Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Spent my lunch hour streetview-surfing for interesting crossings in the Houston area. Found quite a few so far, and I've barely scratched the surface. Houston is about a 4 to 5 hour drive from here. If I could ever find someone to go with me & share the driving responsibilities, I'll probably make a trip here in the future to photograph these unusual crossings.

Here are some unusual ones I've found so far:

This crossing is closed now, but check out the "No gates or lights" warning sign.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 0000000001

World's record for shortest Raco cantilevers?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 53384,,0,5

Nice bridge cantilever.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 96401,,0,5

Not exactly the same as one of those signals with the lights on top of the crossbucks, but the closest approximation I've seen in the Lone Star state:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 33523,,0,5

I wonder if this old-timer survived Hurricane Ike? This crossing is only a couple of miles inland from the gulf coast.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 9999999999

FIX THAT CROSSBUCK! The mast lights on the cantilever look off center. Those are some short RACO's.

The "NO LIGHTS OR GATES" sign is real. It is in the MUTCD. It just hasn't been widely adopted yet.

Some new signs are expected to be added to the MUTCD later this year. I'll have to make a seperate post for that.

Here's a few more...

This one's sad... a broken-down old triangle-gate signal, with a tiny "exempt" sign on a separate pole
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&so ... 8447204969

Can anyone ID this gate mechanism? It's obviously older, but to me it looks really small:
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&so ... 80259,,0,5

Wow, what a combo! Old and, uh... REALLY old!!!
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&so ... 64558,,0,5

Do a 360 sweep around this viewpoint. When I think of Houston this is what I think of! (Even though this is actually in Pasadena!)
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&so ... 9999999999

"No Left Turn" light???
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&so ... 0000000001

Man, I need to find something else to do during my lunch break than this streetview surfing. Now I REALLY want to make a trip to Houston!!!

That giant crossing area on that third link is a railfan's DREAM to get trains there. Nice find!

Reminds me a little of the LA Harbor area.

Lots of nice gateless stuff there.

On the 2nd crossing (with the small gate mechanism)... the lights on the other signal look as though they are mounted off center.

And on the last one, turn to the right and drive up the street a little, then look back. Remnants of an old cantilever signal?

cabman701 wrote:On the 2nd crossing (with the small gate mechanism)... the lights on the other signal look as though they are mounted off center.

And on the last one, turn to the right and drive up the street a little, then look back. Remnants of an old cantilever signal?

I would have to say so...

wow, there are some REALLY cool signals there!