I see a lot of the pickup truck’s checking out the rails where I live. Why do the pickup trucks not activate the grade crossing signal? Not enough weight, something to do with the rubber tires itting the rails?
Insulated rail wheels. Hi-rail vehicles aren’t supposed to trip the circuits. They are to stop at all crossings and yield to highway traffic.
Unless the hi-rail is equipped with shunts & brushes to ensure proper electrical contact with the rail, the gates are not going to work half the time anyhow with a non-insulated system.There isn’t enough of a contact patch and those hi-rail wheels have a 1/2 inch to one inch heavy rubber coating over the steel wheel tread, so only the flange is making metal-metal contact.