Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 9-14-17*

Southbound signal: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Safetran Fading LEDs, 2 pairs of WCH 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, 1 pair of WCH 12x20 inch lights with Safetran Fading LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Northbound signal: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 lights with Safetran Fading LEDs, 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Safetran Fading LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Southbound pedestrian signal: a WCH gate mechanism and a PPI gate light.
Northbound pedestrian signal: a WCH gate mechanism and a WCH gate light.

The crossing itself is kinda unique in how the cantilevers and gate masts are positioned, along with the 12x24 inch WCH lights on the right-hand signal, the extra pair of mast lights on the left-hand signal, and one of three PPI gate lights I've seen in use on the left-hand pedestrian signal. The bells here also ring at two very different speeds and seem to slow down a bit when the gates start to lower. The crossing also has some rather long ped gates as well.

The crossing is also at Graden at the western end of the single-track portion of the Hempstead Branch between the Garden City station and the Hempstead station at the end of the line. However, there aren't any crossings to the east/south of here along the line, making this the easternmost crossing along the line. The second track at this crossing is the lightly used LIRR Central Extension, which heads east from the switch just west of this crossing, through the crossing in the parking lot just east of here, before ending near the Nassau Community College and only gets one train a week according to the FRA. It appears that line was once more major as Garden appears to have originally been a wye and the line appears to have originally gone all the way to Farmingdale, NY.