Great Western Coffee Shop

A sign at Liskeard

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/lsk_crs.jpg)

and the crossing in question

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/lsk_cro.jpg)

Have I correctly identified that as MDF?
Would you describe MDF as timber??
Isn't that going to get pretty slippery in icy weather?
Why does the sign need to tell us what it's made of in the first place?

Timber crossing is often used as a generic term for this type of track crossing.

It will have been treated with an anti-slip coating

IME, MDF has a very short life outdoors and I would therefore be rather surprised if the crossing pictured is made of MDF.
More likely to be some form of plastic or GRP composite material.

It's visibly had a sheet of something nailed to it - probably plywood. The thicker material underneath is, I would guess, also plywood (but could be solid wood), and in both cases it ought to be marine plywood for durability.

The question of whether MDF is wood, or more generally how timber products rate for flammability, arises in the interpretation of fire ratings for lamps installed into ceilings and similar surfaces (e.g. GU10 or MR16). Or arose - LEDs are so much cooler that this issue is largely irrelevant now; how the rules have evolved I don't know. What I do remember is that the rules didn't make the same distinctions in French as in English, but of course it's traditional for our electrical installation rules to be different.

Never mind MDF versus timber, that sign is seriously lacking in punctuation.
<mutter, grumble, what is the world coming to>

Those type of foot crossings used to be made of ply.  They were then coated with an anti-slip treatment and the edges painted with yellow lines.  I think the ORR/RAIB might (or probably not) be interested in that one at Liskeard..... :P

<well, not a full stop, obviously>

Grammatical indigestion. Trouble with my colon and I'm slipping into a comma.

i don't know if its just me, but I can't see the pictures  :(

They're in the top of the thread - http://www.passenger.chat/23137 .. the router issues we've had this morning may mean that if you're connected from certain places / ISPs, image won't always show.

Pictures present now. Clearly just a glitch.

MDF is certainly not timber and cannot easily be recycled,

MDF is just sawdust and resin and is thought to be very cancerous. You can get moistureproof MDF for bathroom works/lining but with the associated chemicals is probably worse for health.

It does suggest that one need only use the footbridge if there have been recent prosecutions of any surviving trespassers. I seem to recall a previous thread with ambiguous signs.  It did not include the one in the car park outside my son's place which is more recent, telling me that "Regulations are in force 24/7" I have won two retractions of parking tickets there, a 100% success rate, but neither on the grounds that it wasn't 24 July.

Perhaps if it read 'Passengers must not use this MDF crossing' no-one would know what it meant.

Well I know I wouldn't.

Maryland Death Fest crossing, or for telecom types, Main Distrubution Frame crossing.

Missed the obvious then, the way to the world famous Melksham Death (metal music) Festival.

Melksham Foundation for Dyslexia.

(Sorry grahame ;D)