NW 86th Street Clive, IOWA - Classics bite the dust.
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:47 pm
Bad news to report today as I was driving to Half-Price Books with some friends...
The classic cantilevers along with the mini-bell are now gone, replaced with large modern cantilever signals and gates... also the city has been doing some improvements on University avenue there also (as kind of shown in MGillson's photos) and a separate right turn island was created in the Northbound lanes. This lane/island is protected by it's own gated signal. Each canitlever has 2 sets of lights above the roadway along with a set on the masts as well.
The gates are separate from the cantilevers, but thankfully IAIS did NOT mount any lights on the gate mechanisms, the rear lightheads are mounted on the cantilevers.
Sad to see the classics go, however visibility was very poor... not to mention this stretch of track is not very frequently used. (The rail is very rusty and looks in somewhat bad shape.) From a safety standpoint, I'm surprised this upgrade didn't happen YEARS earlier when there was heavier traffic on the line. (Before the Mrs. Grimes plant closed)
Here's a good example of the equipment that was used.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c ... 80688&z=16
This isn't the actual crossing but it's the same cantilever and gate setup (just backwards). Perhaps next time someone is in the area with a camera, they can get pictures of the new setup.
The classic cantilevers along with the mini-bell are now gone, replaced with large modern cantilever signals and gates... also the city has been doing some improvements on University avenue there also (as kind of shown in MGillson's photos) and a separate right turn island was created in the Northbound lanes. This lane/island is protected by it's own gated signal. Each canitlever has 2 sets of lights above the roadway along with a set on the masts as well.
The gates are separate from the cantilevers, but thankfully IAIS did NOT mount any lights on the gate mechanisms, the rear lightheads are mounted on the cantilevers.Sad to see the classics go, however visibility was very poor... not to mention this stretch of track is not very frequently used. (The rail is very rusty and looks in somewhat bad shape.) From a safety standpoint, I'm surprised this upgrade didn't happen YEARS earlier when there was heavier traffic on the line. (Before the Mrs. Grimes plant closed)
Here's a good example of the equipment that was used.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c ... 80688&z=16
This isn't the actual crossing but it's the same cantilever and gate setup (just backwards). Perhaps next time someone is in the area with a camera, they can get pictures of the new setup.