LX2 - STUBBS WALDEN SOUTH Traditional Cache

This cache is part of the 31-cache series "Doncaster LX" (LX is standard railway terminology for "Level Crossing").

The great majority of the caches in this series are drive-by, and most are not particularly challenging - although there are one or two that may make you scratch your head a little ;-)
The caches are a variety made up of the following:

• Tupperware
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• 35mm
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• Nano
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• Camo Tube
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• and one or two others.........

With the odd exception, we aren't going to tell you which caches are which - you can find that out for yourselves for the most part! In addition, there won't be clues for a lot of the caches, but you won't struggle to find them too much.

The final cache in the series is a BONUS cache, and the co-ordinates for that cache are contained in one way or another in fifteen of the caches in the series. Sometimes you will have to answer a question to get part of the co-ordinate, at other times the question and/or the answer will be in the cache container. It will never be loose in the container, however - it will always be taped to the inside of the container or be attached to the logsheet when present.

The questions that you have to answer will be based around the level crossings themselves - you might, for instance, be asked how many flashing red road lights there are at a particular crossing. And that is the whole point of this series - we would like to impart a little extra knowledge about level crossings, and if you come away from it knowing a little bit more than you did, that is a good thing. Clues to the questions will always be found within the text or at the crossing itself - you will never have to go away and do research on the internet, for instance.

All of the caches are placed within about 300m of the associated level crossings, but none are located in a position that will cause any safety implications. Of the very few that are located closer than the recommended 150 ft (46 m) of the railway, the railway is completely fenced off from the cache location, and retrieval will cause no safety issues. At only one cache (LX8) is the user expected to cross the railway on foot to get to the cache location. This traversal, however, can be accomodated easily by following the signs at the level crossing (Booths No. 1). If any cacher feels uncomfortable with using the crossing in the normal manner, please contact us. It is not necessary to visit this cache to complete the series.

Finally, we would ask that the following basic rules are adhered to when completing this series:

• Never park at emergency parking sites at automatic crossings
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• Be aware of, and considerate to, local residents
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• If an alternative parking Waypoint is provided in the cache listing, please use it
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• Always observe any signs and/or notices detailing how the crossing is to be used
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We hope that you have fun with this series - we certainly had fun setting it!

"MCB-CCTV" means "Manually Controlled Barriers with Closed Circuit Television". This means that the crossing is manually operated from a remote point by a railway signaller. In this case the signaller is at Norton Gate Box, itself a satellite of Doncaster Signal Box.

This type of crossing is what is known as a fully interlocked crossing. It can be used in any situation with line speeds up to 125mph. The warning sequence can be iniated automatically by an approaching train, but for MCB-CCTV crossings of this vintage (Doncaster re-signalling took place in 1979), automatic lowering of the barriers is not usually employed. In general, the signaller receives an indication (audible, visual or both) that a train is approaching, and then initiates the warning sequence. He has a number of indications, but the four main controls, usually push buttons, are:

• RAISE
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• STOP
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• LOWER
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• CROSSING CLEAR
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He presses the "LOWER" button to initiate the warning sequence, and at that time a CCTV image of the level crossing is switched on at his workstation so that he can observe the lower sequence. When all the barriers are fully lowered, he receives a flashing white "DOWN" indication light and at that point he conducts a "figure-of-eight" visual scan of the crossing to make sure that there are no obstructions. You may notice that all the fencing in the immediate vicinity of the level crossing is wire weldmesh - this is so the signaller can see as much as possible. When he is satisfied that there are no obstructions, he presses the "CROSSING CLEAR button. This allows the protecting railway signals to clear - until this happens, it is not possible for trains to approach the crossing. Once the signals have cleared, the barriers are locked down and cannot be raised by the signaller until the train has passed over the crossing, or a suitable time has elapsed to ensure that any approaching trains have come to a stand.

It is this feature that makes an MCB-CCTV crossing fully interlocked (the interlocking is between the protecting signals and the crossing and works both ways as described above), but it is also the feature that makes this type of crossing annoying to road users. To ensure that trains run on green signals (when they don't, delays occur, and these can have severe knock-on effects not only to rail passengers, but to road users because lack of predictability causes disruption), the barriers have to be lowered a long time before the train arrives. This means that the road can be closed for a long time, even more so if a second train is approaching.

Once the train has passed over the crossing, the barriers can either be raised automatically by the passing train, or the signaller can press the RAISE button. At any time during the lowering or raise sequences, the signaller can press the STOP button to halt the barriers if he sees an unsafe situation.