Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Found something interesting in Albury, NSW. This signal hut for the Olive St level crossing has been left behind after they elimated the crossing when the Hume Freeway was upgraded.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.097 ... 6656?hl=en

Where the crossing was. I've read up that the signals here were installed in 1962, so it would of been a nice crossing to film at.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.097 ... 6656?hl=en

Just further up, you can still make out where they painted the 'Crossing Ahead' markings in the road.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.096 ... 6656?hl=en

TrickyMario7654 wrote:Found something interesting in Albury, NSW. This signal hut for the Olive St level crossing has been left behind after they elimated the crossing when the Hume Freeway was upgraded.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.097 ... 6656?hl=en

Where the crossing was. I've read up that the signals here were installed in 1962, so it would of been a nice crossing to film at.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.097 ... 6656?hl=en

Just further up, you can still make out where they painted the 'Crossing Ahead' markings in the road.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.096 ... 6656?hl=en

Here's what the crossing used to look like (I know the quality is poor, but this was the only image I could find):

Just returned from a trip to northeast Victoria and here are updates for some of the crossings on the Melbourne - Sydney line. I didn't get around to checking every crossing, so I have only posted the ones that I visited (sorry for the long post).

First some good news. A couple of mechanical bells which were believed to have been removed are actually still there....
High St, Barnawartha (Safetran M-bell) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.099 ... 312!8i6656 Looking at the GSV image from 2010, you can just make out some new signal foundations at the crossing, leading one to believe that the crossing was about to be upgraded. https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.099 ... 312!8i6656 https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.099 ... 312!8i6656 However for some reason the upgrade was abandoned and the crossing remains intact, including the Safetran m-bell.

Nunn St, Benalla (McK&H teardrop bell) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.545 ... 312!8i6656 Despite recent reports of it's demise, this teardrop bell still remains. It is actually one of the earlier cast iron models which are very rare, and the bell sounds nice & healthy. The crossing is unchanged from the 2015 GSV image and still retains the WRRS gate mechs and the hybrid bell.

Now for the bad news. The following gateless crossings (along with their m-bells) have been replaced by new gated signals with e-bells.....
Racecourse Rd, Chiltern https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.160 ... 312!8i6656
Boorhaman Rd, North Wangaratta https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.325 ... 312!8i6656
Tamnick Gap Rd, Wangaratta South https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.410 ... 312!8i6656
Benalla - Yarrawonga Rd, Benalla https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.523 ... 328!8i1664
Palmerston St, Baddaginnie https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.588 ... 312!8i6656
Mcdiarmids Rd, Violet Town https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.641 ... 312!8i6656
Down St, Longwood https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.801 ... 328!8i1664
Nagambie - Locksley Rd, Locksley https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.834 ... 328!8i1664 It's not visible from the grainy image, but I can confirm that at the time of removal (March 6, 2017) the crossing had a Westinghouse hybrid bell.

Here are a couple of gateless crossings on "death row" which are due to be upgraded with gates and e-bells in the near future. In both cases the new signal foundations and cables have already been installed.
Gravel Pit Rd, Wangaratta South https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.383 ... 312!8i6656
Cemetery Rd, Benalla https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.557 ... 312!8i6656 This crossing is scheduled to be upgraded on March 27, it currently has two hybrid bells, although the bell on the cemetery side of the crossing seems to be dead.

Some other odds & ends at Violet Town....
The WRRS gate mechs at the Cowslip St crossing have been replaced by Safetran ones, and the teardrop bell has been replaced by a Westinghouse hybrid bell https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.637 ... 312!8i6656
This crossing has been closed and completely removed https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.638 ... 312!8i6656

Finally some more positive news. The following crossings still currently have Westinghouse hybrid bells...
Mcmahons Rd, Springhurst https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.208 ... 312!8i6656
Boralma - Rutherglen Rd, Boralma https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.264 ... 328!8i1664
Sisely Ave, Wangaratta https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.360 ... 312!8i6656
Old Hume Hwy, Glenrowan (teardrop replaced by hybrid) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.469 ... 312!8i6656
Link Rd, Benalla (Oaklands branch) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.504 ... 328!8i1664
Arundel St, Benalla https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.548 ... 312!8i6656
Faithfull St, Benalla https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.551 ... 312!8i6656
Balmattum Siding Rd (no GSV image) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.698 ... 628295,16z
Creightons Siding Rd https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.775 ... 312!8i6656

Just out of curiosity, how many videos did you get, and how many crossings did you photograph?

freebrickproductions wrote:Just out of curiosity, how many videos did you get, and how many crossings did you photograph?

These are the crossings that I filmed and photographed...
High St, Barnawartha https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.099 ... 312!8i6656
Sisely Ave, Wangaratta https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.360 ... 312!8i6656
Old Hume Hwy, Glenrowan https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.469 ... 312!8i6656
Nunn St, Benalla https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.545 ... 312!8i6656
Cemetery Rd, Benalla https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.557 ... 312!8i6656
Balmattum Siding Rd https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.698 ... 288883,16z
Creightons Siding Rd https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.775 ... 312!8i6656

I wanted to do more but a few things got in the way. Some of the crossings being upgraded had large teams of workers present, with their vehicles parked nearby which made it almost impossible to get any decent videos or photos. Then there were several V/Line passenger train cancellations, according to their website it was due to "train maintenance problems". This reduced the number of trains (crossings) available to be filmed during daylight, which is limited at the best of times. I also have two batteries for my camera and found that it was not quite enough to get through a whole day of filming, had to miss a couple of trains while recharging. Guess who is going to buy a third battery

In this video you can hear the old teardrop bell that used to be at Sandringham station! There is also a Westinghouse hybrid bell that was not ringing at the time aswell.
https://youtu.be/hf-80J4rwao

Username1 wrote:In this video you can hear the old teardrop bell that used to be at Sandringham station! There is also a Westinghouse hybrid bell that was not ringing at the time aswell.
https://youtu.be/hf-80J4rwao

I've seen that video before. They were retrieving a Siemens set that had crashed into a Bendigo Bank the night before (this was during the Siemens braking problems, which saw many Siemens sets pulled from service after overshooting station platforms). If you go back to January 2010, the other signal had a Safetran bell instead of a hybrid bell.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.948 ... 312!8i6656

My theory is that the Safetran bell died and Connex (who operated the system at the time), didn't bother replacing it. When Metro took over, they replaced the dead Safetran bell with a hybrid bell. It was still there in 2013.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.948 ... 312!8i6656

But by 2015, Metro had replaced both bells with E-Bells! (Seems stupid to replace a hybrid bell that had only been installed a few years earlier).
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.948 ... 312!8i6656

By the way, here's a video from 1990 showing a train passing through the crossing (Skip to 2:28, you'll notice that the bell sounds much healthier than it does in the other video).

Some interesting crossings at Warracknabeal VIC.

This one has a WCH m-bell, it also has an old crossbuck with a hazard triangle as well as a give way sign!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.246 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.245 ... 312!8i6656

The Henty Hwy crosses the line on either side of town, back in 2010 both crossings had teardrop bells.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.252 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.231 ... 312!8i6656

I wonder what's left of these crossings? No doubt they would have been trashed.

Found some interesting variety of gate lights along the Gippsland line.

Starting with this crossing in Nar Nar Goon, there's a mix of Unipart & General Signals gate lights on this signal.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.081 ... 6656?hl=en

Nearby, is this faded 'DANGER' sign. (There's a much better example of this at Racecourse Road, Pakenham)
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.081 ... 6656?hl=en

The next crossing down the line (at Tynong), has a lantern gate light & two General Signal lights on one signal.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.084 ... 6656?hl=en

Similar thing at Bunyip, but with two lantern lights & one General Signal's light.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.098 ... 6656?hl=en

Also, this crossing had two hybrid bells in 2008.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.098 ... 328!8i1664
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.098 ... 328!8i1664

By 2010, one of them had been replaced with a General Signals E-Bell.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.098 ... 312!8i6656

By 2014, the other was replaced with a Safetran Type 3 E-Bell.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.098 ... 312!8i6656

Found a passive crossing near Stratford with a 'LINE NOW ACTIVE' sign. This is despite the fact that the line was reopened more than a decade ago!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.003 ... 312!8i6656

Found an old PTC/The Met 'Video Monitored' sign on this crossing signal on Hillcrest Road, Frankston.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.153 ... 6656?hl=en

Although this crossing is abandoned, the signal masts still stood in 2010!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.200 ... 6656?hl=en

Where the bell once was.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.200 ... 6656?hl=en

By 2013, they had been removed. But they've kept the relay case!
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.200 ... 6656?hl=en
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-38.200 ... 6656?hl=en

The "General Signals" gate lights actually look more like NEG ones to me.