Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

I think there was a topic on the old forum about crossing signals that were very close to homes or in yards, and tracks that ran extremely close to houses.

Check out this one near San Francisco, CA:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 0000000001

How far do you figure it is from the side of the house to the closest rail? 10 feet?
The mailbox is right next to the cantilever base. And you'd have to be careful working on the landscaping / flower beds in the front there. If the signals activated, the gate might bang you in the head when it came down!

I'm sure y'all can find some others...

Josh wrote:I think there was a topic on the old forum about crossing signals that were very close to homes or in yards, and tracks that ran extremely close to houses.

Check out this one near San Francisco, CA:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 0000000001

How far do you figure it is from the side of the house to the closest rail? 10 feet?
The mailbox is right next to the cantilever base. And you'd have to be careful working on the landscaping / flower beds in the front there. If the signals activated, the gate might bang you in the head when it came down!

I'm sure y'all can find some others...

Wow... that would be my dream house for sure!

Don't know if this was posted in the last forum, and it doesn't really qualify for this section since there are no crossing signals involved... but, check out the distance between the bed & breakfast and the tracks. This is in Peoria Heights, IL. The photographer's comments even state that the engine's snowplow scrapped the driveway.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=228921

Also, I do know of a few farm houses up north of Bloomington, IL that have crossing signals in their driveway! When they started upgrading the line between Chicago & Springfield for high speed trains, they elminated all crossbuck-only crossings. They put crossing signals w/gates in driveways, and even on access roads to farm fields (those crossings would only get used twice a year!)

I'll try to grab some pictures next time I am up that way.

I'd like that...especially since that would be a Model 75 Mechanism in my front yard!

I bet ya thats in a quiet zone. Still I'd love to have a crossing signal in my front yard.

Crossingman18 wrote:I bet ya thats in a quiet zone. Still I'd love to have a crossing signal in my front yard.

WHAT IS WITH YOU AND "I BET THATS A QUIET ZONE"
CROSSING ONE GETS 4 TOTAL TRAINS AND IS NOT A QUIET ZONE
CROSSING TWO GETS 2 TOTAL TRAINS AND IS NOT A QUIET ZONE

residential neighborhood. It was just a guess. Especially that house next to the tracks.

Off the subject a little bit... but I did a little Street View surfing starting from that crossing in Josh's post.

Check out this crossing a little bit down the tracks. I believe the relay box is on the left... because of the angle of the tracks, the last signal is WAY down the road.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... .0318&z=15

Since it is Street View, you can "drive" yourself down the road by clicking on the arrows. I just thought it was an interesting configuration of signals.

Josh wrote:I think there was a topic on the old forum about crossing signals that were very close to homes or in yards, and tracks that ran extremely close to houses.

Check out this one near San Francisco, CA:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 0000000001

How far do you figure it is from the side of the house to the closest rail? 10 feet?
The mailbox is right next to the cantilever base. And you'd have to be careful working on the landscaping / flower beds in the front there. If the signals activated, the gate might bang you in the head when it came down!

I'm sure y'all can find some others...

Man...they must be sound sleepers.

Here is a prestigious neighborhood in Lake Oswego, Oregon with a house literally a stone's throw from the P&W trackage. I delivered a car down this street once and damn...what a house!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 70824,,0,5

cabman701 wrote:

Josh wrote:I think there was a topic on the old forum about crossing signals that were very close to homes or in yards, and tracks that ran extremely close to houses.

Check out this one near San Francisco, CA:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 0000000001

How far do you figure it is from the side of the house to the closest rail? 10 feet?
The mailbox is right next to the cantilever base. And you'd have to be careful working on the landscaping / flower beds in the front there. If the signals activated, the gate might bang you in the head when it came down!

I'm sure y'all can find some others...

Wow... that would be my dream house for sure!

Unfortunately, according to the FRA report, it's a Union Pacific crossing, and it only see 4 trains a day, all of them at a speed limit of 10 MPH.