Product Description

One of the beauties of the railway network is that, for the most part, it is completely segregated from other transport infrastructure; as such it is largely immune from the traffic congestion that plagues our roads. There is, however, one point of direct interface between the railway and road networks, and that is the level crossing. In recent years, there has been growing concern about the safety issues surrounding level crossings as there have been a number of accidents both on the national network and on preserved lines that have led to tragic fatalities. Written by one of the British Railway Board's former Signalling and Safety Officers, this is an authoritative look at the history of the level crossing and all the safety issues surrounding them in the current day and age. This is the first time this subject has been covered in such great depth and it will appeal to all enthusiasts and be an ideal companion to the author s previous books on railway accidents.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188255 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

Customer Reviews

Still dangerous after all these years
It now seems crazy that railways were constructed with so many level crossings, but most of those level crossings were constructed during the era of horse-drawn road transport, when trains were much slower than today's trains. This book makes clear that level crossings were always dangerous places, even before the invention of motorised road vehicles. Despite many safety improvements, they attract bigger headlines these days because they provide the setting for the majority of (though not usually the most serious) contemporary accidents involving trains Public awareness of the issue is therefore higher than it once was and that makes a book devoted to the subject most welcome, as well as (hopefully) being viable for the publisher.

I do not have specialist technical knowledge, but as somebody who has relied on trains for transport throughout my adult life and had an interest (albeit sometimes dormant) in trains since childhood, I've sometimes wondered about those level crossings. It always seemed to me that the traditional (and elegant) gated crossings were safer than the (usually boring) barrier crossings that replaced so many of them, though gated crossings still survive in some places.

While the book is primarily about British level crossings, author Stanley Hall called in Peter Van Der Mark to write an international chapter. The front cover might imply that they are equal co-authors, but Stanley wrote ten of the eleven chapters. Despite protestations from one reviewer about Peter's English, I found it to be excellent. Sure, he made some minor errors, but the biggest English error that I noticed was tradegy instead of tragedy - and that was Stanley's error. Still, I'm not going to mark the book down for such minor details as I still understood everything.

If there is any difficulty, it may be in assimilating some of the technical details. Even though it is necessary to get technical at times, the authors clearly kept in mind that this book was for anybody who is interested in the subject, not just the specialists, and managed to keep jargon to a minimum. You may have to slow down your reading a little to understand it properly, but you should find it clear enough.

That wider public includes people who have lost family and friends in level crossing accidents, as well as people who have had near-misses or witnessed accidents at first-hand. Some people may wish that more pictures were shown from the immediate aftermath of accidents, but I am pleased for the sake of those with bad experiences that they have chosen just to show the crossings at which accidents happened using pictures taken in calmer times. I don't think it was laziness; I think it was deliberate.

Elegant they may be compared to more modern crossings, but this book explains the problems that gated level crossings caused as well as the problems with barrier crossings.

The disasters at Hixon in 1967, Lockingham in 1986, Ufton in 2004 and Elsenham in 2005 all feature heavily in this book. Calamitous as they were, they pale by comparison with some other British railway disasters that have occurred during the same period, and which had far higher death tolls. Level crossing accidents are common compared to other types of railway accident, but rarely result in a high death toll, at least in Britain. Experience elsewhere shows that level crossings can be the scene of major disasters. If the accident involves just one train, fatalities are usually few, but if a second train crashes into the first, the death toll escalates.

This is a fascinating book that tells you everything you need to know about level crossings, the problems they cause and potential future problems. In Britain, we haven't got the problem of double articulated lorries, let alone road trains, because our roads couldn't cope with them even if there weren't any level crossings. But seeing what can happen in North America and Australia, I hope such vehicles are never allowed in Britain. If you are interested in the subject, you should definitely read this book. Whatever imperfections some people may perceive, I can't imagine that a rival book on the subject is likely to be published any time soon,

Finally, it is worth noting that the book hints at internet footage filmed at level crossings. I visited Youtube and had a quick look. Some of it is quite scary - or funny, depending on how you think about what you see. It's definitely worth viewing. My message to the author after viewing them is - that's another fine mess they got themseleves into, Stanley.

Sadly flawed
Having enjoyed other books by Stanley Hall, I was looking forward to reading what is a much needed review of level crossing history and operation.

However, the book is somewhat disappointing overall, with Mr Hall being poorly served by his co-author, Mr van der Mark, who contributed chapter 11. This reads as though written by someone whose English is a bit shaky, and it should have been throughly edited - which it has not been. As a result the prose is leaden and contains numerous silly English mistakes.

There are also some factual errors in this chapter. For example, MOM stands for 'mobile operations manager' - not 'movements operations manager'. More seriously, the procedure described for dealing with an AHB failure is simply wrong.

As I am not familiar with foreign railway operations, I cannot comment on other parts of the chapter that touch on these, but the errors in dealing with UK practice that I spotted do not give one confidence.

There is also some misleading and inappopriate terminology. For example, the word 'controller' is repeatedly used instead of 'signaller'. In British practice these are quite distinct and separate roles.

The major part of the book, for which Mr Hall is responsible, makes much better reading, yet it is not above criticism. For example, the section dealing with Hixon somehow manages to get through this important accident without any photographs or diagrams of the crash scene. This is really pure laziness on the part of the editors who should have done the spadework if Mr Hall did not have the time.

To be critical, one might also say that there are rather too many illustrations, some of which more or less duplicate each other. And the final chapter, which consists of photos of a pre-modernisation East Suffolk line has the distinct feel of something put there to pad out the book.

In conclusion, one can say that this is a book that will still be read with interest by anyone with an interest in the subject, and provides some useful pointers for further research. But it is far from being all it could have been with just a little bit more attention to detail.

Essentai reading.
If only every road user and pedestrian who uses level crossings could read this book. Well researched and easy to read yet depthy. A good reference book yet also top-drawer bedtime reading for the railway engineer, operator, safety manager, enthusiast and others with an interest in these vital and often controversial types of railway infrastructure.