"That's a First" on Railroad Crossings

[Molandfreak]

I drive on Cedar Avenue south of Lakeville, Minnesota on a semi-regular basis. There's a single railroad crossing near Chub Lake, which until today I believed to be unused. As far as I can remember, I have never seen a train cross there; this is going way back to when I first started paying attention to things like this as a kid. But today, to my surprise, I was held up by a train at that crossing earlier today. There are no gates at the crossing, but the lights were fully functional, and the train blew it's whistle quite a few times because Cedar is a busy road. It was moving slowly, definitely at no more than 20 mph.



Got any other stories of first encounters at a railroad crossing?

[bugo]

Is there still a rotating stop sign on the railroad crossbuck sign in Faribault?

[Molandfreak]

Is there still a rotating stop sign on the railroad crossbuck sign in Faribault?

Yep, still there! It survived the 2011 construction.

[getemngo]

I'm honestly not sure how much mileage you can get out of this thread - "I thought trains didn't use this track, then one day I saw a train using it." Hopefully someone here will have seen a train crossing a freeway at-grade or something.

But while we're on the subject of nearly abandoned rail lines... it pisses me off when a track is 100% abandoned and they leave the rails and crossbuck signs intact at crossings (even if they remove the lights and gates). That means buses and trucks with hazardous cargo still have to waste gas and hold up traffic by stopping where a train will never come. At least get some EXEMPT signs up there!

[KEK Inc.]

http://goo.gl/maps/hqp4o

Never have seen this down, but I don't drive here often.

[jeffandnicole]

I'm surprised people are shocked that some crossings don't have gates.  In my general area, there are several crossings without gates.  Heck, there's 3 crossings in use I'm aware of that don't even have lights!

[DaBigE]

I'm surprised people are shocked that some crossings don't have gates.  In my general area, there are several crossings without gates.  Heck, there's 3 crossings in use I'm aware of that don't even have lights!

Gated crossing are far from the norm around these parts. Where I live, there's only one crossing that's gated, and it's not even the busiest street.   Out of the eight crossings in the city, one is gated, two just have lights, and the rest are governed by crossbucks and STOP/YIELD signs. Madison has been trying to ban train whistles (except in emergency) for over a decade, but the best they can do is have "quiet zones", since so many crossings aren't gated/four quadrant gated.

[xcellntbuy]

I grew-up in Hudson, NY.  The old Boston and Albany Railroad tracks run through the city, but across the main street, Warren Street, southbound on South 7th Street intersecting an alley and Union Street to the south.  The rail line is only occasionally used for hauling freight.

To the north, the tracks run through the middle of the intersection of North and South 7th Street, through a public park, across Columbia Street (the northern end of NY 9G intersecting with US 9 at Park Place), as well as State Street on out north and east, crossing Union Turnpike (NY 66) in the Town of Greenport.  Zero gates and no flashers, only two, 3-signal traffic lights used as railroad warning signals elevated on either side of Columbia and State Streets.  A white (and faded) crossbucks sign is posted on Union Turnpike.  Absolutely nothing separates the intersection of Warren and 7th Streets from the tracks which are also part of the eastbound lane of South 7th Street.  Bollards, hedges and evergreens separate the tracks from the public park.  It has been this way my entire life, more than 50 years.

[hm insulators]

I'm honestly not sure how much mileage you can get out of this thread - "I thought trains didn't use this track, then one day I saw a train using it." Hopefully someone here will have seen a train crossing a freeway at-grade or something.

But while we're on the subject of nearly abandoned rail lines... it pisses me off when a track is 100% abandoned and they leave the rails and crossbuck signs intact at crossings (even if they remove the lights and gates). That means buses and trucks with hazardous cargo still have to waste gas and hold up traffic by stopping where a train will never come. At least get some EXEMPT signs up there!

Years ago, they tore up an abandoned railroad track across the San Fernando Valley except a segment that was embedded in the pavement where it crossed Van Nuys Boulevard. They also left behind the crossbuck, which meant that buses and hazardous cargo had to stop and look for the train that might come down the missing railroad tracks that were missing because they'd been torn up! 

[agentsteel53]

Is there still a rotating stop sign on the railroad crossbuck sign in Faribault?

I'll be driving through there around Dec10.  can someone tell me where it is?

[Molandfreak]

Is there still a rotating stop sign on the railroad crossbuck sign in Faribault?

I'll be driving through there around Dec10.  can someone tell me where it is?

MN 60 (4th street NW), Faribault

[roadman]

Is there still a rotating stop sign on the railroad crossbuck sign in Faribault?

Yep, still there! It survived the 2011 construction.

It's known as a Griswold signal - http://www.trainweb.org/dansrailpix/griswold_1.htm

[formulanone]

Has anyone else ever had a train back up for them at a crossing? I don't know much about trains, but I suppose they're not legally allowed to block a road for "no reason". I say that parenthetically, because I'm not sure exactly what the train was doing at the time - but what I do know that I was checking out CR 835 by the Evercane Sugar Plant, which involved a rail crossing just south of Clewiston. I waited, and after about thirty seconds, the conductor waved me through, after he'd spent another thirty seconds or so inching the train backwards. I waved and headed on my way!

I thought it was pretty cool...unlike the time a freight train added about $10 to my taxi ride.

[Molandfreak]

Has anyone else ever had a train back up for them at a crossing? I don't know much about trains, but I suppose they're not legally allowed to block a road for "no reason". I say that parenthetically, because I'm not sure exactly what the train was doing at the time - but what I do know that I was checking out CR 835 by the Evercane Sugar Plant, which involved a rail crossing just south of Clewiston. I waited, and after about thirty seconds, the conductor waved me through, after he'd spent another thirty seconds or so inching the train backwards. I waved and headed on my way!

I thought it was pretty cool...unlike the time a freight train added about $10 to my taxi ride.

Last summer I worked at a Ragnar relay in Maiden Rock, WI and a train kept moving back and forth quite frequently, blocking a public parking lot during a scheduled event. I had the job of directing traffic, so that made my job suck and I couldn't get a break for six hours (the train was a problem for about two hours).

[Scott5114]

Hopefully someone here will have seen a train crossing a freeway at-grade or something.

I have–James River Freeway, Springfield MO. Okay, I didn't see the actual train, but I know it was there because of the massive traffic jam it caused.

[Jardine]

Grade crossings here in western Iowa that have had train related fatality are the ones that (eventually) get crossing gates.

It is not unheard of for a stationary train to be uncoupled at a crossing for a fire truck or ambulance.

And as for a RR crossing on an interstate, in Pottawatomie County, Iowa, the south I-680/I-29 interchange gets close.  I-680 heads north on 29, and the eastward continuation from the interchange is a county road.  The tracks are close enough to the interchange that the pavement is still 4 lanes there, and about once a year a train will clobber a vehicle.  The trackage is Illinois Central (parent company is, IIRC, CN).

Family lore has it a C&NW steam engine stopped for my Uncle who had parked a tractor on a crossing, and the engineer got off the train  and found him and asked him to move the tractor.  Not sure how a steam train 'sneaks up' on somebody, and the family history is vague on that point.  This was back in the 40s.

[theline]

Has anyone else ever had a train back up for them at a crossing? I don't know much about trains, but I suppose they're not legally allowed to block a road for "no reason". I say that parenthetically, because I'm not sure exactly what the train was doing at the time - but what I do know that I was checking out CR 835 by the Evercane Sugar Plant, which involved a rail crossing just south of Clewiston. I waited, and after about thirty seconds, the conductor waved me through, after he'd spent another thirty seconds or so inching the train backwards. I waved and headed on my way!

I thought it was pretty cool...unlike the time a freight train added about $10 to my taxi ride.

Some jurisdictions have laws about how long a train can block a crossing. It has been a big point of contention in towns with tracks through middle of town and few over- or under-passes. I seem to recall the city of Mishawaka, IN passing an ordinance like this in days gone by, and having cops write tickets for the engineer. They've solved much of the problem in recent years with new underpasses.

[hbelkins]

Some jurisdictions have laws about how long a train can block a crossing. It has been a big point of contention in towns with tracks through middle of town and few over- or under-passes. I seem to recall the city of Mishawaka, IN passing an ordinance like this in days gone by, and having cops write tickets for the engineer. They've solved much of the problem in recent years with new underpasses.

Given that railroads are regulated by the federal government and seemingly have more power than God, it surprises me that those local ordinances are enforceable.

[theline]

^ I never said they are enforceable. I doubt that they are. It's just city councils trying to do something to please the voters.

[NE2]

From the 2005 CSX Huntington Division West employee timetable:

Big Stone Gap, VA, City Ordinance prohibits any railroad company to obstruct for a longer period than 5 minutes the free passage on any highway, street, or public crossing by leaving standing cars or trains across the same.

It also lists speed limits set by city ordinance, such as 35 mph in Pikeville.

As far as enforceability, my eyes are glazing over trying to determine whether http://state.il.us/court/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2008/January/103543.pdf allows enforcement in certain limited cases ("saving clause").

[roadman65]

The only thing more po

Some jurisdictions have laws about how long a train can block a crossing. It has been a big point of contention in towns with tracks through middle of town and few over- or under-passes. I seem to recall the city of Mishawaka, IN passing an ordinance like this in days gone by, and having cops write tickets for the engineer. They've solved much of the problem in recent years with new underpasses.

Given that railroads are regulated by the federal government and seemingly have more power than God, it surprises me that those local ordinances are enforceable.

Only the marine waterways are above the railroads.  Remember Boats have right of way over trains hence why railroad drawbridges are left in the open position until a train crosses the waterway and raised again when no other train is scheduled to pass by soon.

Trains do have ROW over roads.  Boats have ROW over both trains and cars.  It sucks, but that is how it is.  Try driving Orange Avenue in Taft, FL when CSX is putting together a freight train and you could sit there for over 15 minuets when one train goes back and forth and then again back and forth across Orange Avenue just to switch yard tracks as the street is at the entrance to the yard.

[empirestate]

What about street-running railroads? Could be some interesting first-time stories there; perhaps you've seen, for example, the circus train running down the street in Fort Collins, CO or Augusta, GA? (I haven't, but who knows?)

[roadman65]

Clearwater, FL; Passaic, NJ; Tampa, FL, and even in Hamilton, Ontario I have seen street running railroads.  Though rare, still not uncommon I would imagine.

[sammi]

What about street-running railroads?

Does the Allen Expressway count? I have it unofficially clinched because of that. Or are we only talking about surface roads?

[cpzilliacus]

Clearwater, FL; Passaic, NJ; Tampa, FL, and even in Hamilton, Ontario I have seen street running railroads.  Though rare, still not uncommon I would imagine.

There used to be some in Baltimore, Maryland (south and southeast of the present-day M&T Bank Stadium where the Ravens play) and in the District of Columbia (on several streets near the Nationals ballpark).  I believe none of them are in use any longer.