about the level crossing has been shared to one of the Robertsbridge facebook pages. This has led to comments from those who feel that the level crossing will lead to long delays and increase the risk of accidents.

 

But that is completely untrue!

 

Exactly. If you look at the blog entry there is a video from the Dean Forest Railway showing a train crossing their A48 level crossing. The barriers are down for around a minute. The KESR 'green' timetable has 5 return journeys. That suggests a maximum of 10 closures a day when the service is extended to Robertsbridge. A total of 10 minutes a day. Trains don't run every day and on many days there are only 2 or 3 return journeys.

It should be obvious that delays from the the level crossing are less that those caused by the pedestrian controlled crossing just north or the salehurst roundabout and the traffic lights further up the road at Flimwell.

The Public Inquiry for the TWAO spent a long time talking about the level crossings in particular the one on the A21. Much evidence was presented to show that the delays would be minimal.

 

Those people who are still trying to somehow show the re instated railway in a poor light are at best becoming desperate, they are jumping on any reason, no matter how flimsy, They will know all about the flimwell lights, the roundabout etc, but its not on their door step, some of it is pure not in my backyard, other is just people trying make trouble, what's important is that the RVR stays above it all, that it keeps its side of being a good neighbour, even if others do not,

 

Lastest blog update here - update on Bridge 6 - it has been determined that this bridge is life expired and a replacement will be needed.

 

"After extensive tests and profiling it has been concluded that Bridge 6 is life expired."

Ha, ha. I'd think twice about putting a wheelbarrow over that!

 

Is it just the bridge beams, or the supports? So, in effect, that's almost every bridge that will have needed attention, then on the section, but that's hardly surprising because they will have received nothing, or next to nothing in maintaince, since the line closed, and the track was lifted

 

Read the blog article Martin.

 

Sorry, I missed that bit, so it's the abutments also,Because its right next to the level crossing, once thats put in, will that impact on the replacement abutments, will they have to be redesigned and made longer on that side ?So that it butts up to the crossing ?

 

I'd ask the RVR rather than Nat Pres. They're more likely to have the answer.

 

I suspect that they may never have been that good even by the standards of the day especially if you want to run something bigger than a Terrier or Ilfracombe Goods

 

They are saying that design work is being done - we will have to wait until we are told. This is the bridge immediately to the easr of the Northbridge street level crossing.

 

Thats why i think it will have an impact on the design, because the track will be running straight from the level crossing onto the bridge, so it would almost need the level crossing and bridge support to be the same assembly .

 

Accepting that many may just be objecting because of all the other issues they have,there are level crossing gates on the National Network that are down so long the concern could be genuine to the uninitiated.
For example I often avoid going via Wool to avoid the level crossing there where I have in the past waited 8 minutes for a train only passing in the up direction. If there are any in Kent or Sussex like that I can understand some people's concern.

 

Holman Stephens didn't spend any more than was necessary in 1900. Many of the smaller bridges/culverts had mass concrete abutments - with the concrete often not as well compacted as it might have been - with girders set directly in the concrete with no provision for expansion or movement.

 

The Level Crossing at Etchingham was mentioned in the facebook comments - this is the next station on the mainline to Robertsbridge in the London Direction.