I was driving through rural Wisconsin when I noticed signs along a railroad right-of-way. The “W” before coming to a crossing of course means whistle, but what do “=” and “-” mean?
They may be flanger signs, telling the operator to raise and lower the blades at a grade crossing when plowing snow. Out of curiosity, what railroad? Each can use their own version.
It might mean the required number and lengths of whistle blasts. Where exactly were the “=” and “-” signs?
RIck
It was on the old trackage between Oskosh, WI and Ripon, WI (I believe these were old Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, & Pacific tracks). Anyway, they occured in the following order:
= - W crossing W - =
a whistle post for 1 crossing will jsut have a “W” while for multiple crossings will have “W”
2
3
etc for the number of crossings, mainly these will be in a major city with lots of crossings.
tom
Not here.
Multiple crossings have a
W
MX
Maybe they are an indicator to let the engineer know that a crossing and a whistle sign are coming up. Almost like the “stop sign ahead” before the “stop sign” at a road intersection.
Rick
These signs are usually white narrow vertical signs, much like mile stickers along an inter-state. They usually depict the horn or whistle blast seqence- usually 2 long-a short and a long for a grade crossing. Ken
Ah, no.