Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

[RedhenRailcarSAR]

Haven’t posted here in a while, but I thought I’d share some of my finds from a recent trip to Queensland.
First off, there appears to be a “Pearson’s xing signal” manufactured by Mck&h preserved in non operational condition at the Ipswich railway museum. That, some signage (including 1 piece crossbucks could be wooden), and a pair of manual gates are the only crossing signal infrastructure at the museum.
I managed to visit 4 crossings while in Queensland, and found some nice stuff including different SORS signs, candy cane painted poles, Westinghouse EB gate Mechs, WRRS Gate Mechs, Mck&h Gate Mechs, and some nice cantilevers.
There appears to rumours floating around that the VGR is going to be pulling up the line from Castlemaine to Guildford on the Moolort line, as they are in need of rail. If so, this spells the end of the classic Mck&h setup at Moscript Street. Guildford - Maryborough will be kept as it is for now. Moscript street appears to be very dilapidated anyways, but I wonder if what’s left can be saved by a crossing enthusiast, or reused on the VGR itself?
The lights will definitely not be reused, if they do end up being kept by VGR, they will most likely be sold like the older Maclise Street lights. I think VGR could put the teardrop to use, possibly on Rowe street to replace that nasty Safetran type 3. Hopefully more confirmation on this will come soon.
After a trip along the Burra line in SA, I can confirm that all crossings have had their lights and bells removed. According to GSV, Redbanks Road, Lange Road, and Farrell Flat Road were the last ones with lights, and the first 2 were the last ones with bells. Redbanks Road has had lights and bell removed, but retains some signage. Lange Road has been stripped bare, with only signal poles and signage mounts remaining. Farrell flat road has had the same treatment too, except the last signal with lights has been completely removed.
I am unsure if this has been reported earlier, but the Portland line appears to be reopening soon. Unfortunately as part of this process, there appears to be crossing upgrades going on. I believe Applehead and LCF have more info on this.
LCF has also given photographic evidence to me and others that the Hamilton Hwy, Cressy crossing has had its hybrids replaced, but it keeps its EB Gate Mechs.
That’s all from me for now.

[Applehead137]

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[freebrickproductions]

Holy wall of text, Batman!

[MJTaylor]

As for the Portland line reopening there was a couple things said on the Facebook group Train Tracker Victoria in which someone said that a hi rail car was on the line doing works a couple weeks ago . A lot of people were saying that the line will reopen so hopefully it does .

I think it's true. Not far from the south side of the Westlakes Rd turnoff, in Henty Highway Portland, there is an electronic sign saying that trains are due to resume service mid- February.

[chris96]

*LONG POST INCOMING*

Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of posts yet again, life just keeps getting in the way! I've been in QLD again for work and was able to find time to visit Dreamworld while there. The good news is that the train is now back in service after rumors it would permanently close. The bad news is that the crossing infrastructure at the park is in serious decline. Here's a few updates:

The swing gates at the sheep sheering crossing have now been completely removed and the remaining lights and bell no longer operate, essentially making this a passive crossing. Additional fencing and signage has been installed too:
IMG_3782 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3783 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3785 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3786 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

In further disappointing news, the signal with the Teardrop Bell next to Main Street station was not operating. I'm hoping it simply hadn't been switched on for the day and hasn't been retired completely.

On a more positive note, two new crossings have been installed in the park. Unfortunately they are both passive, but they are situated on a new path next to the Giant Drop:
IMG_3794 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3792 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3788 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3789 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

Back to Melbourne now. One of the first things I did after my return was visit relatives in Bacchus Marsh. While travelling there, I was amazed and somewhat baffled to see that the entire Parwan Rd crossing had been replaced! Literally every singe piece of existing equipment had been ripped out and they had started completely from scratch again. The crossing now has new masts and bases, new style Westinghouse LED lights, brand new WCH gate mechs, two new Safetran Type 3 E-Bells, red background "printed sign style" crossbucks and even new Magnetic Autocontrol pedestrian swing gates. Why on earth this crossing had to be upgraded is beyond me, as the original equipment (apart from some of the masts and signal bases) was already relatively new and appeared to be functioning perfectly. Our tax dollars are clearly being put to great use yet again! Here's what it looks like now:
IMG_3895 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3896 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

Here's the real kicker though........ the brand new Type 3 one the Ballarat side of the crossing (which replaced a perfectly functional unit that was only a few years old) is already dead! I saw a train at the crossing and the bell didn't sound for the entire activation, not even when the gates were lowering. But it doesn't stop there. The WCH mech one the opposite side clearly had an issue with the hold clear mechanism and kept pulsing violently. I'm starting to wonder if anybody at VicTrack actually knows what their doing. It's just comical that such a pointless and ridiculous "upgrade" could be approved and then screwed up to the point that what they had originally was better!

I also checked out Osborne St and sure enough, this crossing has been completely replaced too. Here's what it used to look like:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.692 ... 312!8i6656

And here's what it looks like now.
IMG_3899 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

Not a single piece of existing equipment has been re-used. Even the masts were replaced. As you can see, the line has recently been duplicated in this section, but that's hardly a reason to rip everything out and start again. Why didn't they just move one of the signals foward?

Finally, Fisken St currently still has its original signals, but they are also about to be replaced. New foundations and electrical wires are being installed at the site:
IMG_3902 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr
IMG_3903 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

This section of track isn't even being duplicated, so there's no excuse for an upgrade here. Oh VicTrack, the games you play!

[freebrickproductions]

Wouldn't be surprised if at least a few of those upgrades are due to "use it or lose it" funding.

[chris96]

Wouldn't be surprised if at least a few of those upgrades are due to "use it or lose it" funding.

I'd say that's almost certainly the case. Surely the money could have been better spent elsewhere though?

[TrickyMario7654]

Thanks for sharing those pictures, chris96!

I seriously don’t understand why they have to completely replace the signals along the recently duplicated sections of the Ballarat line, especially since a lot of them were only installed in the mid 2000’s as part of Regional Fast Rail. Whatever happened to moving the signals back like they used to?

They did the exact same thing to all the crossings north of Keon Park station when they duplicated the track as part of the South Morang extension project in 2011, installing brand new signals at every crossing, including the one at Lalor station (despite already having two tracks at it). Shame too, as a lot of them used to have a lot of nice equipment.

[Applehead137]

Thanks for those pictures and it’s sad that those crossing have been upgraded . Anyway recently google maps hav updated a lot of the street view images and there are a lot of new crossing images ( mostly metro network ) so I thought I’d share some of my findings. Pretty much all the crossings on metro have new street view so I’ll show the changes !

Eel race road now has images of the crossing with ebells
https://goo.gl/maps/YjXjDDf3cN7rQqNu8
Here’s the site of the recently removed station street carrum crossing
https://goo.gl/maps/A4tbSTZZvNguQdxj7
Bear street and McDonald street now have images of the crossing with WCH mechs
https://www.google.com/maps/@-38.007162 ... aunyaw!2e0
https://goo.gl/maps/yRDauCi8GfC88CfZ7
Parker’s road park dale with the new gated signal and WCH mechs
https://goo.gl/maps/VRqj8FEoj34GuPdSA
Works at Charman road Cheltenham
https://goo.gl/maps/J4UYHfS2diSt7Fdr8
Wickham road highett with extra added LED lights
https://goo.gl/maps/sH38xGuoqCABaNnV7
New street dendy street Brighton, when I went past the crossing in November 2019 the signal that used to have a teardrop got a new white SORS sign . In this street view you can see the old sign had been graffitied so that’s probably why they had to replace it .
https://goo.gl/maps/qN5qyzKnLU1UAzx2A
E bells at Hallam road
https://www.google.com/maps/@-38.017995 ... qxs40w!2e0
Brunt road Beaconsfield with the gated signal that fell down with LED lights . I just realised that that signal also has a Westinghouse hybrid generation 1 !
https://goo.gl/maps/nSQnEL3GZhjhMZ99A
Torronga road Malvern with new WCH mechs
https://goo.gl/maps/caHdEFDHd9VxRk5w6
Toorak road during removal works but it didn’t have LED lights at the time
https://goo.gl/maps/xQRTxzfktWpWWsRM6
South Gippsland Highway Cranbourne, now shown with more signage and cross arm covers removed
https://goo.gl/maps/icrbBAFN3Gbo4JMH9
Railway ave Ferntree gully , image with ebells . Oddly it looks like one of the lights here might be a WCH incandescent!
https://goo.gl/maps/63ygNSqYSFybEqgn6
Old monbulk road showing the full crossing upgrade with fencing and LED lights towards the tracks
https://goo.gl/maps/bcyVgwHNSzaB6k6P9
The new gated setup at edenmount road
https://goo.gl/maps/DPL5k3BXX7N4KYmt9
Pinnocks roads gated setup
https://goo.gl/maps/mSSHXrQK5kmxyodf7
Kilvington drive with LED lights
https://goo.gl/maps/WAhfvsa9Vswcc3uz7
Beaconsfield emerald road showing the larger crossbuck
https://goo.gl/maps/pcrstTwLnWR9HfDj8
Lake park road lakeside has gotten some new crossbucks , the old ones had a different font and were very dirty
https://goo.gl/maps/kzih4mD4tcMytLocA
The advance warning sign at gembrook with clear LED lights , these lights flash yellow
https://goo.gl/maps/JqMGXRotwED55YBn9
Victoria street dennis with WCH mechs
https://goo.gl/maps/kajLvE9vMNXV5tU77
Keon parade showing the non working e bell
https://goo.gl/maps/nGbtcSBCa3cV6m6h6
Boundary road Hadfield with new bells and gatemechs
https://goo.gl/maps/P5PoJUjFqB2TR7MaA
Park Street Brunswick with new bells and gate mechs
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.777779 ... 4d8ERQ!2e0
The terrible upgrade of the royal park crossing
https://goo.gl/maps/HAbc3puanEFqGs61A
New gate mechs at Pascoe vale, one if the bells here is a darker shade if grey now
https://goo.gl/maps/zfkVEJNhL8wx3kZp7
Nunn street Benalla with WCH mechs and the teardrop bell! This was one if the inky regional crossings I could find !
https://goo.gl/maps/VEPDfq8vCCyyGqyr6
Healesville Kinglake Road with large RAILWAY and CROSSING signs
https://goo.gl/maps/w9PEw4qonrk7BgcRA
There are probably more crossings with new street view upgrades that I haven’t seen yet . I checked all the other metro crossings with hybrids or other interesting equipment and didn’t post them here as there had been no changes to the crossings . But unfortunately I have some other bad news.

Unfortunately the WCH mechanical bell at Appleton dock road has been replaced with a safetran type 3 . The hybrid is still there although it’s mounted very badly. Also some of the older lights and crossarms have also been replaced.
https://goo.gl/maps/2YqbWF1gUzUTvFd79

Now , here is something that I found very shocking . Murray road Preston in August 2019 still had the hybrid that was working but the dead hybrid had been replaced by a ebell . But not a general signals one . Murray Riad Preston had a Westinghouse hybrid and Safetran type 3 ebell combo . This was probably to fix the problem of the dead bell as quickly as possible so they probably just used a bell that was lying around . The hybrid bell was still in use but metro them decided . We dint use Safetran ebells so they replaced both the bells with GS ebells probably in September 2019
https://goo.gl/maps/A53eiPQLoGVVo8ow5
Anyway I hope you enjoyed those finds . There’s probably a lot more out there !

[McK&H.Aust]

New South Wales has also received a few street view updates.

New signals at Blayney which replaced the Federal Signal gate mechs https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.527 ... 384!8i8192

New signals at Ash St, Orange which replaced the Westinghouse teardrop bell https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.308 ... 384!8i8192

In better news, this crossing at Bathurst retains it's m-bell https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.440 ... 384!8i8192

Private crossing near Bathurst which received new signals and m-bells https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.464 ... 384!8i8192

Sadly this crossing at Koorawatha (on the closed Cowra line) had all signals and the relay bungalow removed https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.033 ... 384!8i8192
Here's a look at what used to be there https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.034 ... 328!8i1664

It seems that the crossings at Tichborne and Welcome (near Parkes) are going to be upgraded https://extranet.artc.com.au/docman/Doc ... 1758618202
Tichborne https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.225 ... 312!8i6656
Welcome https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.169 ... 312!8i6656
The upgrades received a mention in the latest LCSC report https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system ... 018-19.pdf