Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Talk about signals ranging from wigwags to EVA signals here.

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Applehead137
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by Applehead137 » Mon Aug 10, 2020 7:15 pm

Ok so to follow up LCFs last post on the removal of old equipment at allendale rd , I have seen pictures of the crossing taken by SBMetro pre stage 4 lockdown. Unfortunately the bells were obviously replaced by GS E-bells as well as the old lights and crossarms replaced by the new style Westinghouse LED lights . The gate mechanisms were reached by WCH ones and all the crossbucks were replaced with new reflective ones. For some reason the newer crossbucks are a slightly font in lettering and different size . They look like they were mounted 40 degrees not 45 degrees for some reason.

Another thing is that I’ve been watching a lot of the Victorian years in steam films , many of which are available on YouTube. I have private copy’s of the 1994 and 95 editions which are now unavailable to get but everything after that can be brought or watched on YouTube. In the 94 one there was footage of the Anderson street yarraville gates which were on borrowed time at that point. In another scene , Macaulay rd Kensington is seen with older gate mechanisms as well as the original signal next to the signal box. The bells at that time were Westinghouse hybrids and were programmed the same way as the current bells. The bell that sounded until the gates rose was sounding a bit flat at that time. In the 95 one the ascot vale rd and Gisborne had gates were seen as well as the newly upgraded crossing at westernport Highway Lyndhurst pre grade sep . The crossing had hybrids as well as Westinghouse EB gate mechs. A gateless signal and the CRB cantilever was reused at the crossing when they upgraded it to gates.

There are many different locations in the films . In the 1998 one Devon rd Oak Park was seen when it had a hybrid and griswald combo although the griswald sounded out when the gates lowered. Westernport rd Lang Lang is seen in April of that year for the K190 transfer back to Newport ( last steam on south Gippsland line ). The crossing didn’t activate and was probably turned off by then. There’s footage from 1997 of it activating though.

Another thing that shocked me was in the 99 one , Macaulay rd Kensington can be heard with the type 1 ebells so they would have been installed back in the late 90s !

Here ar some video links https://youtu.be/eC-nAOYWLHU

https://youtu.be/7klhxOWMZxE

https://youtu.be/ZKNHuL9askY

https://youtu.be/0GdYw_99fMU
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chris96
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by chris96 » Tue Aug 18, 2020 5:12 am

Applehead137 wrote:
Mon Aug 10, 2020 7:15 pm
Another thing that shocked me was in the 99 one , Macaulay rd Kensington can be heard with the type 1 ebells so they would have been installed back in the late 90s !


Sorry for the late reply, but that's amazing! Unfortunately, the Youtube videos you linked have now been taken down, so I didn't get to hear them for myself. But I'm very surprised that E-Bells were around in Melbourne way back then (apart from the Barker Technics versions of course)! I recently had an interesting conversation with a signal maintaner (I actually made a full post about it on page 224) who told me the E-Bells at Macaulay Rd in Kensington were installed as a trial in 2002 and were the first of their kind on the network. So I guess either he was mistaken and got the year mixed up or an even older version of the bell was experimented with at the crossing before the current type 1's were installed. Do you know if the footage was actually from 1999 and wasn't recorded later? If they really were installed in the late 90's, they've held up really well all these years (though even lasting from 2002 to today is a very decent effort for an e-bell).
Applehead137
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Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 1:22 am

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by Applehead137 » Wed Aug 19, 2020 1:14 am

chris96 wrote:
Tue Aug 18, 2020 5:12 am
[quote=Applehead137 post_id=43380 time=<a href="tel:1597104930">1597104930</a> user_id=446]
Another thing that shocked me was in the 99 one , Macaulay rd Kensington can be heard with the type 1 ebells so they would have been installed back in the late 90s !


Sorry for the late reply, but that's amazing! Unfortunately, the Youtube videos you linked have now been taken down, so I didn't get to hear them for myself. But I'm very surprised that E-Bells were around in Melbourne way back then (apart from the Barker Technics versions of course)! I recently had an interesting conversation with a signal maintaner (I actually made a full post about it on page 224) who told me the E-Bells at Macaulay Rd in Kensington were installed as a trial in 2002 and were the first of their kind on the network. So I guess either he was mistaken and got the year mixed up or an even older version of the bell was experimented with at the crossing before the current type 1's were installed. Do you know if the footage was actually from 1999 and wasn't recorded later? If they really were installed in the late 90's, they've held up really well all these years (though even lasting from 2002 to today is a very decent effort for an e-bell).
[/quote]

Yes the footage was recorded in 99, the bells sounded like the type 1s that are there today but healthier. Footage was released in I think 2000 and can be brought from steam media productions for about $50 i think. That includes the whole 2 hr DVD of amazing footage though.
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SBMetro
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by SBMetro » Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:21 am

I have finally gotten around to posting the photos I took of the new setup at Allendale Rd. There is still some of the old equipment that remains, the bases, the SORS signs as well as the crossbuck on the gateless signal. Sad to see the crossing get upgraded but I have always been a fan of newer installations. Also the bell is confirmed to be a GS Type 3. And sorry for not great image quality... I swear it was better on my phoneImageImageImageImage
RedhenRailcarSAR
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by RedhenRailcarSAR » Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:29 am

Nice pictures SBMetro!
Something seems off about those new crossbucks, I think it may be the angle the crossbucks are at, they seem smaller than 45 degrees. It may also be the font although I have a bit of trouble picking the difference :Confused:
On a recent trip I ended up exploring the last 3 operational crossings on the Eyre Peninsula and recording activations, they all have LED upgrades and Siemens E-Bell upgrades. The Eyre Hwy crossings both have Siemens either 10 or 12 inch lights (I’ve heard different stuff about their size so I am not entirely sure). The 3rd one on Thevenard Road (next to Thevenard Road but the road doesn’t have a name) has Westinghouse LEDs. Hopefully soon I’ll release some footage of them. Also ended up recording 2 out of 3 Pichi Richi crossings and a couple in Port Augusta area.
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108CAM
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by 108CAM » Sun Sep 13, 2020 7:50 pm

Current and former locations of black Westinghouse Hybrid Bells

Here are the crossings I know of that used to have black Westinghouse Hybrids
Webb Street, Narre Warren
Chandler Road, Noble Park
Rooks Road, Mitcham
Mitcham Road, Mitcham
Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell
Wallan-Whittlesea Road, Wallan
Napier Street, Bendigo
Finn Street, Bendigo
Golf Course Road, Ascot

Here is the only crossing I know of that still has a black Westinghouse Hybrid bell
Single Street, Werris Creek

If anyone knows of any other crossings that have or had black Westinghouse hybrid Bells, Please feel free to let me know and I will add them to the list.
Last edited by 108CAM on Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:51 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Jack2003
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by Jack2003 » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:57 pm

108CAM wrote:
Sun Sep 13, 2020 7:50 pm
Current and former locations of black Westinghouse Hybrid Bells

Here are the crossings I know of that used to have black Westinghouse Hybrids
Webb Street, Narre Warren
Corrigan Road, Noble Park
Rooks Road, Mitcham
Mitcham Road, Mitcham

Here is the only crossing I know of that still has a black Westinghouse Hybrid bell
Single Street, Werris Creek

If anyone knows of any other crossings that have or had black Westinghouse hybrid Bells, Please feel free to let me know and I will add them to the list.
Is was Chandler Road which had a black hybrid bell, not Corrigan Road. There used to be one at Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, one at Wallan-Whittlesea Road, Wallan, one at Napier Street, Bendigo and also one at Finn Street, Bendigo.
Here's a list of remaining mechanical bells on Victoria's railways: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5126&p=41865&hilit=metro#p41865
Applehead137
Posts: 57
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by Applehead137 » Sun Sep 27, 2020 3:52 am

Sorry I haven’t been active on here for a while but I have noticed some very interesting things on streetview. Looking at the Western SG line between the SA border and Dimboola, I noticed a lot of the crossings are gateless setups that I think were installed with flashing lights around 1983-1984. Signal diagram of part of the line from 1984 showing a lot of the crossings marked with FL. Anyway looking at the older street view of a lot of them I noticed that they actually had WCH incandescent lights which is pretty rare in vic. They probably had WCH or WRRS crossarms and I think some had Harmon ones as well but it’s hard to tell. A lot of them had either hybrid bells or WCH 1st gen M bells which is also very are for vic. Alot of them had there gongs painted black like a hybrid bell! Looks like the lights were replaced by Westinghouse LEDs for most of the crossings by 2010.

Here’s Miriam rd with WCH lights in 2008: https://www.google.com/maps/@-36.355922 ... 328!8i1664

And in 2010 with Westinghouse LEDs https://goo.gl/maps/R5J1Ngn71c6UGKRaA

Woorak Road sailsbury loop also had a WCH bell but the gong was painted silver like the rest of the bell : https://goo.gl/maps/VqgQjpgpmC6vpGXM7

By now the bell, lights and SORS signs have been replaced with new ones, interesting how they replaced the older black SORS signs with newer black SORS signs! https://goo.gl/maps/d9rZzd2KSgkQQ9EU8

Cemetery road Dimboola still had WRRS crossarms WCH lights in the 2010 street view as well as some Westinghouse lights and a crossarm. I’m guessing the crossing would have been completely upgraded with new lights and bells by now. https://goo.gl/maps/bo6LppysxJoXGfkF7

Here’s something that’s also very interesting! Another crossing in Victoria has been found to have GRS Lex-C lights! It’s Diapur-Yanac rd, Diapur. It’s hard to see in the street view as it’s from 2008 so the quality is very bad and so is the lighting but you can tell that some of the lights on the crossing are definitely GRS Lex-C. Some others are WCH and looks like there’s a Westinghouse or Harmon crossarm on one of the signals! There’s also a hazard triangle for the advance warning sign and a rarer “railway X crossing” sign instead of the more common “rail X crossing”. https://goo.gl/maps/HiHHKgwvARgLd1xm7

Unfortunately the lights were replaced with LEDs and so was the railway X crossing sign but it’s pretty cool to know that fyansford wasn’t the only crossing in Victoria with this equipment. https://goo.gl/maps/vj2QSu2zcQNDz3Nr9

Not sure but did these crossings proximity to SA have an effect on this equipment as WCH lights and bells are used more in SA? Maybe they were using more WCH and WRRS stuff around 1983-1984. If you look at corrigan rd Nobel Park which has since been removed, the crossing there had WRRS crossarms and WCH lights added to the crossing when the crossing got gates in August 1984. https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.961419 ... 312!8i6656

Progress st/Round Tower Road Dandenong South which was installed around 1983-84 as well judging by the equipment among other things has WRRS crossarms and may have had WCH lights as well! https://goo.gl/maps/2rFo8m7rLMGiGRHdA

Unfortunately in some other bad news, the old gated signal at Werribee street Werribee has been removed (one with white pole and Mck&h base) when the whole crossing was realigned. The 2 BG tracks were cut and booked out and leaving only the SG track now on a temporary alignment at the crossing. Signals were all moved or replaced for this. Photos of the new signals can be seen in the background of some shots on LXRAs Facebook page.
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TrickyMario7654
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by TrickyMario7654 » Tue Sep 29, 2020 2:16 am

Just found out that the New Street, Gunnedah crossing is going to be replaced by an overpass by mid-next year.
https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/nor ... index.html

Didn't McK&H Aust. mention this a few years back when he filmed the crossing?
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Jack2003
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Post by Jack2003 » Sat Oct 10, 2020 5:39 pm

TrickyMario7654 wrote:
Tue Sep 29, 2020 2:16 am
Just found out that the New Street, Gunnedah crossing is going to be replaced by an overpass by mid-next year.
https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/nor ... index.html

Didn't McK&H Aust. mention this a few years back when he filmed the crossing?
He did mention that there were plans to remove it, hence why it hadn’t been upgraded with new signals.
Here's a list of remaining mechanical bells on Victoria's railways: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5126&p=41865&hilit=metro#p41865
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