What did a railway gatekeeper do?

[LexieK]

I remember in a village just up the road from me they had a gatekeeper up until about the early 1990s when they replaced the gates with the modern electric ones. They had a little cottage at the side of the crossing and I remember you used to have to ring  a bell for the gatekeeper to come and open the gates for you to cross. 

[Redroger]

Yes Driffield did come under the North Eastern Railway, and the survival of its records is perhaps not the best. However, in 1923 the mainline railways were grouped into "The big 4" mainline railways, and the Northeastern along with the Great Northern became part of the London Northeastern Railway (LNER) At this time there was no sick pay for wages grade, and on the merger the Great Northern Railway Friendly Society was opened for membership to all staff of the new amalgamated railway who would have been eligible had they worked for the GN. This meant that virtually all eligible staff joined the society. Its records survive and are held at Doncaster Borough Archive, King Edward Road, Balby Doncaster.So this is well worth a try to find records of your relative.
A 24 hour residential crossing was usually one where the gates were normally closed to road traffic, and only opened on demand by travellers,they were one step uip from an occupation or farm crossing where the owner of the land controlled the gaters as required. Instruments were provided at these crossings so that the approach of trains could be detected before the gagtes were used. They existed into the 1990s in the general area involved.

[Ceeoh]

According to the 1881 census my great grandfather - age 65 -  and his wife (not my g-grandmother) were both employed as gatekepers on the railway, resident  Black Bull, Pickering.  Looking at the previous correspondence it would look as if they worked shifts around the clock.

Ceeoh

[Old Mother Reilly]

sorry for this but nostalgia gets to me sometimes

Uuummm ... we still have a couple of manual gated crossings in rural Lincolnshire complete with railway gatekeepers ... if you need a shot of nostalgia you ought to drive around the Fens! 

Rachel

[t mo]

hi rachel
are you sure that they aren,t on lines that dr beeching cut way back in time and no ones told them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
trevor

[Old Mother Reilly]

That's entirely possible - but all credit to them, they're still working!

[myluck!]

There are still a few "unmanned crossings" in Ireland also
It is only in the last ten years that a concerted effort was made to automate all the gates

* editted manned to read unmanned

[Redroger]

I thought all of the crossings in the Boston and Spalding areas were either automated or downgraded to occupation status* in the 1990s. Out of interest would you give details please?
It wasn't a question of working shifts about on these crossings. It was 24 hour cover, and the gates were only opened on demand. This meant that some crossing keepers were continously available at their crossing for up to seven days at a time. If they were ill or on leave, than a relief keeper was provided. They used the gateman's hut at the crossing.
Some crossings which had an intermediate where usage was heaviest during a specified time of day would be staffed by a crossing keeper, from the hut during that time, and handed over to the resident when the heavy period ended.
*occupation status where the owner of the road or track, usually a farmer or industrial site was responsible for opening and closing the gates.

[Nick29]

About half a mile from my house we have a level crossing where you have to operate the gates yourself.  The gates open outwards from the track, so there is no danger of the gates being hit by trains.  There are lights on the crossing to indicate when a train is coming, but you only get about 30 seconds warning