| Home | Open Account | Help | 336 users online |
|
Member Login
Discussion
Media SharingHostingLibrarySite Info |
Western Railroad Discussion > Requiem for a Crossing SignalDate: 02/23/21 16:14 Requiem for a Crossing Signal Author: kevink BNSF recently upgraded the crossing signals at Prospect Avenue in Clarendon Hills IL on BNSF’s Chicago Sub. Unfortunately, this meant the demise of the No Left Turn flasher at the corner of Prospect and Railroad Avenue. Here are a couple of clips from December 2020 when I realized it was probably going to disappear.
You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today! Date: 02/23/21 21:11 Re: Requiem for a Crossing Signal Author: coach I like how the lettering on the signal isn't perfectly straight or aligned. That gives it even more "character."
Date: 02/23/21 22:11 Re: Requiem for a Crossing Signal Author: pbouzide rgzfan Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > Hmm. I'm not sure where to draw the line between > things that I feel sad about and things that I > don't feel sad about. For me it's in sad territory. I remember being mesmerized by these when I was a kid. Date: 02/24/21 09:04 Re: Requiem for a Crossing Signal Author: inrdjlg Nice work on the video!
Always fascinated by the various crossing signals, I dearly miss the days when you could tell which railroad it was by the subtly distinctive look of the signals. (Other fans could say the same thing about the code lines and even the track structure.) Even when no trains were around, the crossing signals were always there. When I was a kid, it was a guilty pleasure of sorts to go check out a grade crossing that I hadn't been to before, just to see what kind of signals were there. If the crossing protection included a bell, and I rarely got to see a train at the crossing, and knew that a train was coming, it was a treat to catch the train. In the days before e-bells began replacing mechanical bells, each of the older bells might sound differently. Today, as with "kevink's" posting and others, fans are rapidly losing the older styles of crossing signals. The economics of the replacement equipment have had a lot to do with it, of course; however, public policy may also be in the works. A number of years ago, I took a public policy course at the local college. At one point, the instructor was discussing drug laws and came out strongly in favor of having a standard code across the land, rather than a patchwork of different laws in each city, county, and state. He said that it's too confusing to the public. I've always remembered his argument and applied it to other unrelated policy. If he'd been discussing railroad crossing signals, I suspect that he'd probably been in favor of a few generic standards, rather than the patchwork of variety that characterized the railroads' older installations. I bet that he'd also like the way railroads are standardizing with the Darth Vader block and interlocking signals as well! |