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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 5:40 am
by Applehead137
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 11:00 pm
by TrickyMario7654
Speaking of crossing removals, the LXRA have today that the removal for the Cardina Road (one of my local crossings) has been 'fast tracked' with works to begin on a road bridge due to start later this year. :aaargh:
https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/media ... or-removal

Actually to tell you the truth, I drive over this crossing every school day and I don't find it "dangerous and congested" like they claim. Sure, there's a lot of traffic using the road, but we pretty much always make it to school on time. Also, the last accident at this crossing I can recall was back in 2006 (when there was mostly empty paddocks surrounding the crossing) and the road was single carriageway in each direction.

End of rant.

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 8:48 pm
by chris96
TrickyMario7654 wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 11:00 pm
Speaking of crossing removals, the LXRA have today that the removal for the Cardina Road (one of my local crossings) has been 'fast tracked' with works to begin on a road bridge due to start later this year. :aaargh:
https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/media ... or-removal

Actually to tell you the truth, I drive over this crossing every school day and I don't find it "dangerous and congested" like they claim. Sure, there's a lot of traffic using the road, but we pretty much always make it to school on time. Also, the last accident at this crossing I can recall was back in 2006 (when there was mostly empty paddocks surrounding the crossing) and the road was single carriageway in each direction.

End of rant.
That's ridiculous considering the fact the crossing only got "upgraded" 2 years ago. It really doesn't look like a crossing that would cause congestion (being that it's a two lane road with no traffic lights or intersections nearby).

Speaking of crossing upgrades, I managed to get some shots of the now trashed Royal Park crossing:
Image

Both Westinghouse mechs have been replaced with new WCH mechs:
Image
Image

The bell on the Upfield side of the crossing is a much darker shade of grey. It could almost be mistaken for an NEG bell:
Image

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 9:32 pm
by TrickyMario7654
chris96 wrote:
Tue May 07, 2019 8:48 pm
TrickyMario7654 wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 11:00 pm
Speaking of crossing removals, the LXRA have today that the removal for the Cardina Road (one of my local crossings) has been 'fast tracked' with works to begin on a road bridge due to start later this year. :aaargh:
https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/media ... or-removal

Actually to tell you the truth, I drive over this crossing every school day and I don't find it "dangerous and congested" like they claim. Sure, there's a lot of traffic using the road, but we pretty much always make it to school on time. Also, the last accident at this crossing I can recall was back in 2006 (when there was mostly empty paddocks surrounding the crossing) and the road was single carriageway in each direction.

End of rant.
That's ridiculous considering the fact the crossing only got "upgraded" 2 years ago. It really doesn't look like a crossing that would cause congestion (being that it's a two lane road with no traffic lights or intersections nearby).
Well, there are a lot of new houses popping up in the area, but even then I find ourselves rarely getting stopped at the crossing (even though they state more trains will be added to the Pakenham line in the future, causing more boom gate closure time).

If you think that's ridiculous, they're also going to remove all the REMAINING crossings on the Cranbourne line!
https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/proje ... nong-south
https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/proje ... -lyndhurst
https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/proje ... cranbourne

They claim "On the Cranbourne line, boom gates can be down for up to 12 per cent of the morning peak, with up to 13 trains running through the crossings. Current network plans involve increasing trains running on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines, meaning more boom gate downtime.", but why bother adding more trains if you don't duplicate the whole of the Cranbourne line?! It makes the removal of any of the crossings along the line completely pointless!

While I understand removing the crossing at Thompsons Road as part of the road duplication, I think the 'real' reason Abbotts Road was removed in the first place was because of that 2012 accident. Camms Road seems pointless because it's a residential street, Evans Road could be reopened without removing the crossing, and despite being a well-used arterial road, the fact that the line is single track means that the crossing at Greens Road will hardly hold up any traffic for too long!

Sorry for another excessive rant. :Tongue2:

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 12:27 am
by Applehead137
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Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 1:51 am
by chris96
Applehead137 wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 12:27 am
I think it’s so stupid with some of the choices that they make for removal. I really don’t care about Cardina Road getting removed since it’s all new equipment but some of the crossings on the removal list are stupid.
I filmed Camms road in February and barely any cars were using the road. Pointless removal.
Plus if you want to run more trains you should think about making the line double track.
I was in Surry Hills the other day and saw 4 trains go through the union road crossing( it’s a Really Nice crossing except for the bells) and it only helps up like 5 cars either way . Not a lot . Pointless,
And why did metro have to trash royal park . I don’t see a point in replacing the equipment . The gate mechs were fine one of the hybrids was fine the other hybrid was wearing through the gong but they could have just replaced the old gong with a new gong. Point less and waste your of money.
End of rant
It's so irresponsible for the government to consider removing a quiet residential crossing like Camms Rd (which will be a nightmare for locals while removal works take place) instead of crossings like Anderson St in Yarraville which are known to cause traffic chaos. Don't get me wrong, Anderson St is probably my favorite crossing in Melbourne at the moment (now that Royal Park has been trashed) and I really don't want it removed because of the interesting equipment and setup it has. But it's a matter of principal, what logical reason would cause the LXRA to prioritize a crossing on a quiet back road over one in a busy hub with many known problems?

Another example of questionable crossing removal selection was Kororoit Creek Road in Altona. That crossing was only down for about 30 seconds each time it was activated (it was a single track railway) and never caused congestion. On top of that, it had quad gates meaning motorists couldn't drive around the gates even if they wanted to. Does that really sound like "one of Melbourne's most dangerous and congested level crossings" to you?

Now the LXRA wants to remove Werribee St, a freight only crossing that's lucky to see 5 trains a day. What a waste of money and resources!

To end on a good note, here's a vintage photo of the Kororoit Creek Road crossing in 1992 with its original black and white gates:
Image

Better yet, here's one from when it was a gateless single lane road crossing in the late 60's! Looks like it had a Griswold/RACO bell back then:
Image

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 2:34 am
by TrickyMario7654
chris96 wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 1:51 am
Applehead137 wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 12:27 am
I think it’s so stupid with some of the choices that they make for removal. I really don’t care about Cardina Road getting removed since it’s all new equipment but some of the crossings on the removal list are stupid.
I filmed Camms road in February and barely any cars were using the road. Pointless removal.
Plus if you want to run more trains you should think about making the line double track.
I was in Surry Hills the other day and saw 4 trains go through the union road crossing( it’s a Really Nice crossing except for the bells) and it only helps up like 5 cars either way . Not a lot . Pointless,
And why did metro have to trash royal park . I don’t see a point in replacing the equipment . The gate mechs were fine one of the hybrids was fine the other hybrid was wearing through the gong but they could have just replaced the old gong with a new gong. Point less and waste your of money.
End of rant
It's so irresponsible for the government to consider removing a quiet residential crossing like Camms Rd (which will be a nightmare for locals while removal works take place) instead of crossings like Anderson St in Yarraville which are known to cause traffic chaos. Don't get me wrong, Anderson St is probably my favorite crossing in Melbourne at the moment (now that Royal Park has been trashed) and I really don't want it removed because of the interesting equipment and setup it has. But it's a matter of principal, what logical reason would cause the LXRA to prioritize a crossing on a quiet back road over one in a busy hub with many known problems?

Another example of questionable crossing removal selection was Kororoit Creek Road in Altona. That crossing was only down for about 30 seconds each time it was activated (it was a single track railway) and never caused congestion. On top of that, it had quad gates meaning motorists couldn't drive around the gates even if they wanted to. Does that really sound like "one of Melbourne's most dangerous and congested level crossings" to you?

Now the LXRA wants to remove Werribee St, a freight only crossing that's lucky to see 5 trains a day. What a waste of money and resources!

To end on a good note, here's a vintage photo of the Kororoit Creek Road crossing in 1992 with its original black and white gates:
Image

Better yet, here's one from when it was a gateless single lane road crossing in the late 60's! Looks like it had a Griswold/RACO bell back then:
Image
Union Road tends to hold up a lot of traffic in peak hours, plus you had that smash at the crossing in 2016 which killed two elderly women (although they drove onto the tracks as the gates were lowering and got trapped in the crossing).

I think there was some political influence involved during the selection process, as many of the original 50 (as well as the additional 25) were located in key electoral seats and the Labor Government wanted to try and earn more voters by promising crossing removals in those areas.

Some of the crossings up for removal that have been widely questioned on here include Eel Race Road (used only by 500 cars during peak hour), and Camp Road (single track, with a low boom gate closure time, despite being on a major arterial road). You also have some pretty major bottlenecks such as Glenferrie Road (A tramsquare crossing which has trains traveling slowly over it, causing a lot of delays), and Keon Parade (Located near High Street, a major arterial in Melbourne’s northeast), with neither of them up for removal, despite being one crossing away from one up for removal (High Street & Toorak Road respectively)!

On a lighter note, nice finds with those pictures! I’ve posted that 1992 picture before, but not the latter from supposedly the late 1960’s. Love the Tait train in it as well! :TUP1:

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 4:05 am
by McK&H.Aust
Some observations from a recent road trip to Victoria and South Australia.

Visited the crossing at Barnes which was upgraded with gates last year https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.028 ... 328!8i1664
Sadly the upgrade also involved the removal of the former Balranald Line junction and signals at Barnes. Interestingly, all three new signals at the crossing have a mixture of new and old style Westinghouse lights. Here are a few pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=10jc1d ... HKb5rdohPv
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KMHqd ... LqC2djw2--
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Endk ... M-2OoHd4RA
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NtW9p ... NctslSEOrd
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UYDyw ... hHyDP2uDWn
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qS4Ii ... YYAw9saPr6

Some more sad news is the removal of all remaining signals, foundations and relay cases on both disused crossings between Pinnaroo and Murrayville
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.237 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.260 ... 312!8i6656
I'm guessing the removal was done as part of the gauge conversion work of the line between Ouyen and Murrayville, the end of the converted standard gauge section is just before the crossing at Murrayville, as seen in these pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-LGY- ... 114hQzlppd
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15FIMw ... RhF_mdctYp
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ehYo0 ... 5osdK-OqfA

One final thing is the death of a Safetran Type 3 e-bell on the crossing at South Rd/Cross Rd in Adelaide. The older model Type 3 on this signal has died, although the other three bells at the crossing are still working so maybe they're not in a hurry to replace it https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.967 ... 312!8i6656

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 4:42 am
by TrickyMario7654
McK&H.Aust wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 4:05 am
Some observations from a recent road trip to Victoria and South Australia.

Visited the crossing at Barnes which was upgraded with gates last year https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.028 ... 328!8i1664
Sadly the upgrade also involved the removal of the former Balranald Line junction and signals at Barnes. Interestingly, all three new signals at the crossing have a mixture of new and old style Westinghouse lights. Here are a few pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=10jc1d ... HKb5rdohPv
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KMHqd ... LqC2djw2--
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Endk ... M-2OoHd4RA
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NtW9p ... NctslSEOrd
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UYDyw ... hHyDP2uDWn
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qS4Ii ... YYAw9saPr6

Some more sad news is the removal of all remaining signals, foundations and relay cases on both disused crossings between Pinnaroo and Murrayville
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.237 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.260 ... 312!8i6656
I'm guessing the removal was done as part of the gauge conversion work of the line between Ouyen and Murrayville, the end of the converted standard gauge section is just before the crossing at Murrayville, as seen in these pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-LGY- ... 114hQzlppd
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15FIMw ... RhF_mdctYp
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ehYo0 ... 5osdK-OqfA

One final thing is the death of a Safetran Type 3 e-bell on the crossing at South Rd/Cross Rd in Adelaide. The older model Type 3 on this signal has died, although the other three bells at the crossing are still working so maybe they're not in a hurry to replace it https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.967 ... 312!8i6656
NaziRoads strike again! :Curse1:

Barnes seems like a pointless crossing to upgrade, especially seeing that the line sees very trains nowadays. Seems to be a pretty common thing in Victoria for some reason.

Also, removing the junction there looks like an attempt to sabotage any efforts to reopen the line (I doubt there are any plans to begin with).

What crossings did you film, BTW?

Re: Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 6:07 am
by McK&H.Aust
TrickyMario7654 wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 4:42 am
McK&H.Aust wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 4:05 am
Some observations from a recent road trip to Victoria and South Australia.

Visited the crossing at Barnes which was upgraded with gates last year https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.028 ... 328!8i1664
Sadly the upgrade also involved the removal of the former Balranald Line junction and signals at Barnes. Interestingly, all three new signals at the crossing have a mixture of new and old style Westinghouse lights. Here are a few pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=10jc1d ... HKb5rdohPv
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KMHqd ... LqC2djw2--
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Endk ... M-2OoHd4RA
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NtW9p ... NctslSEOrd
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UYDyw ... hHyDP2uDWn
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qS4Ii ... YYAw9saPr6

Some more sad news is the removal of all remaining signals, foundations and relay cases on both disused crossings between Pinnaroo and Murrayville
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.237 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.260 ... 312!8i6656
I'm guessing the removal was done as part of the gauge conversion work of the line between Ouyen and Murrayville, the end of the converted standard gauge section is just before the crossing at Murrayville, as seen in these pictures:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-LGY- ... 114hQzlppd
https://drive.google.com/open?id=15FIMw ... RhF_mdctYp
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ehYo0 ... 5osdK-OqfA

One final thing is the death of a Safetran Type 3 e-bell on the crossing at South Rd/Cross Rd in Adelaide. The older model Type 3 on this signal has died, although the other three bells at the crossing are still working so maybe they're not in a hurry to replace it https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.967 ... 312!8i6656
NaziRoads strike again! :Curse1:

Barnes seems like a pointless crossing to upgrade, especially seeing that the line sees very trains nowadays. Seems to be a pretty common thing in Victoria for some reason.

Also, removing the junction there looks like an attempt to sabotage any efforts to reopen the line (I doubt there are any plans to begin with).

What crossings did you film, BTW?
The upgrade at Barnes seems more ridiculous when you consider the Murray Valley Hwy crossing at Echuca sees very busy traffic but remains gateless, it's unchanged from the GSV image and I also filmed it https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.140 ... 312!8i6656

Other Victorian crossings filmed were the new gated signals at Old Barnawartha Rd, Wodonga https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.102 ... 312!8i6656
High St, Dimboola https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.455 ... 312!8i6656 and Mallee Hwy, Ouyen https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.072 ... 312!8i6656
I can also report that the Westinghouse teardrop bell survives at Yarrawonga, as does the WABCO bell at Donald.

In NSW I filmed Sladen St, Henty which still has Harmon gate mechs but was upgraded with red background crossbucks, and the new gated signals at Rosler Parade, Henty https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-35.526 ... 312!8i6656

Most of the crossings filmed were around Adelaide:
Heaslip Rd, Waterloo Corner https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.710 ... 312!8i6656
Clark Rd, Evanston Gardens https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.627 ... 312!8i6656
Hawker St, Ovingham (now with WCH e-bells) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.901 ... 312!8i6656
Cormack Rd, Wingfield https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.841 ... 312!8i6656
Grange Rd, Hawthorn https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.976 ... 312!8i6656
South Rd/Cross Rd, Edwardstown https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.967 ... 312!8i6656
De Laine Ave, Edwardstown https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.974 ... 312!8i6656
Goodwood Rd, Wayville https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.949 ... 312!8i6656