The Buckeye Crossbuck

[index]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIeblYAejiw
I wonder why this never made it past approval. This seems like it was a pretty innovative and cost-effective solution for passive railroad crossings. Benefits were not only significant across the board but also apparently markedly better with older drivers, who take longer to process information and visuals than their younger counterparts.

A lot of passive crossings on the Boise Valley RR in Idaho also seem to have a design similar to the Buckeye, although it lacks the other distinctive elements. If these can even qualify as those, I was under the assumption these never made it out of Ohio when in testing. Here is one of many:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5607337,-116.1735104,3a,15.2y,28.23h,91.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbbEUbwsQ66FPjfB9TK8sBA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?shorturl=1

[Scott5114]

I love the cheesy 80s computer animation in the first 10 seconds of that video. What did they make that on, the NES?

[Bitmapped]

Ohio stopped using them over time and removed them at crossings that did have them. The tendency now is to mount a standard Yield sign below the crossbuck, which is perhaps a more consistent way of accomplishing the same thing.

Given the availability of relatively low cost solar panels and LED lighting, I've wondered why it's not become standard to provide street lighting at crossings. I think that might provide a bigger safety boost, especially for night-time incidents.

[ErmineNotyours]

Maltby Road, Snohomish, Washington.

I saw this years ago and wondered why it was designed that way.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Ohio stopped using them over time and removed them at crossings that did have them. The tendency now is to mount a standard Yield sign below the crossbuck, which is perhaps a more consistent way of accomplishing the same thing.

Given the availability of relatively low cost solar panels and LED lighting, I've wondered why it's not become standard to provide street lighting at crossings. I think that might provide a bigger safety boost, especially for night-time incidents.

Yeah, about those yield signs....
Twp Rd 265 @ US 42 in Delaware County: https://goo.gl/maps/Bq2CawwqxVJ2e5Po9
Twp Rd 246 @ US 42 in Delaware County: https://goo.gl/maps/oQ1we5EvmxeZWgnD8
In Morrow County, it gets even better...

Co Rd 162, 4 miles north of Ashley.

[StogieGuy7]

Ohio stopped using them over time and removed them at crossings that did have them. The tendency now is to mount a standard Yield sign below the crossbuck, which is perhaps a more consistent way of accomplishing the same thing.

Given the availability of relatively low cost solar panels and LED lighting, I've wondered why it's not become standard to provide street lighting at crossings. I think that might provide a bigger safety boost, especially for night-time incidents.

Yeah, about those yield signs....
Twp Rd 265 @ US 42 in Delaware County: https://goo.gl/maps/Bq2CawwqxVJ2e5Po9
Twp Rd 246 @ US 42 in Delaware County: https://goo.gl/maps/oQ1we5EvmxeZWgnD8
In Morrow County, it gets even better...

Co Rd 162, 4 miles north of Ashley.

That orange sign looks like a ransom note from a 70's cop show! 

[cjk374]

Ohio stopped using them over time and removed them at crossings that did have them. The tendency now is to mount a standard Yield sign below the crossbuck, which is perhaps a more consistent way of accomplishing the same thing.

Given the availability of relatively low cost solar panels and LED lighting, I've wondered why it's not become standard to provide street lighting at crossings. I think that might provide a bigger safety boost, especially for night-time incidents.

Yeah, about those yield signs....
Twp Rd 265 @ US 42 in Delaware County: https://goo.gl/maps/Bq2CawwqxVJ2e5Po9
Twp Rd 246 @ US 42 in Delaware County: https://goo.gl/maps/oQ1we5EvmxeZWgnD8
In Morrow County, it gets even better...

Co Rd 162, 4 miles north of Ashley.

That orange sign looks like a ransom note from a 70's cop show! 

As a conductor & locomotive engineer, I prefer stop signs being posted instead of yield signs. Alas, the MUTCD & its infinite "wisdom" states that using stop signs at railroad crossings diminishes the effectiveness & importance of stop signs in general (my words...trying to remember what the MUTCD said).
But I also know it won't matter what you post, people will run out in front of my damn train!

[Scott5114]

Ohio stopped using them over time and removed them at crossings that did have them. The tendency now is to mount a standard Yield sign below the crossbuck, which is perhaps a more consistent way of accomplishing the same thing.

I don't think the purpose here was to communicate the yield message, but for the flanges on the sides of the sign to reflect lights from trains to a driver's eye.

[hotdogPi]

If you have to accelerate from a stop, you'll be in the train's path for a longer period of time than if you maintain a constant speed.

[jeffandnicole]

If you have to accelerate from a stop, you'll be in the train's path for a longer period of time than if you maintain a constant speed.

If you accelerate from a stop with a train approaching, you're doing it wrong.

[jeffandnicole]

I know there's more, but two locations I'm familiar with in NJ with a simple crossing sign with no lights or gates, neither have any sort of traffic control. The first is on a very busy road which connects motorists from the NJ Tpk Exit 3 to NJ 42; the other is in a residential neighborhood. Both lines are active.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dTvqTDJdkyd39YS98

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ti19bJ3U1HSy8Sku6

[Roadrunner75]

I know there's more, but two locations I'm familiar with in NJ with a simple crossing sign with no lights or gates, neither have any sort of traffic control. The first is on a very busy road which connects motorists from the NJ Tpk Exit 3 to NJ 42; the other is in a residential neighborhood. Both lines are active.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dTvqTDJdkyd39YS98

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ti19bJ3U1HSy8Sku6

The second one will probably get an upgrade if the Glassboro-Camden light rail line ever happens.  I remember that line being fairly active for freight a number of years ago at least.  The first one is very light with that old branch truncated to the nearby industrial park.  Even the crossing of very busy US 130 in Gloucester City just gets a crossbuck (not sure if the crossing is integrated with the adjacent traffic signal in lieu of the standard warning lights and gates):

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8906745,-75.1039048,3a,90y,28.95h,83.06t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smnuMpqAkwngiyBsLcGwo0A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[US71]

I know there's more, but two locations I'm familiar with in NJ with a simple crossing sign with no lights or gates, neither have any sort of traffic control. The first is on a very busy road which connects motorists from the NJ Tpk Exit 3 to NJ 42; the other is in a residential neighborhood. Both lines are active.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dTvqTDJdkyd39YS98

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ti19bJ3U1HSy8Sku6

Rural Arkansas is like that. Some have STOP or YIELD signs, but mostly just crossbucks.

[cjk374]

I know there's more, but two locations I'm familiar with in NJ with a simple crossing sign with no lights or gates, neither have any sort of traffic control. The first is on a very busy road which connects motorists from the NJ Tpk Exit 3 to NJ 42; the other is in a residential neighborhood. Both lines are active.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dTvqTDJdkyd39YS98

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ti19bJ3U1HSy8Sku6

Rural Arkansas is like that. Some have STOP or YIELD signs, but mostly just crossbucks.

This past winter we replaced all of our crossbuck assemblies. The old ones were probably 50 years old, faded, and mounted to rails driven into the ground. (not exactly what you would call "break-away" style)

Now they are mounted on standard u-channel sign posts with new crossbucks, yield signs, and the blue DOT information signs.

Here is one of my crossings with the old bucks:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/UULBUhxTRxPbAATL9

[thenetwork]

Speaking of Ohio's unique RR crossing signs, back in the 60s and 70s, some crossings around Cleveland had a rectangular white-on-red "R X R" sign below or near the crossbucks.  They were all removed by the early 90s.


Of course, thpugh not an Ohio thing, we need to show the obligatory ultimate Railroad Crossing sign:  https://images.app.goo.gl/F6XvdT7cTmRyemvf7

[US71]

Speaking of Ohio's unique RR crossing signs, back in the 60s and 70s, some crossings around Cleveland had a rectangular white-on-red "R X R" sign below or near the crossbucks.  They were all removed by the early 90s.

Any photos?

I would love to have seen the "air raid/death" crossing in person.