Another Stoughton, MA crossing
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:54 pm
Now that updates may be happening again on this website soon (IDK who to contact though), I thought I'd show off these pics of a railroad crossing I never photographed before. It is located in Stoughton, MA; on Brock St. The railroad line is owned by the MBTA.
Surprisingly, even though this is an MBTA crossing, there aren't any gates installed! I've never seen crossing lights like these before. They had "Sperry Rail Services" logos on them, which suggests these are replacement lights.
More views of these funky visors on the lights.
The relay case with the standard blue MBTA DOT number sign. This crossing's DOT number is #546739V.
Track view facing southbound.
An OLD DOT number. Apparently these tracks were formerly owned by the Boston and Maine Railroad before the MBTA acquired it. IDK who currently does freight service on the Stoughton/Providence line; it may be Pan-Am, Norfolk Southern or CSX (I did once see a very short freight train on this line, but it just had an old Conrail engine, a box car and one of those covered auto carrier cars. Most freight trains I see on the Middleboro/Lakeville line, which runs through my city, are 20-30 cars long and usually are hauled by CSX GP40-2 locomotives.)
The other signal has regular WRRS 8-inch incandescent lights and a Safetran mechanical bell. Unusual seeing that kind of bell on a crossing without Safetran lights or gates, suggesting this bell replaced an older model. The Safetran mechanical bells have a distinct sound to me, probably because most of the crossings along the Middleboro/Lakeville line have them (but those crossings also have Safetran cantilever signals and gates.)
Northbound track view. A funny story; just as I was about to photograph this view I saw a teenage boy and girl walking down the tracks! That gave me a bit of a scare. As they got closer I had to shout to them to get off the railway tracks because they could get arrested, or a train could run over them, as these tracks were used very frequently. "There's nearly 30 trains a day passing through here!" I said. They just got off the track and thanked me, and I said to myself "Whew!" I hope they'd realize if it wasn't for me, they could be in big trouble with the cops or the railroad company, or even in the hospital if a train ran over them! (MBTA's commuter trains do go awfully fast.)
Rear view of the signal with the WRRS lights and Safetran bell.
Crossing overview.
Surprisingly, even though this is an MBTA crossing, there aren't any gates installed! I've never seen crossing lights like these before. They had "Sperry Rail Services" logos on them, which suggests these are replacement lights.
More views of these funky visors on the lights.
The relay case with the standard blue MBTA DOT number sign. This crossing's DOT number is #546739V.
Track view facing southbound.
An OLD DOT number. Apparently these tracks were formerly owned by the Boston and Maine Railroad before the MBTA acquired it. IDK who currently does freight service on the Stoughton/Providence line; it may be Pan-Am, Norfolk Southern or CSX (I did once see a very short freight train on this line, but it just had an old Conrail engine, a box car and one of those covered auto carrier cars. Most freight trains I see on the Middleboro/Lakeville line, which runs through my city, are 20-30 cars long and usually are hauled by CSX GP40-2 locomotives.)
The other signal has regular WRRS 8-inch incandescent lights and a Safetran mechanical bell. Unusual seeing that kind of bell on a crossing without Safetran lights or gates, suggesting this bell replaced an older model. The Safetran mechanical bells have a distinct sound to me, probably because most of the crossings along the Middleboro/Lakeville line have them (but those crossings also have Safetran cantilever signals and gates.)
Northbound track view. A funny story; just as I was about to photograph this view I saw a teenage boy and girl walking down the tracks! That gave me a bit of a scare. As they got closer I had to shout to them to get off the railway tracks because they could get arrested, or a train could run over them, as these tracks were used very frequently. "There's nearly 30 trains a day passing through here!" I said. They just got off the track and thanked me, and I said to myself "Whew!" I hope they'd realize if it wasn't for me, they could be in big trouble with the cops or the railroad company, or even in the hospital if a train ran over them! (MBTA's commuter trains do go awfully fast.)
Rear view of the signal with the WRRS lights and Safetran bell.
Crossing overview.
