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[[File:Northwood_Crossing_20150528.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Northwood Crossing viewed from the South.]] [[File:NorthwoodCrossing.jpg|thumb|200px300px|right|Northwood Crossing viewed from the North.]]This level crossing is immediately south of and adjacent to [[Northwood Halt]] and . It allows access, from Northwood Lane to the Hill Farm estate via a private single track road, to Hill Farm from Northwood Lane.<br>

==Accidents in the BR Era==During the [[The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership#Accidents | BR era]], the unmanned crossing has no barrierswas the site of two separate fatal collisions:<ref>[[Bibliography#Books|Smith(1968)]] p. 57.</ref>*On 26 August 1947 a car was struck by a northbound goods train resulting in the death of two passengers in the car, but is a Bromsgrove woman and her four year old daughter. At the inquest the only car driver claimed he was not aware that he was crossing on a railway line; warning notices in Northwood Lane were proved to have been obscured. Train crews also testified that their visibility of the SVR protected by flashing lights displayed crossing was very limited due to road trafficthe bend in the track. The warning lights are operated automatically *On 28 August 1964 a car was struck by track circuits and treadles[[GWR Large Prairie 4150|Large Prairie]] no 4175 which was running bunker first, with returning a white light displayed train of empty wagons to Alveley Colliery sidings. Two car passengers also lost their lives in this accident. The prominent warning notices installed in Northwood Lane after the train to indicate first accident had been ignored; a possible factor was that passenger services had ended a year earlier and by that they are operating correctlytime only one or two freight trains per day were using the line. Modern ==Preservation==Following an inspection in April 1972 in advance of the SVR re-style warning boards consisting opening this section of the line, Maj. Olver of the Railway Inspectorate recommended that the crossing should be fitted with gates capable of a black cross on a white square background are positioned on closing across the road and the approach to line as appropriate. The gates and posts from the level crossing in both directionsnear [[Burlish Halt]] were retrieved for this purpose,<ref>SVR News 28</ref> although there is no record that they were ever installed.

Northwood only became an ‘open’ crossing in July 1980. Before then From re-opening, a hand signalman was required to be present during operations. To remove the need for this, a successful application was made to the Department of Transport in 1979 for Northwood to be made an 'open' crossing.<ref>SVR News52</ref> Equipment for this was duly installed, and the crossing was commissioned on 5th July 1980.<Ref>SVR News 57</ref><ref>[http://www.svrsig.org.uk/svr/NX.htm Northwood Crossing on the SVR Signalling web site]</ref> The crossing has no gates or barriers, but is protected by flashing lights displayed to road traffic together with an audible warning (the only crossing on the SVR protected in this fashion). The warning lights are operated automatically by track circuits, with treadles as a back up, with a white light displayed to the train to indicate that they are operating correctly. The lights and track circuits work at 24v via a mains supply. In the event of the supply failing, the system automatically switches to battery power and illuminates a warning light in [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 2000-2009 | November 2000Bewdley North signal box]] the crossing was the site . Modern-style warning boards consisting of a collision between 8F 48773 and black cross on a vanwhite square background are positioned on the approach to the crossing in both directions.<gallery>File:Crossing_Board_20150503. HM Railway Inspectorate later confirmed that the Railway was not at faultjpg | Warning boardFile:Northwood Crossing treadle.jpg | Treadle</gallery>

The original timber crossing was replaced with a ‘Holfast’ prefabricated crossing in 2004.<ref>SVR News 147</ref> ==SourcesTV filming==<references The crossing has featured in a number of film and TV productions including:* A Vauxhall Chevette advertisement (1978?), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOyt9qm69R8 The Test Drive] with a vehicle joining the line at the crossing and driving along the track to [[Bewdley Tunnel]].* The opening sequence of episode 2 of the short-lived 1982 BBC sit-com [[L For Lester]] which can be seen on this [https://www.youtube.com/>watch?v=EimIqAlqnfU YouTube clip]. The crossing barriers were specially installed for filming purposes.* Series 5 episode 6 of the BBC sit-com [[Sorry!]], first screened on 21 June 1986. The episode "It's a Wonderful Life, Basically" paid homage to the James Stewart film, with Timothy Lumsden (Ronnie Corbett) wishing that he had never been born and discovering the consequences. Two scenes were involved, both involving a close encounter with a passing freight train but with very different outcomes. The crossing was again specially fitted with barriers for filming.

== See Also also ==