In these days of the horse and cart, no prizes for guessing what the man is shovelling into the wheel-barrow. The crossing is now used by the Dean Forest Railway.
Thanks to Peter Essex who added (March 2007): "This has reminded me of an incident I heard of, which I guess would have been in the middle to late 1950s, when my grandfather William Frank Essex suffered a slight heart attack while driving a Standard Vanguard which therefore ran into the wall of the signal box. Apparently the signalman heard the thud and come down and switched the engine off. My grandfather campaigned for there to be a pedestrian wicket gate at this level crossing and when he died (around 1960) I understand such a gate was installed each side of the line and had a plaque reading "The Essex Gates". I did once make enquiries at Norchard but was unable there to confirm that the gates or the plaque did exist or, of course, what may have happened to this curious (and what would nowadays probably be considered absurdly dangerous) memorial".

Thanks to John Bunker who added (June 2008): "The second shop down on the left was George Masons in the late 1950's. I remember it because the bill and the payment would be put into a capsule and sent across the ceiling in some sort of mechanism to the cashier. The bill would then be returned with any change via the same contraption. To a child it was fascinating".

David Essex added (August 2021): "... To add to my cousin Peter's comments, the Standard Vanguard in question belonged to my father, Sid. Our grandfather was extremely lucky to have made it across the road unscathed, as it was then the main access route to South Wales, and there were few breaks in the traffic. Both car and driver suffered remarkably little damage".

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