Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Something that caught my interest with the railroad crossings in my area was that a few years ago, they changed the way the crossing bells ring. You see, back in late 1997 when the MBTA took over the railroad tracks running through our area and high-speed passenger trains began traveling on them very frequently, they upgraded most of the railroad crossings on that route, from simple 8" lights and bells to full cantilever/gate setups (all of them Safetran). Now, when the upgrade took place, the bells were programmed so they'd only ring when the signals start up and the gates lower, then ring again when the gates rise.

However, last year I was at one of those crossings taking images for this website for it (the Plymouth St. crossing in Bridgewater), when a train came. I suddenly noticed that the crossing had its bells reprogrammed so they now ring the whole time the signals are active! It wasn't only this crossing either, a month later I was taking pictures of the Broad St. crossing one afternoon when my brother and I were having lunch at the Burger King restaurant next door to it, when I saw that THIS crossing had its bells reprogrammed so they now ring the whole time the lights are flashing! (Here is a video of this crossing in action to see what I mean.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORSgczpDqzU
It was now obvious the MBTA had reprogrammed the crossing bells on all this line.

I wonder why this occured? It might be for safety reasons; the visually impaired will easily know for sure when a train is coming now. Or maybe they thought that it was more "classic" that way.

IMO, I prefer it when the bells ring the whole time the signals are active, so it's not a problem for me. Any comments?

Being a residential area... and as fast as that train was going, I think the bells ringing constantly is a very good idea.

St. Louis changed their pattern from silencing bells when the gates lowered to a full ringing from startup to shutdown because of the quiet zones they put into effect.

Residential areas still have the bells ring when the gates were fully down, but ring when the gates move.

Down there on the MBTA, those crossings are supposed to be quiet zones according to the FRA, but those rules are not enforced there.

Smjh1979 wrote: Down there on the MBTA, those crossings are supposed to be quiet zones according to the FRA, but those rules are not enforced there.

That is weird. Because all my life I've heard the trains sounding their horns as they barrel through those crossings. Even in wintertime when all the leaves are down, I can sometimes hear the trains sounding their horns at the Matfield St. crossing from my house!

Something must've gone screwy somewhere. I said on that page in Plymouth St. in Bridgewater, MA that the FRA said that the crossing was a quiet zone, but after looking at it again, the quiet zone status is listed as "none".

I'm trying to remember where I saw that... Checking back on previous emails didn't search anything. I wonder if I imagined the quiet zone thing now...

Anyways, this is sort of an error report fixed now. That crossing no longer mentions anything about a quiet zone now.

Getting back on topic, anything could've triggered the change, from the amount of deaths, including this one: http://www.rxrsignals.net/Massachusetts/Abington/Pine/ and others, or if the maintainer(s) there decided to rewire them all due to personal preferences.

Smjh1979 wrote:St. Louis changed their pattern from silencing bells when the gates lowered to a full ringing from startup to shutdown because of the quiet zones they put into effect.

Residential areas still have the bells ring when the gates were fully down, but ring when the gates move.

Down there on the MBTA, those crossings are supposed to be quiet zones according to the FRA, but those rules are not enforced there.

Not just st louis
THE ENTIRE UP SYSTEM
theres a new company policy about the bells only a few xings in quiet zone/residential areas have not been changed
i just found a video from a favorite xing in eureka mo the bells have changed there too
as far as the bells go i DONT like bells ringing when the gate go up its plane dangerous and stupid
as far as quiet zones go there bs too
too many keep sprouting up if you cant stand the horn move or buy some nose canceling head sets

if you cant stand the horn move or buy some nose canceling head sets

Or better yet, move out here. There's no trains for 20-30 miles.

wilek209 wrote:

Smjh1979 wrote: Down there on the MBTA, those crossings are supposed to be quiet zones according to the FRA, but those rules are not enforced there.

That is weird. Because all my life I've heard the trains sounding their horns as they barrel through those crossings. Even in wintertime when all the leaves are down, I can sometimes hear the trains sounding their horns at the Matfield St. crossing from my house!

Mbta had quiet zones
untill this happened

http://wbztv.com/local/child.hit.train.2.732534.html
that happened on this line
http://mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/rail ... e=NBRYROCK
at this xing
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 7,,0,-2.36

however still theres people that want quiet zones
http://www.wickedlocal.com/needham/news ... quiet-zone

and found this on mbta
Q: Will there be train whistles?
A: No. The communities along the Greenbush Line have designated the line as a “Quiet Zone” where train horns (“whistles”) are not routinely sounded at grade crossings. Supplemental safety devices — medians or 4-quadrant gates — have been provided at most of the crossings to compensate for the absence of the train horns. While the horns will not be sounded routinely at crossings, they will still be used for other purposes such as to warn maintenance workers and in emergency situations. Bells on the trains and at the crossings will still be sounded.

also here is a list of quiet zones from the fra site


and a list from mo,nc, nd


Ps have a friend who works for ns and he blows the horn in new bern anyway