Anyway it's been more than three months since the last post on here and I have quite a few things to share. Firstly I have quite a bit of sad news. The Frankston-Flinders Road level crossing at Tyabb/Hastings on the Long Island branch has unfortunately had it's hybrid bells replaced with General Signals Type 3 electronic bells. One of them was dead when AH137 filmed there in January this year though. The hybrid bells were replaced between January and April this year. Here are a couple of pics taken by AH137 showing the crossing with it's new bells:
Some sad news out of Inverleigh where two crossings have had their hybrid bells replaced with Safetran Type 3 electronic bells. Those crossings being Railway Street and Mahers Road. They were replaced between January and April this year. Inverleigh-Winchelsea Road and Barwon Park Road however still have their hybrid bells. Here are pics of the two hybrid bell replacement crossings taken by Tazzie Transport:
However some good news now and that is the Gnarpurt Road level crossing in Lismore retains it's hybrid bell. Here is a pic of the crossing taken by Tazzie Transport in April this year:
More sad news and that is the Diamond Street and Railway Road level crossings at Eltham have had their Westinghouse gate mechs and Westinghouse incandescent lights and crossarms replaced with Western Cullen Hayes gate mechs and newer style Westinghouse lights and newer Westinghouse crossarms. Both crossings also had a dead General Signals electronic bell and the dead bells at both crossings have being replaced with General Signals Type 3 electronic bells. The General Signals Type 2 at Diamond Street orignally rang until the gates lowered, but since the upgrade it has now been reprogrammed to sound until the boom gates rise. Both crossings were upgraded between the 16th and 19th of April this year. Here are some pics taken by Tazzie Transport of what they look like now:
Diamond Street:
Railway Road:
While we're on subject of the Hurstbridge line it turns out Wattletree Road, Eltham which is unchanged for now has a Harmon incandescent light on the south western gated signal. This brings the total number of crossings on the Metro Rail Network which have Harmon lights to five. Here is a Google Maps Street View link showing the Harmon light:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.703 ... 384!8i8192
Ligar Street, Bairnsdale was recently upgraded with boom gates. A pointless upgrade as well since it's in a residental area and there is hardly any traffic using it. Other boom gate upgrades which have taken place these last few months have been the four gateless crossings at Kerang (Wellington Street, Vaughan Street, Victoria Street and Murray Street) which were all upgraded in April. Murray Street and Vaughan Street were pointless upgrades since they're on residential streets and hardly se any traffic.
High Street, Seymour had it's Westinghouse Electric Barrier boom gate mechanisms replaced with Western Cullen Hayes ones earlier this year, but retains it's hybrid bells. It is also going to have it's pedestrian crossing upgraded with swing gates sometime this year.
Hallam Road, Hallam had it's south western gated signal replaced with a new one in March to accommodate skyrail, with everything else being reused except the Westinghouse gate mech which was replaced with a Western Cullen Hayes gate mech. One of the lights were replaced with a newer style Westinghouse LED light for some reason. The gateless signal was also removed with only the concrete base remaining. The signal on the north eastern side is unchanged though. Here are some pics of the crossing in it's current state taken by Tazzie Transport:
Colac-Ballarat Road, Irrewarra has had a new gated signal installed on the south western side of the crossing, as the previous one was probably involved in a vehicle strike. It had a Safetran boom gate mechanism, older style Westinghouse LED lights and an older model Safetran Type 3. Here is a screenshot of the crossing from last year from a video of Sam's Train Channel showing the previous gated signal:
Here's what the new signal looks like.(Picture taken by Tazzie Transport) It has a Western Cullen Hayes boom gate mechanism, newer style Westinghouse LED lights and a newer model Safetran Type 3:
Now for some very bizarre news. The disused Garden Street level crossing at Portland has had it's signal on the south eastern side replaced with a new one. The previous signal had a painted mast, McKenzie And Holland lights and a Westinghouse hybrid bell, which rather oddly replaced a teardrop bell sometime after 2010. Here is a picture of the crossing taken by McK&H Aust in May 2018 showing the previous signal:
The new signal has an unpainted mast, a different style black background stop on red signal sign and Westinghouse incandescent lights. The crossbuck and hybrid bell were reused however. Here is a pic of the crossing taken by Tazzie Transport in December 2020 showing the new signal:
I wonder why the signal was replaced? The mast was rusted so that could've maybe been the case, or the signal was involved in a vehicle strike, but we just don't know. It doesn't make sense to why it was replaced as the crossing is disused, and to make things more odd it even has ARTC fault stickers placed over the PTC fault stickers! Even if the mast was rusted, the next crossing down the line at Kennedy Street which is also disused has painted masts too and they are rusted and are still there! Go figure!
Lyndhurst Street, Bridgewater On Loddon has had it's hybrid bell rather oddly replaced with an older model Safetran Type 3, which makes it the third bell to be installed at this crossing in the last two years. Here are some pics of the crossing taken by me in April with it's current bell:
Lastly here are a couple of pics of Bendigo-Maldon Road, Maldon in the process of being upgraded with boom gates. The concrete bases, power cabinet, cable pits and relay box foundation have been installed at this stage. The project is being managed by V/Line:
Anyway that's all from me
I never realized they were Type 2's!
