Woodcroft level crossing just to the south of Helpston      

List of Helpston Pages

This Woodcroft level crosing is just to south of Helpston

This crosing goes across both the East Coast Main line and the Leicester to Peterborough line.

This quite B road has a small hut to the left of the photo with a man who comes out to open the gates when you ring the bell. This is one of the last gated crossing on a busy main line like the ECML with an attendant crossing keeper.  Like other gates along this part of the line it can be a long wait. There were two sets of gates and two gatekeepers houses here.

There used to be  another level crossing at Holme Fen on the ECML south of Peterborough with an attendant crossing keeper who had a small wooden garden shed. Those gates was replaced with CTV controled lifting barriers a number of years ago as was the one up the line a Werrington. 

There was a GNR footbridge at Woodcroft crossing but it was just over the ECML. This was taken down for the overhead wires

Helpston is a village on the The East Coast Main Line main line just to the north of Peterborough. The ECML runs from London to Edinburgh. The G.N.R and then the L.N.E.R used to run this line be for BR. This line has now been electrified, and is one of the top railways in the U.K.  

GNER took over the Inter City trains from London to Scotland and Leeds previously run by BR. Then from December 2007 National Express took over these services. Then East Coast took over run by the goverment. Virgin East Coast took over and now 2020 LNER now runs these trains back in goverment hands again.

Also at Helpston the Peterborough to Leicester line which has run along side the ECML since Peterborough station heads westwards towards Stamford and away from ECML north of the village. This line runs to the rear of the GNR signal box.

The ECML down slow has used the Leicester line down line from Peterborough to Helpston be for then rejoining the ECML in front of the signal box. There are over head wires on the Leicester line down line only up to Helpston.

There was a Helpston station only on the Midland railway Leicester line here which is now closed.