Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

chris96 wrote:I happen to have some updates on the old signals in Maryborough, Victoria.

Nice pictures. Judging by the fact that the tracks have been paved over at McClure Street, I suspect that the signals are going to be removed soon, VicRoads (aka. NaziRoads) seems to be doing that to a lot of crossings on closed/disused lines in recent years. Just today, I found out that those two abandoned Heywood crossings on the Mount Gambier line have had their signals removed sometime after 2011.

The track at those two crossings had already been paved over in 2008.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.127 ... 328!8i1664
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.126 ... 328!8i1664

Looking at the satellite view it seems that the other signalized crossings along the Castlemaine-Maryborough line have suffered the same fate as the two crossings mentioned above.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.103 ... a=!3m1!1e3
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.112 ... a=!3m1!1e3
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.096 ... a=!3m1!1e3
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.084 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Very nice pictures! Well it's good they haven't gone out of their way to remove them just yet

Well, now that you bring it up, I visited all those crossings when I went to Donald in June, and unfortunately, yes, most of the signals have been removed, EXCEPT for McClure St and Moscript St. Moscript St is rather worse for wear, and here are a couple of screenshots of footage I took of it in June and January (it didn't change in that time)


This signal still has its lights and its bell (a McKeznie & Holland bell)! Unfortunately, it's cross-bucks are missing, and so is it's 'stop on red signal' sign


It has a McKenzie & Holland cross-arm


...and McKenzie & Holland lights




The bell is quite scratched. I guess it's hard for people to resist throwing a stone at it to make it sound






The signal on the other side is missing practically EVERYTHING


No lights, cross-bucks or 'stop on red signal' sign... but it still has it's little white light on the top. The relay cases are intact too, as you can see in the background



I guess they normally remove crossings and pave over the rails because they're safety hazards to the public.

Oh and also, I have bad news about two crossings in Melbourne which have lost their Westinghouse hybrid bells recently. These are Bell St in Coburg and Hilltop Rd/Railway Ave in Upper Ferntree Gully. I've got lots of footage of both crossings before they were upgraded, but it's still upsetting that we've lost another 4 hybrid bells. All the crossings beyond Bell St in Coburg towards Upfield have General Signals E-bells (including O'Hea St, Gaffney St, Box Forest Rd, and the crossing at Faulker Cemetery which used to have Barker technique e-bells). I'm not sure about all the crossings before Bell St. But there is good news. Boundary road and Camp road both still have hybrid bells!

One final thing: one of the hybrid bells at Eel Race Rd (the one on the western side) has stopped working. It doesn't sound at all, so I assume the white box inside it has died. It makes the other bell sound a whole lot better, though

Thanks for the update on many crossings, Stuart. Hilltop Road would of had almost all of it's original equipment before Metro ruined it by replacing the bells. The upgrade at Bell Street was completely pointless, as the crossing is up for removal.

Funny you mention Moscript Street as there's a picture of this crossing on Vicsig from July 2014 showing the crossing in the same state, but the bell-less signal still had it lights at the time. I guess someone nicked them and made a quick buck off of them.


On the subject of disused crossings. I'm amazed that this one at Cranbourne is still standing today, despite the fact that most of the other crossings had their signals removed in 2013 and the tracks were paved over since at least 2007.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.101 ... 312!8i6656

Also, some users may remember how this signal looks new even though the crossing has been out of service since 1998.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.100 ... 312!8i6656

Well I think I know why it's there. I found this picture of the crossing from the early 2000's showing off the old signal, which was leaning badly at the time!


I guess it eventually fell down and someone stole it. I guess they decided to put up a replacement signal, even though the crossing was disused. I seriously need to go back to Cranbourne and document the crossing before VicRoads removes the signals.

If you go back to 2007, there was actually overhead wires running over the crossing!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.100 ... 328!8i1664
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.100 ... 328!8i1664

This has been posted in the past, but the next crossing down the line (Narre Warren - Cranbourne Road) had Magnetic Autocontrol swing gates back in 2007!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.106 ... 328!8i1664

They removed by September 2008, though.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.105 ... 328!8i1664

A close up of the Safetran m-bell that was at the crossing.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.106 ... 312!8i6656

StuartHunt101 wrote:Oh and also, I have bad news about two crossings in Melbourne which have lost their Westinghouse hybrid bells recently. These are Bell St in Coburg and Hilltop Rd/Railway Ave in Upper Ferntree Gully. I've got lots of footage of both crossings before they were upgraded, but it's still upsetting that we've lost another 4 hybrid bells. All the crossings beyond Bell St in Coburg towards Upfield have General Signals E-bells (including O'Hea St, Gaffney St, Box Forest Rd, and the crossing at Faulker Cemetery which used to have Barker technique e-bells). I'm not sure about all the crossings before Bell St. But there is good news. Boundary road and Camp road both still have hybrid bells!

One final thing: one of the hybrid bells at Eel Race Rd (the one on the western side) has stopped working. It doesn't sound at all, so I assume the white box inside it has died. It makes the other bell sound a whole lot better, though

Geez it's as if General Signals is holding a Metro employee hostage, and the only way to get him back is to install GS e bells everywhere... I still don't understand why they're replacing WCH mechs with new WCH mechs and replacing e bells with other e bells.

I'll try and film the crossing before e bells get installed as well. Knowing my luck though, I'll get there and they'll already have been replaced...

Username1 wrote: Geez it's as if General Signals is holding a Metro employee hostage, and the only way to get him back is to install GS e bells everywhere... I still don't understand why they're replacing WCH mechs with new WCH mechs and replacing e bells with other e bells.

I found this when browsing the web a couple of years ago. It was issued by the PTC in 1997 and even way back then it seems they had a dislike for mechanical bells. Although it's funny how plenty of m-bells were still installed after 1997. Lucky I saved a copy because I can't seem to find the website where it came from. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B91GI ... k1vTnNlTnM

I imagine somebody at Metro probably found a copy and is taking it very seriously. I'm no expert on gate mechs but because they have moving parts that can wear out, I guess there comes a time when complete replacement is more economical than constantly repairing an older gate mech. Vehicle strikes and vandalism would also shorten the life of gate mechanisms.

McK&H.Aust wrote:

Username1 wrote: Geez it's as if General Signals is holding a Metro employee hostage, and the only way to get him back is to install GS e bells everywhere... I still don't understand why they're replacing WCH mechs with new WCH mechs and replacing e bells with other e bells.

I found this when browsing the web a couple of years ago. It was issued by the PTC in 1997 and even way back then it seems they had a dislike for mechanical bells. Although it's funny how plenty of m-bells were still installed after 1997. Lucky I saved a copy because I can't seem to find the website where it came from. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B91GI ... k1vTnNlTnM

I imagine somebody at Metro probably found a copy and is taking it very seriously. I'm no expert on gate mechs but because they have moving parts that can wear out, I guess there comes a time when complete replacement is more economical than constantly repairing an older gate mech. Vehicle strikes and vandalism would also shorten the life of gate mechanisms.

From what I can tell, the Barker Technics bell fell out of flavor after 1998 (one year after the document was issued). Their last use as far as I know was when they upgraded all the manually operated and gateless crossings on the Upfield line. After that, they went back to using hybrid bells. Pretty much all the crossings upgraded in RFR in the mid 2000's used either WCH mechanical or Westinghouse hybrid bells.

On a different note, I discovered that the now closed Anglesea Road crossing at Mount Duneed (near Geelong) had a Safetran m-bell and New Zealand style gates.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656

The nearby Surf Coast Highway crossing also has New Zealand style gates.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.210 ... 312!8i6656

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

Username1 wrote: Geez it's as if General Signals is holding a Metro employee hostage, and the only way to get him back is to install GS e bells everywhere... I still don't understand why they're replacing WCH mechs with new WCH mechs and replacing e bells with other e bells.

I found this when browsing the web a couple of years ago. It was issued by the PTC in 1997 and even way back then it seems they had a dislike for mechanical bells. Although it's funny how plenty of m-bells were still installed after 1997. Lucky I saved a copy because I can't seem to find the website where it came from. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B91GI ... k1vTnNlTnM

I imagine somebody at Metro probably found a copy and is taking it very seriously. I'm no expert on gate mechs but because they have moving parts that can wear out, I guess there comes a time when complete replacement is more economical than constantly repairing an older gate mech. Vehicle strikes and vandalism would also shorten the life of gate mechanisms.

From what I can tell, the Barker Technics bell fell out of flavor after 1998 (one year after the document was issued). Their last use as far as I know was when they upgraded all the manually operated and gateless crossings on the Upfield line. After that, they went back to using hybrid bells. Pretty much all the crossings upgraded in RFR in the mid 2000's used either WCH mechanical or Westinghouse hybrid bells.

On a different note, I discovered that the now closed Anglesea Road crossing at Mount Duneed (near Geelong) had a Safetran m-bell and New Zealand style gates.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656

The nearby Surf Coast Highway crossing also has New Zealand style gates.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.210 ... 312!8i6656

I didn't realise the Barker Technics e-bells were only installed for such a short period of time. Looking at the circuit diagram I can probably see why, they need a separate driver unit to make them work, plus the need for multiple speakers means there is a lot more equipment involved when compared with conventional bells.

The Anglesea Rd crossing looks like a newer installation compared with other crossings that had Safetran bells, the bell itself looks like a newer one, as it seems to have the newer style mount which doesn't have a securing bolt at the front. Maybe one of the last crossings to get a Safetran bell, shame it's gone

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.219 ... 312!8i6656

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote: Also found this picture of the crossing at Blayney from January 2006. Looks like it did have a single Teardrop bell (likely Westinghouse) as you can make out a thick black bell on the signal closest to the camera.
http://www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/RouteNumb ... /24/11.JPG

Nice picture there, you found another crossing with large crossbucks. The bell in the picture looks like a WCH painted black, I saw the crossing in person back in 2004 and that's what it had then. These signals were installed at the same time as Ash St, Orange and would have originally had a Westinghouse teardrop bell. Pretty sure that signal still has the teardrop bell mount with a new WCH m-bell mounted on it.

You're right on that as well. The latest image shows what you've mentioned...
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656

I posted this crossing back in February this year, and I'm wondering why this crossing only has one bell despite it having gates?

Yes it's odd to only have one bell, specially for an older installation (late 1970's) but then again, Wingham is the same. I know of a couple of newer gated installations (Albion Park Rail and Kembla Grange) which replaced gateless signals that only had one bell, so they only put one bell on the new signals. The signals at Blayney replaced hand operated gates, so that theory doesn't match. I'm wondering if those gate mechs are original, because if they are it's quite possible they are Federal Signal.

It's nice to be able to report some good news for a change. I'm out at Blayney and the crossing certainly does have Federal Signal gate mechs. Also the WCH m-bell here has been replaced..... by a Westinghouse hybrid bell

Going to hang around until midday and try to film a couple of trains.

McK&H.Aust wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote: Also found this picture of the crossing at Blayney from January 2006. Looks like it did have a single Teardrop bell (likely Westinghouse) as you can make out a thick black bell on the signal closest to the camera.
http://www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/RouteNumb ... /24/11.JPG

Nice picture there, you found another crossing with large crossbucks. The bell in the picture looks like a WCH painted black, I saw the crossing in person back in 2004 and that's what it had then. These signals were installed at the same time as Ash St, Orange and would have originally had a Westinghouse teardrop bell. Pretty sure that signal still has the teardrop bell mount with a new WCH m-bell mounted on it.

You're right on that as well. The latest image shows what you've mentioned...
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656

I posted this crossing back in February this year, and I'm wondering why this crossing only has one bell despite it having gates?

Yes it's odd to only have one bell, specially for an older installation (late 1970's) but then again, Wingham is the same. I know of a couple of newer gated installations (Albion Park Rail and Kembla Grange) which replaced gateless signals that only had one bell, so they only put one bell on the new signals. The signals at Blayney replaced hand operated gates, so that theory doesn't match. I'm wondering if those gate mechs are original, because if they are it's quite possible they are Federal Signal.

It's nice to be able to report some good news for a change. I'm out at Blayney and the crossing certainly does have Federal Signal gate mechs. Also the WCH m-bell here has been replaced..... by a Westinghouse hybrid bell

Going to hang around until midday and try to film a couple of trains.

That's cool!

Seems strange that the WCH m-bell would die after only ten or so years in service. I'm also wondering if the crossing had a Federal Signals m-bell originally?

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote: Also found this picture of the crossing at Blayney from January 2006. Looks like it did have a single Teardrop bell (likely Westinghouse) as you can make out a thick black bell on the signal closest to the camera.
http://www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/RouteNumb ... /24/11.JPG

Nice picture there, you found another crossing with large crossbucks. The bell in the picture looks like a WCH painted black, I saw the crossing in person back in 2004 and that's what it had then. These signals were installed at the same time as Ash St, Orange and would have originally had a Westinghouse teardrop bell. Pretty sure that signal still has the teardrop bell mount with a new WCH m-bell mounted on it.

You're right on that as well. The latest image shows what you've mentioned...
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656

I posted this crossing back in February this year, and I'm wondering why this crossing only has one bell despite it having gates?

Yes it's odd to only have one bell, specially for an older installation (late 1970's) but then again, Wingham is the same. I know of a couple of newer gated installations (Albion Park Rail and Kembla Grange) which replaced gateless signals that only had one bell, so they only put one bell on the new signals. The signals at Blayney replaced hand operated gates, so that theory doesn't match. I'm wondering if those gate mechs are original, because if they are it's quite possible they are Federal Signal.

It's nice to be able to report some good news for a change. I'm out at Blayney and the crossing certainly does have Federal Signal gate mechs. Also the WCH m-bell here has been replaced..... by a Westinghouse hybrid bell

Going to hang around until midday and try to film a couple of trains.

That's cool!

Seems strange that the WCH m-bell would die after only ten or so years in service. I'm also wondering if the crossing had a Federal Signals m-bell originally?

The black mount for a teardrop bell is still there with the new hybrid mounted on it. Probably had a Westinghouse teardrop bell or a Federal Signal bell, as it was installed the same time as Ash St, Orange.

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:

TrickyMario7654 wrote: Also found this picture of the crossing at Blayney from January 2006. Looks like it did have a single Teardrop bell (likely Westinghouse) as you can make out a thick black bell on the signal closest to the camera.
http://www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/RouteNumb ... /24/11.JPG

Nice picture there, you found another crossing with large crossbucks. The bell in the picture looks like a WCH painted black, I saw the crossing in person back in 2004 and that's what it had then. These signals were installed at the same time as Ash St, Orange and would have originally had a Westinghouse teardrop bell. Pretty sure that signal still has the teardrop bell mount with a new WCH m-bell mounted on it.

You're right on that as well. The latest image shows what you've mentioned...
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 312!8i6656

I posted this crossing back in February this year, and I'm wondering why this crossing only has one bell despite it having gates?

Yes it's odd to only have one bell, specially for an older installation (late 1970's) but then again, Wingham is the same. I know of a couple of newer gated installations (Albion Park Rail and Kembla Grange) which replaced gateless signals that only had one bell, so they only put one bell on the new signals. The signals at Blayney replaced hand operated gates, so that theory doesn't match. I'm wondering if those gate mechs are original, because if they are it's quite possible they are Federal Signal.

It's nice to be able to report some good news for a change. I'm out at Blayney and the crossing certainly does have Federal Signal gate mechs. Also the WCH m-bell here has been replaced..... by a Westinghouse hybrid bell

Going to hang around until midday and try to film a couple of trains.

That's cool!

Seems strange that the WCH m-bell would die after only ten or so years in service. I'm also wondering if the crossing had a Federal Signals m-bell originally?

The black mount for a teardrop bell is still there with the new hybrid mounted on it. Probably had a Westinghouse teardrop bell or a Federal Signal bell, as it was installed the same time as Ash St, Orange.

Certainly would of been one of them, that's for sure.

Anyways, I've found a few more crossings in NSW with hybrid bells. Some of the images are old, so they may have been replaced...

Forbes (1 hybrid & 1 WCH m-bell): https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.379585 ... 312!8i6656
Spring Hill (1 hybrid): https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.402264 ... 312!8i6656