Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

There are a lot of interesting Signals and Setups that can be found in South Korea.
Since Korean Railroads took of shortly before the era of Japanese Occupation, (1910-1945), Their Railroads have a lot of Japanese and American influence.

Here is an example of a typical Railroad Crossing in South Korea. I believe this one is on the Gyeongwon Line north of Seoul.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6354829 ... 312!8i6656

All three of the Signals come equipped with Mechanical Bells, Speakers and Beacons.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6353394 ... 312!8i6656

I don't know if these Gate Mechanisms were made in Japan, but they certainly are based of Japanese Designs.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6354829 ... 312!8i6656

All the Lights are LEDs, which have been a standard in South Korea since the 2000's. They did retain the old Frames on these two Signals.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6354829 ... 312!8i6656

Please note that if you are going to search for Crossings on Google Maps, many former Railroads in South Korea have been re-routed and elevated.
Making it diffucult in some instances to indentify a Railroad Line at a glance.

Believe the mechanical bells are all abandoned in place, with the speakers being the replacement electronic bells.

They look like WRRS/WCH knockoffs

ZachL wrote:They look like WRRS/WCH knockoffs

IIRC, they're about the size of a mini-bell. And I seem to recall seeing some videos of South Korean crossings that show them having some bells that were pretty similar in design to the low-toned Dutch mechanical bells (abandoned in place, of course).

ZachL wrote:They look like WRRS/WCH knockoffs

That's almost correct. After the Korean War, South Korea received a lot of US Technological and Military Aid. They're Railroads receive Locomotives, Railcars and Signal Systems based on the U.S. System, with a bit of Japanese since they ran Korea's Railroads for a good 3 decades prior.

Now I'm not entirely sure about this, but I believe these were made under license from Western Railroad Supply.
Hence the "K.R.R.S." Branding, although I'm not sure what the "P.S.C." stands for.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6435712 ... 312!8i6656

This Bell has what I believe is Hangul Lettering. This may be the name of a different manufacturer.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6451929 ... 312!8i6656

I'll definitley be snooping around some Korean-Language forums for more information. I'll update as soon as I can.

MapsSurfer wrote:

ZachL wrote:They look like WRRS/WCH knockoffs

That's almost correct. After the Korean War, South Korea received a lot of US Technological and Military Aid. They're Railroads receive Locomotives, Railcars and Signal Systems based on the U.S. System, with a bit of Japanese since they ran Korea's Railroads for a good 3 decades prior.

Now I'm not entirely sure about this, but I believe these were made under license from Western Railroad Supply.
Hence the "K.R.R.S." Branding, although I'm not sure what the "P.S.C." stands for.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6435712 ... 312!8i6656

This Bell has what I believe is Hangul Lettering. This may be the name of a different manufacturer.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6451929 ... 312!8i6656

I'll definitley be snooping around some Korean-Language forums for more information. I'll update as soon as I can.

KRRS could have very much derived from RRS, which over in America, later became WRRS. Good stuff there.

ZachL wrote:

MapsSurfer wrote:

ZachL wrote:They look like WRRS/WCH knockoffs

That's almost correct. After the Korean War, South Korea received a lot of US Technological and Military Aid. They're Railroads receive Locomotives, Railcars and Signal Systems based on the U.S. System, with a bit of Japanese since they ran Korea's Railroads for a good 3 decades prior.

Now I'm not entirely sure about this, but I believe these were made under license from Western Railroad Supply.
Hence the "K.R.R.S." Branding, although I'm not sure what the "P.S.C." stands for.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6435712 ... 312!8i6656

This Bell has what I believe is Hangul Lettering. This may be the name of a different manufacturer.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.6451929 ... 312!8i6656

I'll definitley be snooping around some Korean-Language forums for more information. I'll update as soon as I can.

KRRS could have very much derived from RRS, which over in America, later became WRRS. Good stuff there.

Seeing this discussion related to U.S. signals in different countires reminds me of some advert from the 1950's of railway crossings in The Netherlands, one part i can remember was a crossing with a mock catseye STOP ON RED SIGNAL sign which was translated into the Dutch language, can't remember the video title obviously because i'm not Dutch, but i'd love to find it.

Seeing this discussion related to U.S. signals in different countires reminds me of some advert from the 1950's of railway crossings in The Netherlands, one part i can remember was a crossing with a mock catseye STOP ON RED SIGNAL sign which was translated into the Dutch language, can't remember the video title obviously because i'm not Dutch, but i'd love to find it.

Is this what you were referencing?


As I've mentioned before regard Italian Signals, after the Second World War European industry was almost completely destroyed. Thanks to allied bombing, Nazi sabotage, General Missuse ect. The Netherlands, which recivied a healthy amount of U.S. Aid under the Marshal Plan, signed a deal with the WRRS Company to provide Crossing Signal equipment to the Nederlandse Staatsspoorweg (State Railway). The initial trials were done with WRRS "Semaphore" Gate Mechanisms and Mini-Bells. The Dutch eventually opted to manufacture Model 95 copies by companies such as Alkmaar. Those are the ones we see today.

Found a Trio of P.S.C. Bells near Uijeongbu.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7213395 ... 312!8i6656

Heres a duo of PSC/KRRS Bells also near Uijeongbu. Notice the Out-of-Service Position Light Signal.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7189764 ... 312!8i6656

Heres another duo of PSC/KRRS Bells near Goyang-dong.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.714389, ... 312!8i6656

It's a shame all of those mechanical bells are just abandoned in place.