23 - "Level Crossing" and track maintenance machinery

The “Level Crossing” located halfway along the bypass is that of Roda de Mar (between the stations of Roda de Barà and San Vicente de Calders). It was the last crossing protected by barriers that were raised and lowered by hand, until June 2012. The job of level crossing attendant officially disappeared in Spain when this passing was replaced by an automatic barrier. The cabin belongs to the Medina del Campo-Valladolid railway line and its interior has been contextualised with the most characteristic elements of these structures, which identify the most traditional railway landscape.

Most of the crossings were controlled by women. Until the 1960s, it was practically the only railway job that was not done by men. The image of a female level crossing attendant wearing a headscarf and holding a signal flag, accompanied by a dog, was a classic scene well into the first half of the last century.

Next, in the right half of the Paseo Entrevías pathway, there are two tracks featuring a series of heavy track-maintenance machinery made up of a tamper-leveller-aligner, a profiler and a light variable-gauge tamper. These were fairly sophisticated vehicles for their time (1960s and 1970s). The series was donated by the COMSA company to the Lérida Association of Friends of the Railway in 1993, to be maintained and displayed in this Museum.