Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

I wanted to see what some of the strangest crossings you guys have seen, I does not matter if you have seen it in person or seen a picture of it somewhere. I have not decided what the strangest one I have seen yet.

The strangest signal I have seen is a signal on CSX's Trenton sub that was replaced a few months ago, having a "branch" pole sprouting on the side of the main pole containing the crossbuck with the bell at the top of the main pole. Sadly, that signal was removed when the crossing got upgraded to a quiet zone.

YoshiDino90 wrote:The strangest signal I have seen is a signal on CSX's Trenton sub that was replaced a few months ago, having a "branch" pole sprouting on the side of the main pole containing the crossbuck with the bell at the top of the main pole. Sadly, that signal was removed when the crossing got upgraded to a quiet zone.

Do you know where on the Trenton sub?

Montgomery Blawenburg Road which can be found here: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Province ... 6,,2,-0.71

So we have had a few discussions on this type of signal... the one with the branch coming out of it for the lights. In our local paper today there was some pictures of a train from the 1940's. This type of signal is featured in several of the pics. Figured you guys would enjoy them...

Based on these pictures, I believe this setup was done mainly for the older A frame gates... to allow room for the huge gate to move freely and not get caught up in the lights or crossbuck. Just my opinion though.

These signals were still around in the 70's, I remember seeing them when I was growing up. The were finally replaced in the early 80's.
A close up of the signal in the above picture.....
Pretty nice close up on the far left. Check out the gate light!

YoshiDino90 wrote:The strangest signal I have seen is a signal on CSX's Trenton sub that was replaced a few months ago, having a "branch" pole sprouting on the side of the main pole containing the crossbuck with the bell at the top of the main pole. Sadly, that signal was removed when the crossing got upgraded to a quiet zone.

I don't mean to argue but I'm guessing the point is that blowing the horn at a quad-gate crossing to an engineer would be pointless since no one is going to be stupid enough to pass the crossing gate unless of course they don't care and they clip one. So it probably isn't necessary unless there is something on the tracks.

Trainzmandude2012 wrote:

YoshiDino90 wrote:The strangest signal I have seen is a signal on CSX's Trenton sub that was replaced a few months ago, having a "branch" pole sprouting on the side of the main pole containing the crossbuck with the bell at the top of the main pole. Sadly, that signal was removed when the crossing got upgraded to a quiet zone.

I don't mean to argue but I'm guessing the point is that blowing the horn at a quad-gate crossing to an engineer would be pointless since no one is going to be stupid enough to pass the crossing gate unless of course they don't care and they clip one. So it probably isn't necessary unless there is something on the tracks.

There have been many quad gate installations along the Amtrak Chicago to St Louis line for high speed rail in my area. Just about all of them are at rural crossings and are not quiet zones. The only quiet zones that are being discussed along this line are in urban areas to avoid noise pollution for city residents and businesses.

Here is a short video of this crossing I took several years ago.

cabman701 wrote:

Trainzmandude2012 wrote:

YoshiDino90 wrote:The strangest signal I have seen is a signal on CSX's Trenton sub that was replaced a few months ago, having a "branch" pole sprouting on the side of the main pole containing the crossbuck with the bell at the top of the main pole. Sadly, that signal was removed when the crossing got upgraded to a quiet zone.

I don't mean to argue but I'm guessing the point is that blowing the horn at a quad-gate crossing to an engineer would be pointless since no one is going to be stupid enough to pass the crossing gate unless of course they don't care and they clip one. So it probably isn't necessary unless there is something on the tracks.

There have been many quad gate installations along the Amtrak Chicago to St Louis line for high speed rail in my area. Just about all of them are at rural crossings and are not quiet zones. The only quiet zones that are being discussed along this line are in urban areas to avoid noise pollution for city residents and businesses.

Here is a short video of this crossing I took several years ago.

It was only a thought.

Trainzmandude2012 wrote:It was only a thought.

I understand, and it does make sense. There are just too many stupid people in this world for quiet zones to become the "norm" I'm afraid.

I mean, why not?

Cheers,
Joshua