These two houses by the railway crossing on Redcar Lane were built in 1865 by the North Eastern Railway Company. This dates them to 4 years after the line was extended from Redcar to Saltburn
The house on the left retains much of its original character, while the one on the right has been completely obscured by moderns windows, doors and peddle dash.
1865 NER Railway Cottages, Redcar
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I seem to recall as a kid in the 60s, when we lived in St John’s Grove that a man used to come out of the house on the left to close the crossing gate across the road… maybe I’m imagining he lived in that house… there may have been a cabin alongside the track… but he certainly closed the gate manually…
The crossing gate operator use to come out of the box next to the railway line. He use to close the road gates first and allow pedestrians to cross through the pedestrian gate until the train was due. Went over this crossing many a time with Mam and sister on our way to do the shopping, we had no car in those days.
My grandparents lived in railway cottage no. 2 in the 1930’s when he was a signalman