Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

IAM CURIOUS ABOUT WHEN YOU SHOULD CALL A RAILROAD ABOUT PROBLEMS WITH SIGNALS
OBVIOUSLY WHEN THERE IS A MALFUNCTION/BUSTED GATE CALL THE RAILROAD
BUT WHAT ABOUT BURNT OUT LIGHTS, BROKEN BELLS, SHORT/WRONGLY STRIPED GATEs, ECT

elton i am sure you know the answer to this one

TRAINMANKIGHT wrote: elton i am sure you know the answer to this one

Most Likely...

I called CN when they hadn't fixed a burnt out light after a week, and the same crossing had developed an additional problem-the bell failing to sound.

I happened to be down in the Portland eastside and stopped to shoot an Amtrak train heading south. Out of sheer luck, the crossing I chose to catch had both front lights burned out! I'll have to dig up the video and post it.

I called UP for that one.

ive called when the signals have malfunctoned. A guy who works for NS told me that if there is a really rough crossing, go over it in a way that will cause damage to your car and sent the repair bill to the railroad, he said they will be out within a week fixing the crossing.

illinoistrains wrote:ive called when the signals have malfunctoned. A guy who works for NS told me that if there is a really rough crossing, go over it in a way that will cause damage to your car and sent the repair bill to the railroad, he said they will be out within a week fixing the crossing.

Don't think I would be willing to sacrifice my ride for who-knows-how-long just to get a rough crossing fixed!

The crossing down the road from me (Viall Ave. 2) malfunctioned the other day. It had been raining fairly hard when it happened. I went out with my dad at about 7:45 and spotted the crossive activated w/o no train in sight. There was a car waiting at the gate anticipating a train. Knowing it was a malfunction (again, no train in sight and no whistle heard either) my dad went around both the car and the gates. We got back at about 9:00 and the crossing was still activated and people were still going around the gates (again, as did we). The problem was rectified by the next morning.

My guess is that the rain shorted a detector or something in the control box somehow.

weatherdan882002 wrote: My guess is that the rain shorted a detector or something in the control box somehow.

It was probably because of a soaked ballast condition...

This reminds me...I need to call the City of Portland. Somebody jacked a stop sign from an intersection. Thankfully it has a flashing red light but still...

No, no lightning. It was just a band of heavy rain. If we get a decent amount of it in a short period of time, sometimes the crossing malfunctions, but we didn't get a whole lot, so I'm kind of surprised the crossing malfunctioned.