Some Madison, WI crossings in 2007

[AndyWS]

On August 12, 2007 the first "Gandy Dancer Festival" bluegrass music festival was held in Madison, Wisconsin and the Wisconsin and Southern railroad provided free public excursions with one of their E-units and ex-C&NW bilevel coaches (which they would also do the following year, and then stop due to the Great Recession, never to resume due to the then-CEO selling off the railroad to Watco, which gradually scattered the passenger equipment to the winds).

At the time, most of the WSOR crossings on the ex-C&NW trackage in and around Madison still had older C&NW-era signal equipment, including lots of pedestal-base Griswold gated signals which still had their 8" Type B lights, and of course lots of mechanical bells. Even some crossings with more modern cantilevers and 12" LED lights, such as E. Washington Ave., had mechanical bells. Then there were oddities like County M which had been heavily upgraded...to include not only 12" LED lights and electronic bells, but a set of B&B ARMR full-barrier crash stop gates, one of four crossings on the WSOR to receive these on an experimental basis in the early-mid '00s. All were removed by the fall of 2016.

Within a few years after acquiring the railroad, Watco began a gradual but steady program of crossing upgrades around the WSOR system. All of the 8" lights are gone, and most of the crossings with older gated signals have had them replaced with all-new gated signals with 12" LED lights and e-bells. The one exception might be Forster Dr., which at last check still retained its Griswold gates although the lightheads had been replaced with 12" LEDs. The Griswold gates at Sherman Ave. were replaced sometime in late 2019 or 2020, but the same cantilevers and mechanical bell still remain. The cantilevers and mechanical bell still remain at Commercial Ave., although those lightheads have also been replaced with 12" LEDs.

Riding the train:



Runbys of the train:



Crossings these trips passed through, in order from (timetable) east to west:

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... /Baldwin1/
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... ickinson1/ (action photos from this day are included on the page)
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... shington1/
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... Y/Yahara1/
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... E_Johnson/
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... mmercial1/
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... Y/Sherman/
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L- ... K/Forster/
https://www.rxrsignals.com/Wisconsin/L-P/Madison/L-P/M/