The first guarded crossings between roads and railways had gates that were closed across the road. One such gate is on display inside the museum. Starting from the early 1900s, gates were increasingly replaced by barriers. These barriers were lowered manually, either with a crank at the barrier itself or, as in this case, with cables from a crank located further away, often at the station building or signal box.
Nowadays, barriers are powered by electric motors and lower automatically when a train approaches. Today's barriers are often made of wood, designed so that they can be easily driven through if a vehicle gets stuck on the tracks with the barriers down.

Picture: Barriers in Limhamn, 1910