Buena Vista, Colorado crossings disconnected

[Robert_Gift]

Drove by Buena Vista this afternoon and noticed their two signaled grade crossings hadamaged gates.
Some of the double wood gates are broken off. I picked up a piece of gate lying below the signal and was surprised how light weight the wood was.
The power line to the grade crossing relay cabinet at each crossing has been cut off right athe cabinet.
In GooglEarth, below, power istill connected.

Northern crossing:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 03473&z=19

Southern crossing:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 5,,0,-1.67

Further north, I saw crossbuck crossings which had STOP signs. Since there apparently will never be another train there again, I will contacthe street department about removing the unneeded stop signs. That will save air pollution and fuel and wear and tear of how many vehicles every day needlessly stopping and accelerating.
(Hopefully the locals know better than to stop.)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 13894&z=17

[TrainmanKight]

Drove by Buena Vista this afternoon and noticed their two signaled grade crossings hadamaged gates.
Some of the double wood gates are broken off. I picked up a piece of gate lying below the signal and was surprised how light weight the wood was.
The power line to the grade crossing relay cabinet at each crossing has been cut off right athe cabinet.
In GooglEarth, below, power istill connected.

Northern crossing:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 03473&z=19

Southern crossing:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 5,,0,-1.67

Further north, I saw crossbuck crossings which had STOP signs. Since there apparently will never be another train there again, I will contacthe street department about removing the unneeded stop signs. That will save air pollution and fuel and wear and tear of how many vehicles every day needlessly stopping and accelerating.
(Hopefully the locals know better than to stop.)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 13894&z=17

thats such a sad sight to see, as that line was once a major mainline through the royal gorge, but i though the state now owns the line and just doesnt have the money to reopen it yet. i hear a ton of people sat that it will be reopened, i do know theres a dinner train using a section of the route right now but i forgot where it runs to and from.

[Robert_Gift]

...thats such a sad sight to see, as that line was once a major mainline through the royal gorge, but i though the state now owns the line and just doesnt have the money to reopen it yet. i hear a ton of people sat that it will be reopened, i do know theres a dinner train using a section of the route right now but i forgot where it runs to and from.

Since they went to the trouble of severing the power lines, not just turning them off, I doubt that that section of track will ever be reopened.
It is also low (lightweight) rail.

I'm told there is a train which runs into the Royal Gorge and back out.

Also saw some signals which look updated in the vicinity of Salida - south of Buena Vista.
So maybe there is rail traffic through that area. Is there a map which also shows railroads?

[Robert_Gift]

Is it just me or is there a bell mounted on the relay case?

At both crossings, the south signal, (on the west side of the track) has a bell at the top
and the signal case (east side of the track) has a bell which you can reach up and touch!
The bell is removed from the north crossing relay case with two wires hanging out of the mounting pipe.

Also, several hundred yards farther north, there is a block signal. Looks black so it is apparently facing south.
I had to rush so could not get photos of the block signal.

[Robert_Gift]

... Do you know why they chose to put one of the bells so far away from the crossing on the case?

The case is not far from the street. I did not look carefully, but aerial view will show.

Did someone remove part of the gates to lessen chance of anything breaking off and falling on someone?

[Robert_Gift]

As far as the bell mounted on the side of the relay case, it is like that up and down the line. It may have been standard D&RGW practice to do so. I have a pic that I took closer to Canon City.

Is that a severed power wire to the signal/case?
This should also be under Bells Only Crossings category.

It may be thathey often had the power wire descend through the air from the utility pole to the relay cabinet.
This practice was probably wisely stopped because it leaves the system too vulnerable to criminal vandalism.
If I were a railroad, I would relocate all such exposed wires into a pipe down into an underground feed.

Everyone: BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SABOTAGE AND HAVE THE RAILROAD'S NUMBERS IN YOUR CELL PHONE MEMORIES.

[Robert_Gift]

What was the voltage in the power wires?
120 VAC which a transformer in the relay cabinet converted to 12 VAC which was then rectified to 10VDC?
(Rectification drops voltage by 1.5 volts.)