Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

[ToledoRailfan]

Anyone remember this video?


Well I think I've found this crossing's Australian cousin! Could this be the safest grade crossing in Australia? It is located just out of Bacchus Marsh on the Ballarat line:

Probably is...

Although, the only way to make sure it is the safest crossing in Australia is to put boom gates at it!

By the way, here's the crossing in Street View for those who have trouble finding it.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.680 ... 312!8i6656

Back in 2009, the crossing had a WCH m-bell.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.680 ... 312!8i6656

It appears that there actually is a crossing there though, unlike the one in the video.

[ToledoRailfan]

I came across this stock image of a signal that has both normal lights and the lights that are connected to each other.

[McK&H.Aust]

I came across this stock image of a signal that has both normal lights and the lights that are connected to each other.

Looks like a NSW installation. They appear to be standard WCH 8 inch lights, with the large rectangular background added later. This was done when sighting issues were encountered with the lights, usually caused by the sun being at a bad angle. Don't see it being done very often these days, I guess the use of LED's has solved most sighting problems, although all crossings in WA still have rectangular backgrounds.

[McK&H.Aust]

I have some bad news. The Yerong St level crossing at The Rock (the one with the Modern Industries bell) will be upgraded with gates this Thursday, June 29. Sadly this will see the removal of the MI bell, leaving the crossing at Wagga Wagga as the only remaining one with MI bells in NSW.

https://extranet.artc.com.au/docman/Doc ... 1442438673

[TrickyMario7654]

I have some bad news. The Yerong St level crossing at The Rock (the one with the Modern Industries bell) will be upgraded with gates this Thursday, June 29. Sadly this will see the removal of the MI bell, leaving the crossing at Wagga Wagga as the only remaining one with MI bells in NSW.

https://extranet.artc.com.au/docman/Doc ... 1442438673

D'rats! That's gonna hurt.

Where did this upgrade come from? There wasn't any mention of it before today...

I've also heard that the crossing at Clarendon now has new signals. Why did they replace the old ones.

[McK&H.Aust]

I have some bad news. The Yerong St level crossing at The Rock (the one with the Modern Industries bell) will be upgraded with gates this Thursday, June 29. Sadly this will see the removal of the MI bell, leaving the crossing at Wagga Wagga as the only remaining one with MI bells in NSW.

https://extranet.artc.com.au/docman/Doc ... 1442438673

D'rats! That's gonna hurt.

Where did this upgrade come from? There wasn't any mention of it before today...

I've also heard that the crossing at Clarendon now has new signals. Why did they replace the old ones.

The Rock upgrade came from out of the blue. It was only 4 months ago when I filmed the crossing and there was no sign of any upgrade work being done then, it's certainly happened very quickly. Seems to be a common theme on the Melbourne to Sydney line, both north and south of the border they are replacing most of the gateless crossings.

Haven't been back to Clarendon since last year so I don't know what work was done. The old signals were installed in the 1990's and Sydney Trains seem to have a thing for upgrading all their crossings. When it comes to upgrades they seem to have a scorched earth policy (rip out everything and replace it) just like what happened at Clifton. I guess the new signals would have United Group lights, WCH e-bells and WCH gate mechs, it's the only equipment that Sydney Trains uses these days.

[chris96]

I have some bad news. The Yerong St level crossing at The Rock (the one with the Modern Industries bell) will be upgraded with gates this Thursday, June 29. Sadly this will see the removal of the MI bell, leaving the crossing at Wagga Wagga as the only remaining one with MI bells in NSW.

https://extranet.artc.com.au/docman/Doc ... 1442438673

D'rats! That's gonna hurt.

Where did this upgrade come from? There wasn't any mention of it before today...

I've also heard that the crossing at Clarendon now has new signals. Why did they replace the old ones.

The Rock upgrade came from out of the blue. It was only 4 months ago when I filmed the crossing and there was no sign of any upgrade work being done then, it's certainly happened very quickly. Seems to be a common theme on the Melbourne to Sydney line, both north and south of the border they are replacing most of the gateless crossings.

Haven't been back to Clarendon since last year so I don't know what work was done. The old signals were installed in the 1990's and Sydney Trains seem to have a thing for upgrading all their crossings. When it comes to upgrades they seem to have a scorched earth policy (rip out everything and replace it) just like what happened at Clifton. I guess the new signals would have United Group lights, WCH e-bells and WCH gate mechs, it's the only equipment that Sydney Trains uses these days.

That's really sad news about the MI bell at The Rock. Let's just hope that the ones at Wagga Wagga can survive a little longer!

On a different note, I discovered something interesting about the crossing at Bomen in NSW (the one you recently posted a video for). It appears that the faulty Westinghouse Hybrid bell was only installed sometime after 2007. This streetview image shows a WCH M-Bell in its place:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.071 ... 328!8i1664

There's also a new relay hut shown in the video that wasn't there in 2007. This is where it now stands:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.071 ... 328!8i1664

You can see it in the background at 0:57

[McK&H.Aust]

On a different note, I discovered something interesting about the crossing at Bomen in NSW (the one you recently posted a video for). It appears that the faulty Westinghouse Hybrid bell was only installed sometime after 2007. This streetview image shows a WCH M-Bell in its place:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.071 ... 328!8i1664

There's also a new relay hut shown in the video that wasn't there in 2007. This is where it now stands:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.071 ... 328!8i1664

You can see it in the background at 0:57

I saw the streetview image for Bomen a while back, maybe the WCH bell died and they had a spare hybrid sitting around. A similar thing happened at the Olympic Hwy, Illabo which had a WCH m-bell replaced by a hybrid bell. The streetview image was also from 2007 I think, and has only been updated in the past few days and now you can't seem to navigate back to the older image https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.803 ... 312!8i6656 I have filmed this crossing and hope to have it posted in the next week or so, it's very rare now to find crossings that have hybrid bells paired with WCH m-bells.

The relay hut at Bomen was relocated in July 2008 when the passing loop was extended, the current hut is bigger as it also houses the new interlocking equipment for the extended loop.

[TrickyMario7654]

A similar thing happened at the Olympic Hwy, Illabo which had a WCH m-bell replaced by a hybrid bell. The streetview image was also from 2007 I think, and has only been updated in the past few days and now you can't seem to navigate back to the older image https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.803 ... 312!8i6656 I have filmed this crossing and hope to have it posted in the next week or so, it's very rare now to find crossings that have hybrid bells paired with WCH m-bells.

I noticed the crossing has a mix of WCH and GRS/WRRS gate mechs. I wonder why this is the case?

I also noticed that this gateless signal has one Alstom light and one WCH light. Has this crossing also suffered from vehicle strikes too?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.803 ... 312!8i6656

[freebrickproductions]

A similar thing happened at the Olympic Hwy, Illabo which had a WCH m-bell replaced by a hybrid bell. The streetview image was also from 2007 I think, and has only been updated in the past few days and now you can't seem to navigate back to the older image https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.803 ... 312!8i6656 I have filmed this crossing and hope to have it posted in the next week or so, it's very rare now to find crossings that have hybrid bells paired with WCH m-bells.

I noticed the crossing has a mix of WCH and GRS/WRRS gate mechs. I wonder why this is the case?

I also noticed that this gateless signal has one Alstom light and one WCH light. Has this crossing also suffered from vehicle strikes too?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.803 ... 312!8i6656

Extra long visors on the Alstom lights as well:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.803 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.803 ... 312!8i6656