There’s a strip of industrial spur track that comes off a mini-branch line near my house. That strip hasn’t been in use for around a decade, and has steadily deteriorated (weeds all over, rails missing, etc.). Just within the past few weeks two signs have appeared facing away from the lone grade crossing on the spur. The signs are red squares with bold white x’s. They are set in the middle of the tracks low to the ground.
My question: What do these signs mean, and why would the railroad (UP) put them on an abandoned spur? A locomotive trying to go down the line would run out of rail before it got to the first sign.
Not that unusual for a State DOT to start a sign upgrade program (Ohio recently did)…
If the state is lazy about maintaining their crossing records (many are clueless), a clerk somewhere treats the crossing as active and Voila!, new signs.
There is an agreement somewhere that probably owns/operates/maintains the crossing, public or private.
I believe it does have a DOT number, and it is a public crossing.
I’m not sure who put it there, be it UP or the DOT, but I doubt the person in charge of that didn’t know that the crossing isn’t active; the signs are right in the middle of the tracks, theoretically if a train managed to get to the sign, a brakeman would need to remove it for the train to proceed. Whoever placed it there must have known the crossing isn’t in use.
The signs described, red square with white X, are used on the UP at crossings, usually on other than main tracks, where the crossing protection has been disabled. It means a train or engine must stop and only proceed on signal from a crewmember on the ground protecting the crossing. However, it’s placed on the side of the tracks, not between the rails.
Jeff, you’ve given the most likely answer. There are separate stop lights dedicated to the crossing, and UP probably just cut the power to them (little late IMHO). Only thing differing from your explanation is the placement of the sign between the rails. Maybe the poor sucker who put them in got bored.
Another thing: why place the second sign facing the factory? There isn’t any possible way a locomotive could come from there. Is it a matter of protocol?
Not all “locomotives” are railbound. Forklifts, tractors, trucks and trackmobiles all are used to shift freight cars around, and can move from one location to another without necessarily using the rails.
I haven’t been able to get close to them, but visually it look to be about 1.5 feet for the sides. The X goes from corner to corner and is several inches thick.