Could somebody tell me when the over head (cantilever) flashers came into use? Also, what conditions would dictate the need for them? Obviuosly a rural crossing that sees only a few cars an hour wouldn’t need them.
I am not sure but maybe if trees are blocking the side lights and something needs to be visible over the road, what confuses me is crossings with overheads but no gates
I would think it is the need for visibility that drives the requirement. There is a UP crossing near San Jose, CA that had a huge cantilever with three sets of overhead lights (I don’t recall if there are gates). Lots of silver-painted steel tubes.
In the Dominguez area of Carson, CA, there are some very basic cantilever signals for some UP industrial spurs. There are no gates at these crossings; a basic cantilever set up is probably easier to maintain (no moving parts).
Aw, heck-I thought this was going to be about something like the people that moon the CZ in Glenwood canyon. Oh, well…
I remember some cantilever sighals (though not as wide as today’s) in the early 1950s, and that’s only me–they could go back much further than that.
I suspect you need to look no further than the width of roads - as roads got wider, there was a need to get warning signals out to the ‘middle’ lanes.
Many of the early “wigwag” crossing signals were on a short cantilever - didn’t stick out over the road, but it still hung down nearer the road than it would have had it been mounted directly on a pole.
I would guess they are for crossings considered dangerous. A local crossing here that is known for excessive collisions recently got a cantilever type signal installed. Also, on one side there is a hill leading to the crossing so it might help to see it earlier too.
Thanks everybody.
Another related question- when did the current advance crossing warning signs come into use (round yellow signs) The previous ones had the black lines going vertical and horozontal +, wheras now they form an X. I have one of the older signs and just wondered about when the newer one came out.
I’m pretty sure the “rXr” signs were already in use as early as the 1950s, because I remember relatively few of the older design. Though I have no way of proving it, I’d suggest that they might have come around at about the same time as red stop signs (those used to be black-on-yellow, too, you know!).
The Yellow Stop reign ended in 1954.
In northwest suburban Chicago, specifically where the four lane U.S. Hwy. 14 crosses the Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern in Barrington, Ill., was a pair of cantilevered flashers and no gates. I remember this installation being in place as far back as 1956.
Thanks everyone. I didn’t know cantilevers have been around so long.
The rule is that if the shoulder-mounted flashers could be obscured to an approaching vehicle by other vehicular traffic then cantilevered flashers and shoulder-mounted flashers are supplied. That’s all there is to it. Examples of a shoulder-mounted flasher being obscured is parked vehicles, a crossing that’s severely crowned, or an approach to the crossing that’s at a sharp angle – the truck in front of you blocks your view of the crossing until you’re right on top of it.
There cannot (legally) be vegetation blocking the view of the flashers. If there is, it’s trimmed!
S. Hadid
No, but there can be vegetation that blocks the track and flashers that don’t work[:P] it’s only on one leg of a wye that is only used several times a week (ask me how I know), and luckily the engineer did stop to aviod hitting a car but you can’t see anything till the train is occupying the crossing.
I don’t know which railroad you’re talking about here, but all of the major lines have a phone number to call and report defective or inoperative grade crossing signals. It doesn’t matter that it’s only used a few times a week. Also, if you mention that sight lines are impaired by foliage, that will be addressed as well–or should be!
Are there any regulations against new just Cantilever flashers? I’m thinking of a crossing in Ltitiz, PA. It has the poles with crossbucks on the side, with flashers on cantilevers. THe one side was replaced recently with pole-monted flashers.
Those cantilevers sure looked like they were installed back in the Reading RR era. But with all the traffic (car and pedestrian), they sure seemed more effective then curent pole-mouted flashers.