Eastern Railroad Discussion > The Railroad Crossing That People Have Questioned Me About

Well this past Friday, as you saw the photos that evening, I was trackside at that railroad crossing in Madison Ohio. Well I thought about it, that the next time I was going to that crossing that I would get a photo this time, so then it can awnser people's question about why their is no gate on one side. Well with this photo, this gets to show you the setup of this crossing.

The track closest to me in this photo is the NS Lake Erie District which is ex. NKP and the track over farther is CSX Erie West Sub which is ex. NYC.
 

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That is really a dangerous crossing.  The lack of gates in the center section is so if traffic is trapped hanging over the rear crossing it could escape.  That is assuming the guy in front knows what is going on in the rear.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

I have seen some in Texas that needed that escape.  But, they had to carefully negotiate around the gates to get out.

The crossing circuits are set up so that a train approaching on either NS or CSX activates the lights and gates on both sets of tracks. The gates are located on the outside of the crossing. The idea is to keep drivers from stopping between the tracks and possibly fouling the other railroad. There are several crossings on that line segment set up that way.

RDG96 Wrote:
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> The crossing circuits are set up so that a train
> approaching on either NS or CSX activates the
> lights and gates on both sets of tracks. The gates
> are located on the outside of the crossing. The
> idea is to keep drivers from stopping between the
> tracks and possibly fouling the other railroad.
> There are several crossings on that line segment
> set up that way.

That is correct.

webmaster Wrote:
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> That is really a dangerous crossing.  The lack of gates in the center section is so if traffic is
> trapped hanging over the rear crossing it could escape.  That is assuming the guy in front knows
> what is going on in the rear.

I've seen at least one tandem crossing on YouTube where on the non-triggering track, the signal lamps facing toward the inside don't light.  (i.e. if the train is on the near track in your direction of driving, the far lights stay dark.  For  drivers approaching the opposite way, both crossings appear to activate.)  I assume the idea is so that traffic in the center will keep going and clear the crossings, making it less likely to trap someone on the 'danger' track.

~Joe P.
Hainesville, IL