Railroaders ideas to improve crossing safety

[Anonymous]

Hi Ed,
Recently, a major effort has been announced here by the local police agencies to crackdown on red light runners and speeders--I guess I should call their pulic affairs depts. to see if they can add grade crossings to the list. The police effort has gotten a lot of publicity and if they mention grade crossings it might get people to think. Also, stiffening the penalties for going around gates might help to deter some--especially after they get fined. Thanks, and keep up the good work Ed. emory

[edblysard]

Yeah, I guess I shoud have taken typing/computer repair in H/S instead of wood shop and metal shop. Nobody wants wood cabinets hand made any more, and you need two college degrees just to figure out how to tune up your car nowadays. My wife has a associate in computer languages, another one in business science,(what the heck is that, anyway?), and she just gave up on me, told me when I break it, just leave her a note telling her what the last thing I did was. So much depends on this silly machine now, I couldnt get rid of her now if I wanted to, who would fix this darn thing for me? But it does sit on a really gorgeous golden oak early American colonial desk, finished with four coats of PPG's DCA 468 lacquer. And she still cant cook as good as I do...
Stay Frosty
Ed

[wabash1]

I got ya beat ed. i haft to show my wife how to do all the computor stuff... right after i go to a friends house and have him show me how its done.

[edblysard]

Well Duh!
All us bright guys, and the thought never occured to us....
So now I have to get my wife to show me how to do a web page, she says I am computer illiterate, and shes right. Has anybody found a lost of state reps e-mail addresses? Add that to your page so others can write them. Make public pest out of ourselves, they may just listen..good idea Iceman..
Stay Frosty
Ed
by the way, you pronounce my last name Blizzard, like the snowstorm...kinda funny, huh.

[Anonymous]

Hey people! If we are trying to inform the public then why don't we? All these sue happy people have a crapload of stuff that they try to push off on us...So why dont we do the same?
Im working on my first webpage. For links so far I have my favorite music channel, beretta.net (My CAR that carefully crosses the tracks :) ), and trains.com. I plan on trying to get OLS as a link on my page..as Im still learning how to put one together its just a matter of time! I figure with the cross traffic of planes, trains, automobiles and music. Its just a mater of when some one will be curious enough just to look. REMBER if they just glance..even for a second or two, you planted a seed. This seed will make people think (some times in the back of the mind) about the crossings. Hey it's the least that we can do for all sides of the track!!
I hope some of you have/are planning, or at least considered on doing the same!
Icemanmike-Milwaukee

[edblysard]

Hi emory,
What it boils down to is that we seem to have come down to 2 concepts here, 1: educate the public, kids especialy, on the danger of trying to beat a train or driving around down gates, or 2: physicaly preventing someone from entering a crossing when a train is anywhere near. It seems as if we have to protect people from their own foolishness. What we need are your ideas on both concepts. Any ideas?
Ed

[Anonymous]

The ongoing theme here is that no matter how much we try to inform, warn, and educate the public, every time someone tries to beat a train, it's the railroad's fault when a collision occurs. A crying shame that personal responsibility has left our society. If someone dies at a grade crossing, perhaps we should console the train crew and not "victimize" the idiot who tried to beat the train to start with. A few minutes of your time is certainly not worth losing your life.

[wabash1]

yes there is batteries to operate the signals after a power outage it is all run on dc current . they use bulbs at a voltage of 15-18 volts dc( at least here on the ns.) and depending on how long the outage is ive seen these systems last 1 week of normal traffic on batteries.

[Anonymous]

This seems to be a reverberating statement; Size does matter!! We can stop our cars-you can not stop a train....Isn't that a comercial ad (Nothing stops a trane) yet people keep ignoring the facts!!
Icemanmike-Milwaukee

[Anonymous]

Oh I don't doubt it! We've got some Oregon cops that might pull something along those lines too, tho your story by far ranks as one of the more unusual examples.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like the Schertz TX police are about as competent as the Cookville TN cops.

[Anonymous]

I was a volunteer fireman in NC for about 10 yrs and one accident that stands out the most was a train vs truck. To make a long and rathering sickening story short, I was looking for the body of a female when I caught a sparkle from my flashlight. I approached it and radioed that I thought I had found the girl, when in fact all I had found was her left hand and a poriton of her arm. Later it was determined that her B.A.C. was .18, more than double the then legal amount. I hope her kid ended up with a good family.

In this area, if you get hit by a train, your just a frigging idiot.
Bud

[edblysard]

Do you think highway K rails would stand up? I watched a highway crew replace one, it took a good sized crane to move the thing. And it looks to be about the right size, with the number of the things used now days, their cost ought to be relatively cheap? And I have seen kids stopped at the crossing throwing rocks at the are lights to break them, out of boredom, I guess. Nothing better to do saterday night except tear things up...
Ed

[edblysard]

If you ever meet a small town Texas cop, the story becomes more belivable...
Ed

[edblysard]

Try union switch and signal, they make the wayside signals and the crossing gates used here at the port. And you just made me think of a magazine I read once, its a trade magazine called railway age, it was full of railroad electronics and such...
Ed

[Anonymous]

Oh man Ed, that story is rich! Thanks for the laugh.

[csxns]

I have seen where people have torn up the dividers

[Anonymous]

LED's offer very low power consumption and a signifigant increase in visibility and reliability. They would work out well with a floating DC power supply because with a loss of commercial power the time up would be longer as well. It probably does boil down to cost, but it worth a shot to look into. Who makes the equipment for the crossings. I was trying to find something on the web. I like the discussions about the dividers at the crossing to prevent drive arounds. I don't know why that isn't more common. It seems like a very good idea. Four quadrants are optimal, but dividers almost offer the same protection.

[edblysard]

I think the battries are good for 24 to 48 hours. Dont know any maintainers either, but I will try to find out why the lower voltage bulbs. I think I know the answer, the element in lower voltage bulbs last longer, but I will ask anyway.
But you would think LEDs would last even longer, no carbonized element to burn up. It might be a cost/supply thing.
Ed

[Jackflash]

Seems to reason, if the comercial power goes off
the signals will still work, a few times at least,
until the batteries run down. jackflash

[edblysard]

They may be right, I have found a few bits here and there, and the bulbs in the arm lights seem to be 12vdc, has the same base as a #1156(brake light) automobile bulb, only the bulb was bigger.
Ed

[Jackflash]

Ed, I've been told by signal maintainers in the
past that the signals at crossings were low
voltage, it was a overlay system, 110 volts
to a battery charger to charge batterys,then a
low DC voltage to operate the system, this was
told to me a while back, I'm not a signal
maintainer, nor do I work with this kind of
equipment. Any maintainers out there who care
to add anything? jackflash

[edblysard]

Partly due to the fact that the system in use now is so common, it works, its cheaper, and the designers know that the arms will, at some point, be run into by a car. LEDs of the type you speak of cost more to replace, and require more time to replace, plus the people who make the crossing arms and gate/ light post use the same parts in wayside signals, it cheaper to use common parts in all their products. Add it it lower voltage requirments of led would need a step down transformer, vs 120 volt light bulbs run off of city powerlines. Or the short version, its cheaper this way. If you want change, write you representive. As long as it economicaly to the manufactures advantage not to change, they wont. So apply a little political pressure, who know, we might get lucky.
Ed

[Anonymous]

Red Strobes would be a good idea. We have some that are activated at intersections. You can't miss them. Why don't they have LED's instead of bulbs for the lights. LED's are brighter to the human eye and don't burn out.

[corwinda]

What I have noticed is that on newer crossings the bells only ring until the gates are all the way down. After that they shut off; leaving just the flashing lights. I think the red strobes would be worth an experiment

[Anonymous]

This one is off the rr topic but is right on the noise issue. Here there is one of the oldest race tracks in America "The Milwaukee Mile" in West Allis. The neighbors are complaining about the noise the race cars make. What noise isn't that music to your ears?? If the track was there when you moved in to your house, then what would make a person think it won't be there on race day? Sometimes I realy hate people..well at least the slow ones in the laft lane.
Icemanmike-Im in Milwaukee Im always frosty!!

[edblysard]

Isnt that just about the nuttiest thing you heard of? So if your running long hood forward, and the engineer cant see the other side, wow, talk about dangerous. I also heard of a town here in Texas with a cerfew time for trains, I belive it was the am rush hour, although most samll towns in Texas, rush hour last about five minutes...I do know for a fact the a traffic cop in a little towm names Schertz, out side of San Antonio ticketed a train engineer for speeding, he radared him at a crossing, beat him to the next, blocked the crossing with his cruiser and ticketed him for exceeding the 30 mph speed limit in town. It went to a JP court, dismissed, but the cop stated the the crossing was city property, and the posted limit in the entire town was 30. The cop was known to have a grudge against the SP, seems his brother was dismissed, dont know what for. The conductor on the train worked here at the port when I hired on, when he finishes that story, everybody is about to bust a gut he tells it so well...
Ed

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I know exactly what you mean here. The city gets complaints all the time from people about loud horns at night. Well would they rather have an increase in car crashes? Next they will want the Fire Department not to use it's sirens after 9pm!

Absolute lunacy. If a crossing gets a full barrier gate system, only then would I consider a "no horn" ordinance okay. But even then there must be provision for emergencies....

[Anonymous]

I've not seen one. gdc

[edblysard]

They seem quiter to me also. Heres a good one for our friend. From the Southern Pacific Railroad, Eastern Region Timetable #7, effective sunday, october 29th, 1989. Page 70,under special instructions, "Rule 15. Lake Charles: City Ordinance prohibits sounding of engine whistle except where there is imminent danger of an accident. In observing this ordinance, engineer should sound whistle if in his judgement an accident may be prevented."
I guess they didnt like all that noise?
Of course, they would also sue the heck out of SP wheneven someone got hit. I am looking for more silly examples of us monsters trying not to protect people from themselves. By the way, does that make all crossings in Lake Charles ULTRA-HAZARDOUS? And by city ordinance at that! Oh, silly me, we must have bribed the city officals to let us not blow our horns, it would wake up you speeding engineers, blasting through the un mown right of way, not giving people the chance to judge if they have enough time to beat train to the crossings we all hear about. You know the goverment had to be in on this...
You stay frosty Iceman,
Ed