Maybe someone can answer this. What grade crossing do you have to whistle at or sound your horn? There are several here in town that only have cross bucks, no lights. Does the crew have to stop and flag every one of these? Or can they procede thru as long as they can see its clear. Its old track left from the mines that now serves a quary and glass plant among a couple other things I think so track speed isnt going to be very high. I have yet to catch the local switching the glass plant but im trying. Will have pictures when I do. Thanks yall.
It depends, there are some crossings that crews have to flag the train through. On the E&N there are many unprotected crossings, there are 5 MPH slow orders through these crossings but crews do not have to flag the train through. Other crossings like the Jacklin rd. crossing on the CN's now abandoned Cowichan Sub the train had to stop and be flagged through the crossing. I guess it all depends on the crossing.
It all depends upon the situation. A private crossing, they usually don't sound a horn. At public crossings it's just the opposite. It once was that you had to ring the bell, and sound your horn until the crossing was fully occupied. But now with whiners buying property next to tracks, without doing proper research first, many areas want "quiet zones." So the railroads, (even though they do not have to!), have negotiated setting up so they can pass without signalling. Special equipment gets installed. And even so, morons keep on getting killed. I expect that soon someone, proclaiming to be a victim, will sue a city with a quiet zone, and be awarded big money. Thereby slowing or reversing this trend. Remember that at one time most grade crossings only had crossbucks. Those that had other, were done by a human crossing guard. (Often someone who was crippled up in an accident on the RR, and that was the only job they could hold.) It's very expensive to automate, and then maintain a crossing. Considering all the crossing, the cost of doing this is impossible. In most cases the railroad was there before a crossing. And as RR property is mostly private, not public, you cannot just build across tracks anywhere, any time you please. You must have permission from the RR. Which is in the form of an easement. Also note that an easement can be revoked....... Most private crossings are guarded by a combination stop sign and crossbuck. Maintained, or expenses paid by the party granted easement. With the lack of education and respect for railroads, that we see from the public today, you've seen the outcry for gates at every crossing. Which is ridiculous. Many accidents are rural. Where as with most any crossing accident, people just are not paying attention. AFAIK, there is no set speed limit set by law for a non-gated crossing. Trains may pass at track speed. Railroads do set their own rules internally........ Where you most often see crew flagging, is lesser used tracks. Or in industrial areas where there is heavy vehicular traffic. On the former, even though "any time is train time," the crews must flag to protect against the fools with drivers licenses. It's a mess out there. Just watch out for yourself when crossing any tracks. Boxcab E50
I learned one thing at least from Jerrys classes, I look for the light on the signal box to be on. Theres one close to here that can only be seen from the track and its near a blind corner so i stop at this one. Thanks for the info
Up here in N.Y. CSX has a rail spur with lights and gates that are modern and fuctional on 2 crossings yet the train stops, gates are down lights flashing and still a crewman gets out and flags the train across. Ive seen this myself but I just dont understand why they do it that way, the spur gets about 1 train a week and the lights and gates are less than 10 years old so it seems kinda sensless
If the track on the spur is very lightly used, it's probably considered 'rusty rail conditions'. The rail gets a coating of rust so a train's wheels may not shunt the circuit that operates the crossing devices. If rusty rail conditions apply, there is likely a timetable or bulletin order item requiring flag protection of crossings even if the gates and lights are operating. Nothing's easy sometimes...
Rule 281 that must be it rusty rails, as that track has a good coat of rust. I would imagine that the state of N.Y. had a hand in getting the crossing gates and lights installed especialy since the R.R. would have the knowledge of rusty rails and that the crossing devices must have been very exspensive and for what the train stops anyway....
There are a few spots outside of Boston in dencely populated areas where someone actualy walks across the intersection with flags and then waves the train through.
Rule 281 that must be it rusty rails, as that track has a good coat of rust. I would imagine that the state of N.Y. had a hand in getting the crossing gates and lights installed especialy since the R.R. would have the knowledge of rusty rails and that the crossing devices must have been very exspensive and for what the train stops anyway.... </font>[/QUOTE]If rules are the same as down here in the city, the crew must get out if they are switching back and forth across a crossing, guarded or not. This of course does not guarantee that it will still prevent 100% of accidents. There is one crossing here in Queens that the locals almost never slow down for. One day, the crew was out with the flags and the locomotive was making it's way across the road. As it crossed, one of Darwin's greatest came down the street and slid into the locomotive. He told the cops that he never saw the locomotive....wonder what he was doing in the car. To answer the original question, I agree with all of the above. It also depends on your local municipality. A lot of them (as mentioned above) are passing noise ordinances and asking the rr's to abide. I know that around here though, they blow the horn for every crossing of which, there are few anymore. Russ
