How long after the red lights start and the familiar DING,DING,DING,DING,DING at train crossings will the locomotives & trains arrive?In Buck Creek,Indiana this past Saturday the red lights started flashing I found myself crossing the street and racing up to the crossing to catch & videotape the oncoming NS train.Usually how far away is the train when the lights start flashing?
IIRC, about 30 seconds before the train reaches the crossing, the lights and bell start, 20 seconds before, the gates go down.
Each crossing is virtually different with the warnings starting dependent upon the volume and speed of vehicular traffic at the crossing along with sight distances and sound. LIkewise the speed, type of train, sight distances, gradient of track, number of tracks, etc. are taken into account. Then the two “accounts” are measured together to set the timing. Simplified answer, of course, set with variables and differences.
Nah. They are all set to the RR’s std. which is often a bit longer than the law requires.
There are two fundamental types of crossing circuits. One is set to detect the presence of a train a fixed distance from the crossing. That distance is set based on the maximum authorized speed at that location. So, the slower the approaching train, the longer the crossing is activated.
The other type senses the speed of the approaching train (by measuring the rate at which the impedance decreases as the locomotive wheels make the circuit shorter it gets closer to the Xing). These will yield a constant warning time regardless of approaching train speed.
Variables notwithstanding, figure about 20 seconds…
The last that I knew quite a few years ago when I was designing rail/highway crossing protection was; 20 sec minimum at any speed. + 5sec. if there were gates.
LION was visiting Long Island City…
[This famous place has now seen four generations of diesels, and at least two generations of puffer bellys… LION is standing on public road]
Look and see, the manual switch stands, with a pair of switch tenders running about with radios and a switching list. Crossing gates are manual too. Switchman aligns the switches and the instant the locomotive sounds its horn for departure, the switchman lowers the crossing gates. (Well, he throws a safety switch which causes the gates to lower.) These gates can be down for three or more minutes before the train actually gets to the crossing, but rules is rules, and once the locomotive has the iron, it also has the crossing. (this crossing and the one beyond it are controlled by the one switch.). People just know that they have to wait and wait and wait, because that is the way it works.
It give the LION plenty of time to get his pictures.
There is third rail in this yard only on the far left track, all of the others are steam… ah err. diesel.
ROAR
In my area CN has grade crossing predictor circuits that estimate the time before the locomotive reaching a crossing based on speed. Fast trains close the gates earlier than slow ones.
Long Island City looked a lot better when the trains had GP38-2’s or C420’s for power and de-motored MU cars for the passengers.
IC’s South Chicago Branch had an unusual arrangement for grade crossing signals. Since many of the stations along 71st Street were adjacent to a cross street, the gates were set to remain raised while the train was in the station. When the train left the station, it would move a few feet to trip the gate mechanism and would then wait for the gates to lower before proceeding. Special Instructions regarding this arrangement were included in the Operating Timetable.
I think you mean “fast trains close the gates while the train is further away than slow ones”.
Correct.