Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

TrickyMario7654 wrote:Some strange looking lights. Anyone know who made them?
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.073 ... 312!8i6656
The visors on this signal look incredibly odd too.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.073 ... 312!8i6656

Not 100% sure but I think those lights were made by GEC. There was a crossing where I used to live which had GEC lights and the housing was the same shape. GEC also made colour light block signals and they had the same shape housing for each of the lights.
The visors look the same as the ones found on some of the Alstom LED crossing lights.

I have some sad news to share. I just got back from Wangaratta and am sorry to say that the WABCO bell at Shanley St is gone! The crossing now has boom gates with the standard V/Line setup of Safetran Type 3 E-Bells, Westinghouse LED lights and WCH gate mechs. Here's what the crossing looked like in 2010 when the WABCO bell was still intact:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656

Close-up of the now removed bell:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656

I'll try and post some pictures I took of the crossing and its new setup within the next few days.

I also visited the Old Hume Hwy crossing in Glenrowan, as it had a Teardrop Bell in 2010:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.469 ... 312!8i6656

Sadly, it was also replaced. But oddly, not with an E-Bell, but with a Westinghouse Hybrid!

The same thing happened at Violet Town. This teardrop is now a Westinghouse Hybrid:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.637 ... 312!8i6656

Another oddity, these old WRRS gate mechs have been replaced with Safetran mechs instead of the WCH ones that V/Line typically use (I haven't seen a new installation of Safetran gate mechs on a V/Line track since around 2008/2009, they appear to only use WCH now). Here are the original gates from 2010:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.637 ... 312!8i6656

One final update (and this is really good news), the Safetran M-Bell at Old Barnawatha Rd in Wodonga has miraculously survived and is still there today! :
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.102 ... 312!8i6656

chris96 wrote:I have some sad news to share. I just got back from Wangaratta and am sorry to say that the WABCO bell at Shanley St is gone! The crossing now has boom gates with the standard V/Line setup of Safetran Type 3 E-Bells, Westinghouse LED lights and WCH gate mechs. Here's what the crossing looked like in 2010 when the WABCO bell was still intact:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656

Close-up of the now removed bell:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656

I'll try and post some pictures I took of the crossing and its new setup within the next few days.

I also visited the Old Hume Hwy crossing in Glenrowan, as it had a Teardrop Bell in 2010:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.469 ... 312!8i6656

Sadly, it was also replaced. But oddly, not with an E-Bell, but with a Westinghouse Hybrid!

The same thing happened at Violet Town. This teardrop is now a Westinghouse Hybrid:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.637 ... 312!8i6656

Another oddity, these old WRRS gate mechs have been replaced with Safetran mechs instead of the WCH ones that V/Line typically use (I haven't seen a new installation of Safetran gate mechs on a V/Line track since around 2008/2009, they appear to only use WCH now). Here are the original gates from 2010:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.637 ... 312!8i6656

One final update (and this is really good news), the Safetran M-Bell at Old Barnawatha Rd in Wodonga has miraculously survived and is still there today! :
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.102 ... 312!8i6656

Thanks for the updates, it's a shame to see that more vintage equipment has gone

Does ARTC look after that section of track? If so it explains the Safetran gate mechs. Most of their new installs in NSW have been Safetran gate mechs and Type 3 e-bells, although they have recently started using WCH equipment.

Earlier this year ARTC replaced the signals at these two crossings in Cootamundra
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.636 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-34.643 ... 312!8i6656
The Harmon gate mechs were replaced by WCH ones, and the WCH m-bells were replaced by WCH e-bells.

Are there any crossings on operational lines that still have WABCO bells?

chris96 wrote:I have some sad news to share. I just got back from Wangaratta and am sorry to say that the WABCO bell at Shanley St is gone! The crossing now has boom gates with the standard V/Line setup of Safetran Type 3 E-Bells, Westinghouse LED lights and WCH gate mechs. Here's what the crossing looked like in 2010 when the WABCO bell was still intact:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656

Close-up of the now removed bell:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.373 ... 312!8i6656

I'll try and post some pictures I took of the crossing and its new setup within the next few days.

I also visited the Old Hume Hwy crossing in Glenrowan, as it had a Teardrop Bell in 2010:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.469 ... 312!8i6656

Sadly, it was also replaced. But oddly, not with an E-Bell, but with a Westinghouse Hybrid!

The same thing happened at Violet Town. This teardrop is now a Westinghouse Hybrid:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.637 ... 312!8i6656

Another oddity, these old WRRS gate mechs have been replaced with Safetran mechs instead of the WCH ones that V/Line typically use (I haven't seen a new installation of Safetran gate mechs on a V/Line track since around 2008/2009, they appear to only use WCH now). Here are the original gates from 2010:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.637 ... 312!8i6656

One final update (and this is really good news), the Safetran M-Bell at Old Barnawatha Rd in Wodonga has miraculously survived and is still there today! :
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.102 ... 312!8i6656

Damn. Sad to hear about WABCO bell. But on the other hand, at least they replaced the teardrop's with hybrid bells!

The Violet Town crossing sort of reminds me of what happened to Grange Road in Carnegie. A teardrop bell got replaced with a hybrid bell rather than an E-Bell in recent years.
2013: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.881 ... 312!8i6656
2015: https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.881 ... 312!8i6656

Here's something a little bit different, Westinghouse gate mechs in Sri Lanka. Only found the one pair so far, didn't know they were used outside Australia.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9308524, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9309251, ... 6656?hl=en

McK&H.Aust wrote:Here's something a little bit different, Westinghouse gate mechs in Sri Lanka. Only found the one pair so far, didn't know they were used outside Australia.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9308524, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9309251, ... 6656?hl=en

Looks like EBA Electronic bells as well (used in the Netherlands):
https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9308882, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@6.931003,7 ... 6656?hl=en

freebrickproductions wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:Here's something a little bit different, Westinghouse gate mechs in Sri Lanka. Only found the one pair so far, didn't know they were used outside Australia.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9308524, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9309251, ... 6656?hl=en

Looks like EBA Electronic bells as well (used in the Netherlands):
https://www.google.com/maps/@6.9308882, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@6.931003,7 ... 6656?hl=en

Ahh yes I thought I'd seen those e-bells somewhere before. Now that's what I call a real mixture of equipment!
Those EBA bells remind me of a mini-bell.

Found a crossing in Sri Lanka with Westinghouse lights and General Signals e-bells

https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2298598, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2298598, ... 6656?hl=en

McK&H.Aust wrote:Found a crossing in Sri Lanka with Westinghouse lights and General Signals e-bells

https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2298598, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2298598, ... 6656?hl=en

Wonder why this is so far back from the crossing?
https://www.google.com/maps/@7.229322,7 ... 6656?hl=en

freebrickproductions wrote:

McK&H.Aust wrote:Found a crossing in Sri Lanka with Westinghouse lights and General Signals e-bells

https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2298598, ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2298598, ... 6656?hl=en

Wonder why this is so far back from the crossing?
https://www.google.com/maps/@7.229322,7 ... 6656?hl=en

I've noticed the same thing on quite a few of their crossings, maybe it serves as an advance warning sign.

This looks like a GRS semaphore mech https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2913189, ... 6656?hl=en https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2913798, ... 6656?hl=en
Notice how the signals at the crossing are bagged, they also have different e-bells that look like speakers https://www.google.com/maps/@7.2913798, ... 6656?hl=en