A rare 60-year-old railway barrier was seriously damaged after a train struck it when an operator lowered it too early. The crossing gate was knocked down by a sand freight train leaving the disused Middleton Towers station last Saturday afternoon. The Lynn News has been told that this was an avoidable incident, caused by an error by a member of the crossing gate crew. The gates, the closest ones to the station house along Station Road, are considered rare and are not easy to replace. Alex Brammer, the managing director of Middleton Towers Restoration Group – which is currently fixing up the s…