Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Almost like the good old days when trains were coming-and-going to-and-from a variety of points. Do you guys know about Porter Junction in NW Indiana? Main trackage rights belong to NS (the old NYC Water Level Route). CSX owns two feeds: the old Pere Marquette and what is known as the Porter Branch line. And there's also Amtrak on the old Michigan Central line.

I'd been meaning to get HD shots of this line-up of crossings on 15th street in Chesterton/Porter (I have the high speed shutter on as well, so you can freeze and part and the consist will be crystal clear). The Pere Marquette line still uses a pair of flashing signals with 8" roundels. The signal in the foreground has WRRS lights. The other signal has GRS. There used to be a siding at this crossing, so you might notice evidence of where 2 track signs used to be mounted on the mast. New gate signals on the MC line use General Signals Inc. LED lights (common, at least in these parts). The gate signals for NS are Safetran. These trains all passed through within a few minutes of each other.

Very nice. Love that first crossing with the old 8 inch lights and no bell. Very uncommon this day and age.

Reminds me of the crossing next to my Grandma's old house in Canton, Illinois. It had these same types of signals until the middle 80's. It was then upgraded to 12 inch lights, side lights were added, and a bell. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5507576 ... 6656?hl=en. This crossing is what made me fall in love with crossing signals and trains. Ahhh memories...

Here's an added bonus...video I just found today that I shot eighteen years ago at the same crossing.

So... this crossing had gates (and a bell) at one time, and it was downgraded to 8 inch lights only?

No, I was a little hasty in my description. It is the same street, and the same crossing as the last one in the first video.

Bonus II...

Found some more old footage from the same area also shot in 1997. This shows the same basic mast signals, but with 2 tracks signs from when that line had a siding. Another shot of the older gate signals as well. Plus a few block signals...two on the Pere Marquette (the tri-color was replaced by the modern signal seen in the HD video at the top of this thread). A dwarf signal for the old siding which of course is gone now. And a GRS SA target signal which has also been replaced (an Internet acquaintance of mine was able to save the whole thing and installed it in his yard).