Maine Crossing Gets An Upgrade!

[Crossingman18]

Old Danville Rd #2 http://www.rxrsignals.net/Maine/Auburn/Danville2/ , (which use to be one of my favorite spots to watch and chase Guilford Rail Systems) Recieved a upgrade from 8" WRRS lights and a barely clinging to life WRRS M bell, to 3 signals with unknown 12X20 lights (unsure if they are incandescant or LED) and not one, not two, but THREE US&S E bells. From my understanding, this is the first crossing on the Pan Am Line in Maine. I dont knwo if there are others out there I dont know about, but from me personally, its the first. From what it looks like, a 3rd track was installed at the junction, which probably means more train movement, and the new signals were installed. Here's some pics. These will appear in a unscheduled Maine Update in the next week or so.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20091 ... w&BOOL=ALL
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20091 ... e&BOOL=ALL
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20091 ... w&BOOL=ALL
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20091 ... e&BOOL=ALL

[illinoistrains]

interesting to see some US&S e-bells starting to pop up.

[Crossingman18]

The crossing has had another modification to it. This time, gates have been added which i thought was a waste of time and money. Here's the facts...

The road the crossing is on is larger than your normal 2 lane rd. Any idiot can get around these gates. 2. There's ANOTHER rd in the middle between Maine Central Springfield Terminal (AKA Pan Am) and St. lawrence & Atlantic railroad tracks. One could make a smooth left turn and easily go right between the gates. There is no gate for this middle rd. only flashers from one of the signals. On the plus note, the US&S E bells ring while the gates are still down, and they do sound a lot louder than the GS type 2 and the Safetrans 2 and 3.

Here's a video proving my findings.

[signal_man]

Thats interesting, is there a big hill is that why there is lights up on the mast?

[Crossingman18]

yes there is. Infact, thats the reason there's a cantilever right next to that crossing due to the large hill going down. Here's a picture of the 2 crossings before the upgrade. However, the St. Lawrence & Atlantic RR Crossing in the distace from what I understand hasn't been touched, and will likely never be touched. That part of the line gets low usage through there except for switching.

http://www.rxrsignals.net/Maine/Auburn/Danville2/1.jpg