If you ever complained about rough railroad crossings or where you would have to slow way down to almost a stop to safely cross without doing damage to your car? Check out the videos and feel good about your rough crossing in your neighborhood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx4mKtlJeIs
http://www.youtube.com/user/pavabo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulvbox
I have experienced intersections with divided highways that had similar characteristics.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Looks to me like a good argument for disabling those (fillintheadjective) airbags!!!
Just what is the speed limit along there?
(Aside - just as the airbag deployed, Google Ads popped up a two-liner for an injury attourney!)
Chuck
Looks like the crossing on is a main line (vs some podunk branch line in the middle of nowhere) - I would think that it would have been maintained better.
tomikawaTT Just what is the speed limit along there?
That's one thing I'm wanting to know after watching that. Seemed to be traveling pretty fast for a city street. Also, why was the driver not slowing down for checking for trains (in case of a signal malfunction) as well as slowing down for an obviously rough crossing?
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
At YouTube there are a number of other videos of this same crossing...eyeballing the speed of the vehicles involved would gauge them as traveling in the 35-45 MPH range ... not excactly flying on a divided highway local throughfare and typical of traffic on such roadways.
The municipality involved should have "Rough crossing" sign (and perhaps a safe-speed warning, too) posted on the same post as the round yellow warning sign. But you'll notice that the concrete part of the crossings that the tracks use is just fine--it's the blacktop in between the tracks that's the problem. I suppose that translates to settling or movement in the track structure, though, and is probably the railroad's responsibility to repair.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
.....That's a rather severe punishment to an auto as shown in the video. We of course don't know just what the speed limit is at the location.
I've watched it several times, and in my opinion that vehicle was doing closer to 50 mph....It's approach is rapid. Perhaps a bit fast for what appears to be in a community area.
Believe that vehicle will have some mechanical damage. You can see something hanging down in front as it clears the crossings, but suspension damage might be severe. It very well could have rolled over as it entered the intersection on the camera side of the crossing.
Guess I'm saying, it's inexcusable to leave a situation like that in place without some effective restrictions when a vehicle approaches...until it's repaired.
But...Certainly that condition is extreme and if there is no warning signs or temp. blinkers, etc....There should be.
Local law inforcement people certainly know the potential danger here and especially to any strangers passing thru. It appears to me a temp. sign and or blinking orange construction lights should be on site until it can be determined who has the responisbility to overcome the non acceptable condition of that crossing. And then, get it repaired..!
Quentin
Since the railroad maintains the crossing, I assume they'll be paying out lots of claims?
- Rails West
Like anyone would care about the speed limit I mean I've seen people drive by me doing atleast 60 mph in a 35 I mean come on seroulsly people are crazy.
Yup I'm the guy doing 60 passing you up in a 35 Plus, I live in Chicago. The cops here don't care either! Fortunately they have better things to do than traffic enforcement.
We have a crossing somewhat like that in London ON...actually two.
The first one is at Ridout St going over the CN doublemain...if you are going southbound at speed you get to fly your'n car many feet into the air..as it goes downhill to eventually go to the intersection of Ridout and Horton St. Going northbound..not so much of a downhill..besides, the intersection of York and Ridout is right there
The second one is the CP crossing grade at St George St...that one I've done at speed and actually bottomed my car out at 40mph...crossing it going southbound, the car actually landed about 50 feet down the street..as it goes downhill on the south side of the crossing....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Just crank up the 'off road' suspension package with 36 inches of travel!
One thing about it. It would sure cut down on the the repete 'short-cut through the neighborhood traffic'.
Second thought while it might be bad on the suspensions, it would be good for the local repair shops ( sort of a good news, bad news, scenario
The latter was the scenario that worked for the man I worked for in Chicago some years back. He owned a Trailmobile trailers sales and repair operation at 27th and Halsted (now gone?)
There were lots of barely passable low bridges in the area just west of the Dan Ryan Expressway. The signage was wrong for the actual heights, and many were passable in the opposing traffic lane for 13'6" trailer heights. Sure made for lots of roof repair work on trailers with drivers unfamiliar with the area, and from out of town folks.
I think there was a Thread hear in the last year for a 'level' crossing in the area between the Dan Ryan and Halsted that had to do with a slight rise and cars jamming themselves under tank cars on the Railroad.(?)
Maybe I should plant my video camera somewhere near those two crossings up here...they would make for some entertainment
...These sudden extreme thrusts on a vehicle can do more than suspension damage too...{Beyond humans being hurt}, On a vehicle such as that was in the video, which still has a frame....That might take a hit strong enough to bend it out of shape....Making severe damage to the vehicle and maybe not worth repairing.
But that crossing appears {to me}, to be a max threat for someone to be hurt or worse....Just lucky that person was able to keep it under control {somewhat}, and prevent a head on into a vehicle coming towards it....
If it weren't for that crossing, that moron may have hit that other car. Would have been a bad wreck.
Poor explorer.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
....In any case....If the word gets around about that video record, someone {or many}, may start being heard to get that potential dangerous crossing repaired to a decent condition.
(1) Nothing wrong with the crossing proper, the problem is the approach (that the railroad has no control over and excessive speed)
The thing's a launching ramp. The excessive speed and the Ford suspension just accentuate the issue. Major violation of the AASHTO/AREMA joint spec on highway crossing approaches
(2) Parallel streets too close to the crossing. Stooopid design element #2. (somebody wasn't thinking)
FIX THE APPROACHES. Who allowed the condition to exist at city/county level?
mudchicken (2) Parallel streets too close to the crossing. Stooopid design element #2. (somebody wasn't thinking)
Without a doubt one of the biggest traffic engineering headaches around and often not dealt with very well. Of course, that comes from the ages old practice of running roads next to the tracks because the RR locating engineers did a really good job picking a route.
Double times your triple, mud.
I too got the impression that he was airborne before he reached the first tracks.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Some guy has a livestream of this place set up: http://www.failroadtracks.com/
Not only can we watch 5-locomotive intermodals zip by, we can watch people wreck their suspensions. :P
Oh boy! Another railcam to watch! And a really good image too!
But so far it seems that not only does the road surface need some help, but in the last 10 minutes or so the crossing bell has come on for about a minute, then quit, then came on again and the gates went down and right back up, then down again and stayed down with the lights sometimes flashing and sometimes not. Then the gates went back up. The bell is sounding again as i type this but the gates are still not dropping and the lights are not blinking. Bell is off now.
Yeppers, in need of some loving touch by the MOW crew.
Oops... wait a second... Maybe there was a train working at an area just off camera to the left, as now there is a U.P. train has come from the left and stopped in the crossing (2 ehgines and triple bottom hoppers) And I hear aother engine's bell and motor, but cannot see it.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Where is this crossing located?
Norm
Listening to the audio on that feed, I hear what sounds like MOW working on the ballast in the area. Maybe the purpose of the camera will go away if it really is maintenance on the track and they might redo the crossing.
Norm48327 Where is this crossing located?
The YouTube comments say Salt Lake City, but I cannot find it (yet). I am looking on Google Earth.
FOUND IT!
The intersection of N 800 W St, (the N/S divided street from lower right to upper left) and W South Temple (the E/W street from the lower left to the right).
Street View shows the grade crossing all blocked off and all of the street surface removed. I assume that Street View is relatively recent (within the last 2 to 5 years, maybe) so that means the horrible grade crossing is not that old.
I believe this is the cameras geo-location:
40°46'10.44" N 111°54'48.85" W
(Run Google Earth, copy and paste that Lat/Lon in the Search box and click on the magnifying glass. you then will need to zoom in a bit using the mouse scroll wheel.)
Semper Vaporo Oh boy! Another railcam to watch! And a really good image too!
Knew someone would get a kick out of another one. XD
Semper Vaporo FOUND IT! The intersection of N 800 W St, (the N/S divided street from lower right to upper left) and W South Temple (the E/W street from the lower left to the right). Street View shows the grade crossing all blocked off and all of the street surface removed. I assume that Street View is relatively recent (within the last 2 to 5 years, maybe) so that means the horrible grade crossing is not that old. I believe this is the cameras geo-location: 40°46'10.44" N 111°54'48.85" W (Run Google Earth, copy and paste that Lat/Lon in the Search box and click on the magnifying glass. you then will need to zoom in a bit using the mouse scroll wheel.)
The track with the rough public crossing is essentially the UP's line from North Yard to both the Western Pacific line and the LA&SL line. The lines are directional between CP C782 and Smelter, with EB on the SL line, and WB on the WP (and this crossing is on the Salt Lake line).
Johnny
Looking at a map again, this is at 800 West, not 700 West, and the track runs between the EB and WB lanes of South Temple.
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