Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Just getting back into railroad artifact collecting in a big way. Did some horse trading with the curator of a nearby small RR museum. He just had to have my G scale live steam passenger train from the UK and I wanted a complete crossing flasher, of which they had several surplus to the museum's needs.

Here are some pics of the crossing flasher signal and its relay that actually makes them work. I will put it all back together when I am able to erect the pole in my back garden.
WRRS Bell



Here is the pole, the base is at the far end


Here are the 4 light heads and mounting "spider"


And here is the huge relay that alternates the lights.




I also have these 2 Prime RR beacons off 2 Burlington Northern engines.
This one I personally removed(with permission) from ex-BN GP10 #1410(I also have one of the glass number boards)


And this one I received directly from the BN shops in Alliance NB, came of a U30C going to scrap.

Love those Modern Industries 8 inch lights! With what you have, you could make an old L&N signal!

These came off the old Monon, now CSX just north of Linden according to the curator. They had both sets from that crossing. I got the side that had the bell. The other pole just has a cap and also four of the modern Industries 8 inch lights. I never was a fan of the 12" lights we see mostly now days. I would like to get a set of 4 good GRS Lex-C 8 inch lights at some point. I have pieces of 4 of them in my attic, but all the housings are busted off where the elbow threads on. We have one crossing here in Kokomo on a side street(Carter Street) that has all Lex-C lights on it. I will try to get pics when I am out on my motorcycle this week. Mike

artfull dodger wrote:These came off the old Monon, now CSX just north of Linden according to the curator. They had both sets from that crossing. I got the side that had the bell. The other pole just has a cap and also four of the modern Industries 8 inch lights. I never was a fan of the 12" lights we see mostly now days. I would like to get a set of 4 good GRS Lex-C 8 inch lights at some point. I have pieces of 4 of them in my attic, but all the housings are busted off where the elbow threads on. We have one crossing here in Kokomo on a side street(Carter Street) that has all Lex-C lights on it. I will try to get pics when I am out on my motorcycle this week. Mike

The L&N owned the Monon for a while before they merged with the SCL, so it would still be accurate to the area!

Yes it would be. Now I need one of those prefab metal bases. I would have this think upright again if I had one! Really do not want to make a concrete base as I may need to move it a few times as we redo our back garden over the next few years. The metal base would make this easier. I think I will leave them with the aged patina they came with, green moss and all. They remind me of the old US&S signals at a nearby crossing as a child, never remember them getting a coat of paint, looking very aged but functional. One signal was half overgrown by a tree had more green than black to the visors and targets on that side. Would love to find a small relay cabinet for free or nearly free(might build my own from wood and just paint it silver) to house the EOR relay and power supply. I can store some of my pool supplies in the bottom unless I decide to fill it with track relays. I do have, somewhere, the clear fresnel lense that goes on the indicator light, I just lack the mount for the globe. Mike

Here is an update finally. The weather finally cleared up, I had just gotten the foundation pad ready when several days of heavy rain moved in. So today, I got the mast up and within a degree or two of plum. Took the lights off the cross arm, remounted the cross buck. Mounted the cross arm and reassembled and reconnected the wiring, keeping it wired correctly. My ladder isn't tall enough to safely reinstall the bell on the top of the mast. If anybody is in my area and can assist with this, I would be grateful! I used an old 3 wire extension cord to run power to the junction box up on the mast. Will have to run a seperate feed for the bell so I can control it seperatly. Mike

When I was cleaning them up a little bit, I noticed that 2 of the side lights are busted out and the maintainer packed the openings with the stuff they pack around wires where it goes thru cabinets ect. Gooey stuff! What have you guys used to replace broken side indicator lenses? A piece of plexiglass cut and rounded to shape maybe? Mike

artfull dodger wrote:When I was cleaning them up a little bit, I noticed that 2 of the side lights are busted out and the maintainer packed the openings with the stuff they pack around wires where it goes thru cabinets ect. Gooey stuff! What have you guys used to replace broken side indicator lenses? A piece of plexiglass cut and rounded to shape maybe? Mike

I honestly don't know. I guess that'd work though.

artfull dodger wrote:Here is an update finally. The weather finally cleared up, I had just gotten the foundation pad ready when several days of heavy rain moved in. So today, I got the mast up and within a degree or two of plum. Took the lights off the cross arm, remounted the cross buck. Mounted the cross arm and reassembled and reconnected the wiring, keeping it wired correctly. My ladder isn't tall enough to safely reinstall the bell on the top of the mast. If anybody is in my area and can assist with this, I would be grateful! I used an old 3 wire extension cord to run power to the junction box up on the mast. Will have to run a seperate feed for the bell so I can control it seperatly. Mike

Looks great!

Here is a short video of the signal flashing for the first time since it was taken out of service. Mike
https://youtu.be/0IiBhV2P5Lw