For the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend this year, I had a couple options for road trips that I was wanting to take. My first choice was to go down to La Grange, Kentucky to catch some street running, something I've never gotten a chance to see first hand. My second option was a trip up to Deshler and Fostoria. Well, for that day, my weather app on my PC was forecasting low 80s and thunderstorms for Kentucky and mid-70s and sun for Deshler and Fostoria.
Got to Deshler a little after 2PM. Would have gotten there sooner, but I'd gotten off at the wrong exit and took a nice little tour on some back roads. As I got there, a northbound tanker train was pulling up to a stop just south of town. I noticed the B&O CPL signals lined for an eastbound turning south, and after a wait, a grain train with UP power came in from the west and turned south.
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It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the odd behavior of the crossing flashers.
Shortly after that train was gone, an eastbound mixed freight came through town.
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Something must have had things backed up. On the scanner, I kept hearing crews having to wait for other trains. At one point, I even heard the dispatcher use the term "holding pattern". After about an hour, a northbound mixed freight turned east (no comment on the guy in the pickup at the end).
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Shortly after that train cleared, a westbound intermodal came through.
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After about a half hour wait, the tanker train south of town got cleared to head west.
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I then headed east to Fostoria, and after checking out the new B&O caboose on display, a westbound intermodal came through on CSX.
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Shortly afterwards, a westbound CSX mixed freight came through.
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After a quick trip over to Tiffin to pick up dinner to take back to the park and having a tailgate dinner out of the back of the Jeep, an eastbound Norfolk Southern grain train came through.
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After that was an eastbound CSX tanker train with UP power.
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And then an eastbound NS mixed freight.
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A southbound CSX autorack track then turned east.
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A westbound CSX intermodal went past the now-closed F Tower and the park
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An eastbound CSX grain train then came past and turned south. Before it was gone, a westbound CSX intermodal rushed past.
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A westbound CSX mixed freight then went through town.
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Another southbound CSX autorack train came into town, this time turning west around the park.
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I'd set up for what I thought was going to be a westbound going straight through town when this westbound CSX autorack train turned north. As the rear was clearing the interlocking, I could hear another westbound approaching, which turned out to be a CSX intermodal.
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After the last two CSX trains cleared, a westbound Norfolk Southern loaded coal drag got underway. If you have a good sound system for this, crank up the volume!
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Needless to say it was a good trip of watching trains.
Kevin
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I think the 'odd behaviour' of the lights is not the lights themselves. It is the interaction of the frame rate of the camera and the flashing of the LED lights.
You didn't notice the odd behaviour until you viewed the video played back.
When the LED lights are "On" they are not on solid, but rather flash at an extremely high rate. Your eye cannot perceive that flashing. You do see the slow On/Off of the LEDs but not the flashing while it is "On".
There is a stroboscopic relationship between the flashing of the LEDs and the camera capturing the image. If the camera happens to capture the image between flashes then when played back you see the light as "off" because at that instant it WAS "Off". If the camera frame rate and the flashing is exactly in sync, then during playback you might either see the light as "On" or as "Off" depending on when the image was captured and the instantaneous state (On or Off) of the LED.
Since they probably never will be perfectly in-sync, you see them "On" sometimes and "Off" sometimes as they vary the relationship of flash time and capture time.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
That would probably explain why in a couple of the photos that I took as the trains were in that crossing, the flashers appeared off as well. I just happened to catch them at that moment or something.
Semper VaporoWhen the LED lights are "On" they are not on solid, but rather flash at an extremely high rate. Your eye cannot perceive that flashing. You do see the slow On/Off of the LEDs but not the flashing while it is "On".
It's extremely hard to do on purpose, but if your gaze sweeps by such lights (the tail lights on many cars are the same) you can see the flash. The problem is, if you're thinking about it, your brain will automatically compensate and you'll see the light as steady.
I've seen the same thing with radio tower lights at night. They may look like they're on steady, but they are actually flashing very rapidly.
There's a video floating around of a helicopter taking off, with the frame rate of the camera and the main rotor in synch. It looks like the rotor isn't turning at all...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68 Semper Vaporo When the LED lights are "On" they are not on solid, but rather flash at an extremely high rate. Your eye cannot perceive that flashing. You do see the slow On/Off of the LEDs but not the flashing while it is "On". It's extremely hard to do on purpose, but if your gaze sweeps by such lights (the tail lights on many cars are the same) you can see the flash. The problem is, if you're thinking about it, your brain will automatically compensate and you'll see the light as steady. I've seen the same thing with radio tower lights at night. They may look like they're on steady, but they are actually flashing very rapidly. There's a video floating around of a helicopter taking off, with the frame rate of the camera and the main rotor in synch. It looks like the rotor isn't turning at all...
Semper Vaporo tree68 Semper Vaporo When the LED lights are "On" they are not on solid, but rather flash at an extremely high rate. Your eye cannot perceive that flashing. You do see the slow On/Off of the LEDs but not the flashing while it is "On". It's extremely hard to do on purpose, but if your gaze sweeps by such lights (the tail lights on many cars are the same) you can see the flash. The problem is, if you're thinking about it, your brain will automatically compensate and you'll see the light as steady. I've seen the same thing with radio tower lights at night. They may look like they're on steady, but they are actually flashing very rapidly. There's a video floating around of a helicopter taking off, with the frame rate of the camera and the main rotor in synch. It looks like the rotor isn't turning at all... That and the stage coach wheels spinning backwards on TV as it approaches the stage depot. It took a lot of explaining to get my Mother to understand that one!
Johnny
Another little trick: If you think your tv remote battery is dead, point the remote at your phone or other digital camera. When you press a button, you will see the infra-red led light up in the camera screen. Your naked eye can not see that.
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Just found this video of the same crossing at Deshler. Being closer to the signals, it shows the effect of the LED lights going in and out of sync with the camera.
Side note here: many LED signs will do this as well. I've noticed it at those LED billboards, and more recently, the train number board on the new Siemens SC-44 units does it as well, meaning that many photos and videos of those units will have a "messed up" interpretation of the sign on the nose.
SaturnaliaSide note here: many LED signs will do this as well. I've noticed it at those LED billboards, and more recently, the train number board on the new Siemens SC-44 units does it as well, meaning that many photos and videos of those units will have a "messed up" interpretation of the sign on the nose.
Have noted the same with my incar video taken at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the 'traffic lights' displaying the Green or Yellow condition of the track are on steady when viewed in real life but flash on the video.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
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