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At Grade Railroad Crossing of Airport Runway

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Posted by rdamon on Thursday, April 4, 2019 12:49 PM

Former Richards-Gebaur AFB turned Intermodal Terminal on the KCS

 

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 6:34 AM

Well considering the weight of locomotive is greater than 737 but the speed of the 737 would be faster it might be a very interesting experiment to have TTC do.  We have all seen on YouTube what a train does to an OTR truck.

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 6:56 PM

Back in the 1982 - 1983 time frame, I was the supervisor of a track crew that constructed a turning 'wye' ('Y') across a former airstrip - even then out-of-servie - at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.  My understanding it that it was the only place on the base with enough room for it - they wanted something closer to where the cars would be loaded/ unloaded. The former wye at the shop area at these coords. - N 39.47710 W 76.12442 - now has a too-short tail track at its SW end. 

 

It's at these lat./ long. coords: N 39.46424 W 76.10623  The former runway is the wide paving running from SE to NW - another one is perpendicular to it a couple hundred feet to the east.  Some of the side roads - esp. to the south - look like former taxiways, too.  

- PDN. 

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 6:43 PM

When Baltimore had the Indy Car Grand Prix a few years ago - the race track crossed over the Baltimore Light Rail tracks at grade - considering the low ground clearance of the race cars - getting across the tracks a racing speeds created competition issues and the imposition of a 'ticky tack' chicane to slow the cars over the tracks on what 'should' have been a straight.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by bartman-tn on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 5:33 PM

Back in the late 1990s, I was teaching a railroad track inspection workshop for the U.S. military and we were in the field inspecting a track that went across part of a runway. We had to have clearance from the tower and an assigned spotter to watch for planes.

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Posted by NorthWest on Friday, March 29, 2019 12:30 AM

Bumping yet another ancient thread with new details:

While I should be doing other things, I've done some additional research:

Looks like the Peshawar, Pakistan PEW crossing has been removed, but the site is still visible on Google Maps.

Mankara, Madagascar (MVK) still exists, though I'm not sure if it's active.

See Maps

Gisbourne, New Zealand (GIS) still exists, though out of service.

Google Linky

Havana, Cuba (HAV) was removed long ago, but it's still kind of visible (pan north and south to see active railway, now diverted to the west).

Link

Wynward, Tasmania (BWT) has had the runway portion abandoned.

Le Toquet, France, had a runway, taxiway and ramp crossing: link.

Balleykelly, Northern Ireland, had a sharper than usual angle: link.

And even Kingsford Smith (SYD) in Sydney had a crossing at one time, long removed, but not before at least one collision.

Honorary mention for the now-former Filton Airfield, which had a taxiway crossing: link.

And at El Paso: link.

That's at least six that existed at one time, which feels like a lot for something this strange.

 
 
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Posted by NorthWest on Saturday, June 8, 2013 9:03 PM

Truly, there is a prototype for almost everything.

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Posted by Cricketer on Saturday, June 8, 2013 9:57 AM

There was one in the UK until recently, at an airport north of Bristol - I think at a place called Filton

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Friday, June 7, 2013 5:47 PM

At least these are "at grade" crossings... can you imagine the problems if it were a RR overpass! Clown

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by NorthWest on Friday, June 7, 2013 5:01 PM

Soo 6604
Does the train have to sound the horn coming to the runway? Wonder what signal aspects would rule the crossing?

Who has right of way?

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Posted by Phoebe Vet on Friday, June 7, 2013 11:57 AM

Dave

Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow

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Posted by DRBusse on Friday, June 7, 2013 10:20 AM

Up until the early 1980s, a main line of the Ferrocarriles de Cuba crossed the main runway at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana.

I was on a chartered DC3 with a group of railfans landing there after dark in 1980...we landed, and soon felt the unusual bumps of rubber tiores across a grade crossing. One of our group, a United Air Lines captain, looked out the window and hollered "...railroad tracks..."

On subsequent visits, we discovered the crossing to be protected by flagmen on either side of the runway.

Naturally, we attempted to gain access to that part of the airport to stage a train-with-plane shot, and were denied by authorities.

In 1992, I landed at Havana in a jet, looking for the grade crossing. It was gone, and tracks apparently rerouted.

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Posted by Soo 6604 on Friday, June 7, 2013 10:12 AM

Does the train have to sound the horn coming to the runway? Wonder what signal aspects would rule the crossing?

Hate to see a jet try to beat the train.....I wonder who would come out looking better?

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, June 7, 2013 7:10 AM

blue streak 1

Before WW-2 BRC went right thru the middle of `Midway airport on an east west alignment.  The ROW is still used for a vehice road.

When Chicago Municipal Airport opened, it only covered the south half of its current site, the BRC 59th Street line being the north edge.  The BRC was relocated at the time of the expansion of the airport. 

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by NorthWest on Thursday, June 6, 2013 11:20 PM

zugmann
Imagine trying to flag that crossing?

And they'd have issues with gates, too, not people going around them, but over them!

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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, June 6, 2013 8:18 PM

NorthWest

Yeah, must be a headache for air traffic control! "Flight 233, enter holding pattern, a coal train will be crossing the runway for the next 4 minutes." Peshawar is a pretty major airport, so a busy rail line would cause lots of problems!

Imagine trying to flag that crossing?

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

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Posted by NorthWest on Thursday, June 6, 2013 7:41 PM

Bonas

"Steam Engine 242 your cleared for takeoff"

Yeah, must be a headache for air traffic control! "Flight 233, enter holding pattern, a coal train will be crossing the runway for the next 4 minutes." Peshawar is a pretty major airport, so a busy rail line would cause lots of problems!

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 9:30 PM

Before WW-2 BRC went right thru the middle of `Midway airport on an east west alignment.  The ROW is still used for a vehice road.

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Posted by Bonas on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 8:55 PM

"Steam Engine 242 your cleared for takeoff"

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Posted by MidlandMike on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 8:01 PM

Here is a link to photos of a train crossing the main runway at Gisborne, NZ

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/42560271

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At Grade Railroad Crossing of Airport Runway
Posted by NorthWest on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 6:58 PM

At 3 Airports in the world, tracks run through the runways!

-Gisbourne, New Zealand

-Peshawar, Pakistan

-Manakara, Madigascar

Gisbourne's and Peshawar's tracks are presently out of service.

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