The wreck of the crossing gate

[ericsp]

I was driving on a road parallel to a mainline. There was a manifest train waiting at the end of the double track with a "baretable" train sitting behind it, and a local finishing things off. The baretable train was blocking a road that crossed the tracks at grade, causing minor congestion. The trains started moving just before I got to the congested road. The congested street had a green light while the street I was on had a red light, so I got to watch the traffic start creeping across the tracks as the gates came up. There was a tank truck (first tank on chassis with cab followed by a trailer), it had ellipitcal tanks and it seems like it had red placards so it was probably a gasoline or diesel fuel tanker, a few vehicles from the crossing. Just as it was crossing the local go close enough to the intersection that the gates came down again. The gate just missed the first tank but got caught between the two tanks. As the truck moved forward, it bent the gate by almost 90 degrees before the gate snapped.

I wonder if we can get Gordon Lightfoot to sing a song about this incident.

[emmar]

It's no wonder there are so many grade crossing accidents with people doing stupid things like trying to sneak across the tracks while the gate is going up or down.

[greyhounds]

"As the big crossing gates go
She was bigger than most
With a bell and lights well seasoned?"

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by emmar

It's no wonder there are so many grade crossing accidents with people doing stupid things like trying to sneak across the tracks while the gate is going up or down.

Actually, the truck moved into the crossing while the gates were up and the lights off. The problem was that traffic moved so slow that the truck could not have cleared the intersection before the gates came down. However, he should have waited to cross until there was enough room on the other side of crossing for the truck to fit , espicially since the truck was carrying a flammable liquid.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by greyhounds

"As the big crossing gates go
She was bigger than most
With a bell and lights well seasoned?"

[(-D]
At a musty old hall in _______* they prayed
In the Signal Maintainers Cathedral.
The church bell chimed till it rang 12 times
For each light on the crossing gate

* Mudchicken, what city would be a good location for a Signal Maintainers Cathedral?

[ValleyX]

That trucker should have waited, regardless of the cargo he was carrying but especially because of THAT cargo that he was carrying, think he used poor judgment.

Gates get broken off all the time, unfortunately, saw a guy hit a gate full force and take out his windshield once, have often wondered what it did to him because he sure didn't stop, he was in a HURRY.

[SealBook27]

I drive a city bus in our state capitol, and I used to have a route that took me through two grade crossings every half hour. I absolutely, positively, most definitely did not start across the tracks until I could be certain no traffic would interfere. After all, my cargo talks back!

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: [i]

* Mudchicken, what city would be a good location for a Signal Maintainers Cathedral?

Salina, KS or Fresno, CA


ps- Wish I had a gun or a camera every time I saw a farmer or trucker wipe out a crossbuck or mast-mounted flashers/bells/gates and drive off like nothing happened.......In LA at Slauson & Alameda (ATSF Nadeau, SP 2mt crossing of the ATSF Harbor Sub) the gates got clobbered almost daily by truckers turning 90 degrees with too much behind the kingpin.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

QUOTE: [i]

* Mudchicken, what city would be a good location for a Signal Maintainers Cathedral?

Salina, KS or Fresno, CA


ps- Wish I had a gun or a camera every time I saw a farmer or trucker wipe out a crossbuck or mast-mounted flashers/bells/gates and drive off like nothing happened.......In LA at Slauson & Alameda (ATSF Nadeau, SP 2mt crossing of the ATSF Harbor Sub) the gates got clobbered almost daily by truckers turning 90 degrees
. . . . . . .
with too much behind the kingpin.

And not much upstair either. [:0] [}:)] [;)]

[Sterling1]

I was born in 1987 but I know Lightfoot . . . find a nice beginning and we can get him in with the same tune and instrumentation . . .

BTW how old is the guy . . . if we are going to get him to sing this then write it up quick !!!

Matt

[greyhounds]

"The ledgend lives on
From the Hiawatha on down
Of the Big Gate that guarded the crossing

The crossing, it is said,
never gives up its dead
when the drivers of cars
they get stupid

Concluding some terms
with a 'coupla oil firms
the driver, he started for Cleveland

Stopped by the gate
He knew he'd be late
And then he called his dispatcher

Later that day
when the gate came his way
he called to say %#*$!

The gate tried and true
is now broken in two
and no longer guards the crossing

But the ledgend lives on
from the Hiawatha on down
of the big gate that guarded the crossing"

[railfan619]

I see that all the time here in wisconsin whenever I get stopped by a train as soon as the gates start to go up cars start to go and they dont even wait until the gates are fully up so dont even know if another train maybe coming down on the other track.