Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

chris96 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:51 pm

108CAM wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 06, 2021 4:52 am

A change at the Racecourse Road crossing in Pakenham
The Hybrid bell on the station side of the crossing has been replaced with a General Signals Type 3 E-Bell

However the Hybrid bell on the other side was oddly left in place

Lastly, a photo of both signals

Yet another completely pointless upgrade since the crossing is about to be removed! At least the other Hybrid survives for now.

The bell probably died which is why it was replaced. It’s sad that it’s gone now because it sounded great with the other hybrid bell.

Jack2003 wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 15, 2021 11:12 pm

chris96 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:51 pm

108CAM wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 06, 2021 4:52 am

A change at the Racecourse Road crossing in Pakenham
The Hybrid bell on the station side of the crossing has been replaced with a General Signals Type 3 E-Bell

However the Hybrid bell on the other side was oddly left in place

Lastly, a photo of both signals

Yet another completely pointless upgrade since the crossing is about to be removed! At least the other Hybrid survives for now.

The bell probably died which is why it was replaced. It’s sad that it’s gone now because it sounded great with the other hybrid bell.

I suppose that's what most likely happened. Just a shame it couldn't hang on a little bit longer.

On a different note, I just discovered that The Workshops Rail Museum in Brisbane has an old NZ style Wig Wag on display!
https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.597878 ... 312!8i6656

chris96 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:04 am

Jack2003 wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 15, 2021 11:12 pm

chris96 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:51 pm

108CAM wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 06, 2021 4:52 am

A change at the Racecourse Road crossing in Pakenham
The Hybrid bell on the station side of the crossing has been replaced with a General Signals Type 3 E-Bell

However the Hybrid bell on the other side was oddly left in place

Lastly, a photo of both signals

Yet another completely pointless upgrade since the crossing is about to be removed! At least the other Hybrid survives for now.

The bell probably died which is why it was replaced. It’s sad that it’s gone now because it sounded great with the other hybrid bell.

I suppose that's what most likely happened. Just a shame it couldn't hang on a little bit longer.

Even though I live within the general area, I was not aware of this replacement, though that may be in part due to lockdowns. Sadly, that means there's only one mechanical bell left in Pakenham now. Ten years ago, there were no e-bells in Pakenham at all, but sadly, they've now infested the area.

TrickyMario7654 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:56 pm

Even though I live within the general area, I was not aware of this replacement, though that may be in part due to lockdowns. Sadly, that means there's only one mechanical bell left in Pakenham now. Ten years ago, there were no e-bells in Pakenham at all, but sadly, they've now infested the area.

Yeah, I think Metro might have taken advantage of the lockdowns to carry out "upgrades" on some of their infrastructure. Speaking of which, I just discovered tonight that the Keon Parade crossing in Keon Park has unfortunately had its Hybrids replaced with E-Bells during the lockdown too:
IMG_5789 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5787 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5788 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
I was under the impression that this crossing was on the LXRA removal list. However, I couldn't see any signage nearby stating that it was up for removal. Does anyone know what the deal is?

chris96 wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:13 am

TrickyMario7654 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:56 pm

Even though I live within the general area, I was not aware of this replacement, though that may be in part due to lockdowns. Sadly, that means there's only one mechanical bell left in Pakenham now. Ten years ago, there were no e-bells in Pakenham at all, but sadly, they've now infested the area.

Yeah, I think Metro might have taken advantage of the lockdowns to carry out "upgrades" on some of their infrastructure. Speaking of which, I just discovered tonight that the Keon Parade crossing in Keon Park has unfortunately had its Hybrids replaced with E-Bells during the lockdown too:
IMG_5789 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5787 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5788 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
I was under the impression that this crossing was on the LXRA removal list. However, I couldn't see any signage nearby stating that it was up for removal. Does anyone know what the deal is?

Damn, that's sad. Keon Parade was added to the removal list a few months ago, so I don't get why they bothered replacing the bells at the crossing.

Speaking of which, I believe there's now only 16 (maybe even less) crossings left on the suburban network with mechanical bells now. At this time five years ago, there were 51 crossings with mechanical bells on the suburban network. Just goes to show how quickly mechanical bells have vanished from the network.

What a shame. It looks like Donnybrook Road's Hybrids might also be in danger as I noticed there is a lot of track work going on in the area with signs warning motorists of upcoming crossing works.

I was in Williamstown today and was surprised to see that the Giffard St crossing is currently not-electrified! The original overhead gantry has been entirely replaced, but the new overhead wires have not been installed yet. Here's what the crossing currently looks like:
IMG_5810 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5815 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5812 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5811 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

New searchlight signals have also been installed near the crossing:
IMG_5813 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

These replaced the original incandescent units:
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.865679 ... 384!8i8192

The Barker Technics E-Bells and incandescent lights are currently still intact at the crossing. Let's hope they remain after the other upgrades in the area are completed:
IMG_5814 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

All of these upgrade works are part of the nearby Ferguson St LXRA project. Speaking of which, the entire Ferguson St crossing has now been completely removed!:
IMG_5817 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

chris96 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:46 am

I was in Williamstown today and was surprised to see that the Giffard St crossing is currently not-electrified! The original overhead gantry has been entirely replaced, but the new overhead wires have not been installed yet. Here's what the crossing currently looks like:
IMG_5810 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5815 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5812 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_5811 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

New searchlight signals have also been installed near the crossing:
IMG_5813 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

These replaced the original incandescent units:
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.865679 ... 384!8i8192

The Barker Technics E-Bells and incandescent lights are currently still intact at the crossing. Let's hope they remain after the other upgrades in the area are completed:
IMG_5814 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

All of these upgrade works are part of the nearby Ferguson St LXRA project. Speaking of which, the entire Ferguson St crossing has now been completely removed!:
IMG_5817 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

I have no idea why they'd remove a crossing on the Williamstown line, considering that it's one of the quietest lines on the suburban network. Surely it wouldn't be a massive traffic problem. Honestly, I think this government have gone ridiculously overboard with this crossing removal nonsense.

Dunno how busy the road itself is, but I could see that playing a factor. Safety reasons could've been another one. If more services are run during rush-hour periods, that too could factor into the decision to remove it. Hell, maybe the people in the area just wanted the government to remove it, even if none of the other factors listed earlier would've had it "make the cut".

EDIT: Of course, that being said, if you set a continuous goal of removing a certain section of something (such as, say, the top 10% of busiest and/or most dangerous crossings in a region), you're eventually gonna start cutting into sections well below (or above, if you're cutting from the bottom up) what you'd initially planned for.

freebrickproductions wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 27, 2021 3:38 am

Dunno how busy the road itself is, but I could see that playing a factor. Safety reasons could've been another one. If more services are run during rush-hour periods, that too could factor into the decision to remove it. Hell, maybe the people in the area just wanted the government to remove it, even if none of the other factors listed earlier would've had it "make the cut".

EDIT: Of course, that being said, if you set a continuous goal of removing a certain section of something (such as, say, the top 10% of busiest and/or most dangerous crossings in a region), you're eventually gonna start cutting into sections well below (or above, if you're cutting from the bottom up) what you'd initially planned for.

Ferguson St was actually a notoriously bad crossing while it operated and it was indeed mostly due to how busy the road traffic was. Plus it was surrounded by a mess of roundabouts, busy side streets and pedestrian crossings that only made things worse. Even though the Williamstown line is fairly quiet compared to other METRO operated lines, when the crossing did activate, it caused traffic chaos. Due to the previous timetable, it was common for a Williamstown bound train and a Melbourne bound train to meet on or near the crossing. This meant that after a Williamstown service cleared Ferguson St, the signals would remain activated for a Melbourne service that was still at Williamstown Beach station, causing the gates to be down for several minuets. As you can imagine, this was plenty of time for traffic to bank up. Many locals did complain about the crossing, so (as unfortunate as it is for us signal fans) I can totally understand why it had to be removed.

Kororoit Creek Rd, Altona and Werribee St, Werribee though....now those are some truly pointless removals!