Australian Railroad Crossing Signals

[TheRailRanger]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for letting me join. I have some rather interesting news about Maclise St, Rowe St and Bendigo-Maldon Rd on the Victorian Goldfields Railway. I have just been talking with a VGR Driver (He was one of the founding members) , and he's told me that Maclise St and Rowe St will be re-built early next year. The original equipment is still being used thankfully. The cast iron teardrop bell will apparently get 're-adjusted'. Bendigo-Maldon Rd is receiving boom gates and bells as well next year. The project is funded and already decided.

[chris96]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for letting me join. I have some rather interesting news about Maclise St, Rowe St and Bendigo-Maldon Rd on the Victorian Goldfields Railway. I have just been talking with a VGR Driver (He was one of the founding members) , and he's told me that Maclise St and Rowe St will be re-built early next year. The original equipment is still being used thankfully. The cast iron teardrop bell will apparently get 're-adjusted'. Bendigo-Maldon Rd is receiving boom gates and bells as well next year. The project is funded and already decided.

Welcome to the forum TheRailRanger! Great to have you here! That's very interesting news indeed. What exactly did he mean by the crossings being "rebuilt"? Is everything being taken down and re-installed? Are the masts being replaced or is the road being changed somehow? Either way, it's nice to hear that the original equipment will remain in operation. I actually noticed a pair of Safetran gate mechs being stored in the Maldon yard a couple of years ago, but nothing seemed to eventuate from it. I guess they'll most likely be used for the Bendigo-Maldon Rd upgrade now. I just hope they don't use E-bells!

[Jack2003]

I have some news to share, which is all bad news, unfortunately Greens Road, Dandenong South where the signals were moved forward to make way for the skyrail works has had it’s hybrid bells were replaced for no reason in the process, the stop on red signal signs have also been replaced too. On both eastern gated signals an additional pair of Westinghouse old style LED’s have been added. The crossing now has an adjusted Type 1 and Type 2 combo. Here’s what the crossing looks and sounds like in action now:



Hudson’s Road, Spotswood has also lost it’s hybrid bells, but thankfully keeps the Westinghouse gate mechs. Both bells are now Type 3’s. Here’s the crossing in action, filmed by SBMetro (a new member on the forum):



Arden Street, North Melbourne has been completely trashed with the gate mechs, incandescent lights and hybrid bell all been replaced. The crossing now has a Type 2 and Type 3 combo, the Type 2 bell has been reprogrammed to sound until the gates rise. Here’s the crossing in action filmed by Tazzie Transport who’s not on the forum:



Macaulay Road, North Melbourne is still currently unchanged for now, but I reckon it won’t be long before it’s trashed too.

Unfortunately also another teardrop bell bites the dust in Victoria, that crossing been Glenelg Highway, Moutajup on the Portland line. I only just filmed that crossing on the 4th of October when I chased the AK cars from Hamilton to Maroona and the teardrop bell was still there and sounding very healthy, so I am very lucky to have filmed it in the nick of time.

Unfortunately both Bryan Street and Mitchell Street at Swan Hill are receiving boom gates today and the signals are been commissioned as well. Both crossings are pointless upgrades as they are on quiet residential streets, so why can’t they instead upgrade two of the passive crossings between Swan Hill and Bendigo?

Unfortunately another nice crossing is receiving boom gates and that crossing is McAlister Street, Stratford. Spray paint markings have been drawn for new signal foundations. Another pointless upgrade as it’s on a quiet residential street and trains have to slow down as they come into Stratford station and slowly depart the station as well. Here are some pics taken by Darren Hodges:








There hasn't been any announcements on Hobson Street just up the line from McAlister Street receiving boom gates at this stage, but I reckon it will probably recieve bom gates within a few months time.

Anyway that's all from me

[freebrickproductions]

Given how rough that one Hybrid bell at Arden Street was sounding, I have to wonder if it just simply died (which caused it to be replaced).

[chris96]

Hudson’s Road, Spotswood has also lost it’s hybrid bells, but thankfully keeps the Westinghouse gate mechs. Both bells are now Type 3’s. Here’s the crossing in action, filmed by SBMetro (a new member on the forum):



Macaulay Road, North Melbourne is still currently unchanged for now, but I reckon it won’t be long before it’s trashed too.

Unfortunately both Bryan Street and Mitchell Street at Swan Hill are receiving boom gates today and the signals are been commissioned as well. Both crossings are pointless upgrades as they are on quiet residential streets, so why can’t they instead upgrade two of the passive crossings between Swan Hill and Bendigo?

Anyway that's all from me

Thanks for those updates!

I'm really surprised about Swan Hill's upgrades. When I was there a couple of months ago, there was no indication that any changes were about to take place, especially considering Bryan Street's Hybrid bell had only been replaced recently. I agree, it seems like a pointless upgrade.

I have to say, I'm most disappointed that Spotswood has lost its Hybrids. Didn't a Metro employee recently tell an enthusiast (either here on the forum or on YouTube) that they were safe because the crossing isn't located in a residential area? So much for that!

Speaking of Metro employees, I've managed to keep in contact with the signal maintainer I spoke to about the Macaulay Rd Type 1's a little while back. He originally told me they were installed in 2002:

According to a signalling technician from Metro who I was lucky enough to speak to today, the old un-adjusted GS Type 1 E-Bells at Macaulay Rd in Kensington were originally installed as a trial all the way back in mid 2002 and were the first ones in the country! A few other crossings such as Park St in Moonee Ponds and Munro St, Coburg (yes, apparently it originally had un-adjusted Type 1's too) were added later in 2002 (I imagine the Safetran Type 1's at Gaffney st in Pascoe Vale were introduced around this time too). After these trials proved successful, the bells slowly started being rolled out across the network in 2003.

However, Applehead137 then discovered footage of them in 1999:

Another thing is that I’ve been watching a lot of the Victorian years in steam films , many of which are available on YouTube.
Another thing that shocked me was in the 99 one , Macaulay rd Kensington can be heard with the type 1 ebells so they would have been installed back in the late 90s!

I was hoping to get to the bottom of this and clear things up. As luck would have it, he still retained some documentation that revealed the E-Bells were actually installed in November of 1998! Park St in Moonee Ponds, Munro St in Coburg, Hutton Street in Thornbury and Coolstore Rd in Croydon also received some in 2002 (between February and April) before a full scale roll-out in 2003 (starting with Pier Street, Altona in May). Furthermore, Safetran Type 1's were installed on trial at the Charles Street/Clarke Street crossing in Northcote and Gaffney Street in Pascoe Vale between January and March of 1999 (though it's not clear exactly when and why they were removed).

I want to once again thank this individual for very kindly taking the time to "dig up" this information and allowing it to be shared here. I'm told the signal department at Metro (and apparently V/Line too) has been aware of this forum for a while now, as well as various YouTube and social media crossing groups as well. While plenty of folks in the business are apparently quite happy that there is now a growing interest in their industry, I'm told that Metro has begun taking note of what's being discussed here! Apparently, some decisions (particularly those in regards to replacing "legacy" equipment) have been at least partially influenced by us posting about them and pointing things out. So I guess we should be careful what we say!

Just in case they are listening, could you guys maybe not throw all your mechanical bells and other vintage equipment away please? There are many people out there who would absolutely love to get their hands on some and preserve them. Surly that's a better fate than just turning them all into scrap metal right?

[TrickyMario7654]

I don't mean to add more bad news, but the Evans Road overpass opened today, making it the 39th crossing to be removed by our "friends" at the Andrews Government.

I'd also like to point out that the overpass being built to replace the Cardinia Road level crossing has also been progressing along nicely. I've got a few pictures of the works on my phone, but they're taken from a school bus. Speaking of which, I came home from school today (my last ever day, BTW) on the train (It was Comeng 569M-1156T-662M-675M-1178T-676M, with the carriage I boarded being 1156T. As a bit of trivia, this carriage was bent upwards pretty badly after the Comeng set it was in was involved in an accident with another Comeng at Holmesglen station in 2000. Here's some pictures of the accident. I read somewhere that they had to re-weld the carriage together while repairing it.)

Anyways, after seeing one of those new HCMTs on a test run passing through the Main Street crossing outside Pakenham station, one of the swing gates for the pedestrian crossing malfunctioned and didn't open when the crossing deactivated, while the others did. I actually had to push the gate open manually to get through! I've never seen that happen before!

This is the pedestrian gate in question.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-38.079948 ... 384!8i8192

Has anyone ever seen that before?

Park St in Moonee Ponds, Munro St in Coburg, Hutton Street in Thornbury and Coolstore Rd in Croydon also received some in 2002...

Interestingly, GSV of Coolstore Road, Croydon in 2009 (and 2008) still shows the crossing with hybrid bells. Don't know what happened to the supposed e-bells the crossing received in 2002.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.794067 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.794093 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.794085 ... 312!8i6656

[chris96]

Park St in Moonee Ponds, Munro St in Coburg, Hutton Street in Thornbury and Coolstore Rd in Croydon also received some in 2002...

Interestingly, GSV of Coolstore Road, Croydon in 2009 (and 2008) still shows the crossing with hybrid bells. Don't know what happened to the supposed e-bells the crossing received in 2002.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.794067 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.794093 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.794085 ... 312!8i6656

Huh? That is strange. Perhaps the E-Bells were removed after the trial and M-Bells bells were brought back for some reason? Though that seems unlikely. I'm told this crossing originally had Safetran/RACO bells in the 70's and 80's, so maybe the Hybrids were brought in after the Type 1 trial? Munro St in Coburg only had its Type 1's for a short time. In fact, the only reason I know they existed is because of this photo from the early 2000's:
T2 by Christian Nolan, on Flickr

I can't find any evidence of Charles Street/Clarke Street, Northcote having Safetran Type 1's either. Videos from the time show the crossing with Hybrid bells. Apparently that's what the original documents show though. Dang, I was hoping to clear things up with this contact, but it looks like I've accidentally started another mystery.

[chris96]

Apologies for this double post, but I just discovered that Arthurton Rd in Northcote had a Griswold/RACO bell in 2009!:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.768 ... 312!8i6656

You can tell it's a Griswold/RACO by the design of the base. This means there were at least two crossings in Melbourne that previously used Griswold/RACO bells (the other being Devon Rd in Pascoe Vale, replaced in 2007). I wonder if there were any others lurking around back in the day?

[freebrickproductions]

Apologies for this double post, but I just discovered that Arthurton Rd in Northcote had a Griswold/RACO bell in 2009!:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.768 ... 312!8i6656

You can tell it's a Griswold/RACO by the design of the base. This means there were at least two crossings in Melbourne that previously used Griswold/RACO bells (the other being Devon Rd in Pascoe Vale, replaced in 2007). I wonder if there were any others lurking around back in the day?

It was actually re-used from another crossing, check out what was there back in 2007!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.768 ... 328!8i1664

Wonder if it could've come from Devon Road?

[chris96]

Apologies for this double post, but I just discovered that Arthurton Rd in Northcote had a Griswold/RACO bell in 2009!:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.768 ... 312!8i6656

You can tell it's a Griswold/RACO by the design of the base. This means there were at least two crossings in Melbourne that previously used Griswold/RACO bells (the other being Devon Rd in Pascoe Vale, replaced in 2007). I wonder if there were any others lurking around back in the day?

It was actually re-used from another crossing, check out what was there back in 2007!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.768 ... 328!8i1664

Wonder if it could've come from Devon Road?

Oh wow, nice find there! I doubt it came from Devon Road since the bell there was silver. I wonder where it was?