What exactly are the old railroad crossing lights used for? Just a warning device for the end of the spur? How do they work?
CSX Dewitt Yard in Syracuse, but aside from the obvious, no idea what they could be for.
While I do not know this particular application, I know down in Wichita Kansas (BNSF) yard we have a shove light that will go on if a car as strayed onto the crossing that cuts through the middle of the yard, this may be similar letting a crew know if they have shoved to the bumping post. This would not protect the crew from protecting the shove just gives a secondary saftey measure if one were to couple into the track and it rolled it would let you know whats happening.
I’m not sure how these function or when, but I get the feeling that the bumping posts have had to be replaced at one time or another!
On further inspection, I note that the lights are on the centerline of the track, and are not tall enough to be seen over anything more than a flatcar.
Which brings me to this conclusion: Dewitt has an intermodal facility - it might follow that these two leads are used to store/handle empty cars. A track circuit tripping the lights as the cars approach the bumping post would potentially allow a crew to push a string of cars onto these leads without someone riding the lead car. Set a couple of brakes and away you go. Your conductor or other crewman doesn’t have to walk all the way back, an important consideration in the middle of a Syracuse winter, and simply as a time saver.
Hopefully someone familiar with Dewitt will chime in with the right answer…