WOW! A new crossing to model in N scale. Action!

[u18b]

A road in our town had construction messing up traffic for a long time.

I finally found out what was going on.

CSX was installing a new design crossing.  Or maybe I should say UPgrading the crossing that was there.

Now, to help you get the idea.  This is the crossing at the Milton Depot (old L&N) just a fraction south of Milton, Florida (a small town).

The crossing is at these co-ordinates:   30.61666,-87.037693
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.61666,-87.037693&ie=UTF-8&ei=V257U4bnLNWeqAbpsYCwAw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

Turn satellite view on to see houses, road, and swamp/river.

Just down that road in the photo below (looking south) about 1/2 mile is the even SMALLER town of Bagdad, Fl.

So this depot is on the edge of Milton proper- and just past this depot is about 10 or so houses, and then a river.

Here it is:




Notice anything unusual about it?

Count them..... there are SIX crossing gates on a little small road between a small town and and even smaller town.

When I came to the museum after the road was opened back up, the story I got was that some resident somewhere complained about walking his dog unsafely over the railroad tracks.

A quarter of a million dollars later, we have this.

Which of course sounds crazy..... but would look really cool on YOUR layout.  It would take up a good deal of room in HO, but is perfect for N scale.  Imagine all six gates going down when your train passes. 

Oh!  And be sure and add a figure form Woodlandscenics set A2143!
http://www.tandkhobby.com/v/vspfiles/photos/A2143-2.gif




A prototype for everything.

[lock4244]

Because looking both ways is simply too complicated 

Western civilization deserves to fail.

[tehachapifan]

It would be hard to imagine that this was all done based on 1 complaint. My guess is they also added the addition pavement across the tracks for pedestrians and perhaps that was the issue versus the lack of sidewalk gates. At any rate, it would be fun to model! I have one animated crossing with gates on my layout now.

[aikorob]

Ron---why the flat car parked outside?
Given the history of the entire panhandle region, a bulkhead flat to haul pulpwood would have ben a better choice.

[C855B]

Oh, that's fun. It could, yes, possibly be worse - you could have quad gates for the street traffic, with the "exit" gates on delayed close.

A challenge to model "live" since pedestrian gates are pretty small to begin with. Good thing they have full-sized actuators. I have a friend with actuated NJI gates on his layout, and am always surprised how small even regular gates are.

Oh... and this is for a line with a surprisingly light amount of traffic. Ridiculous.

[engineshop]

What prevents idiots to walk around the pedestrian crossing gate? Maybe next year the install 4 more additional arms that close that gap.

[sirenwerks]

That would be the redundant back-up, just in case even smaller gate that will be installed next week.  The one that has a delay on it so it comes down on  top of the pedestrians head, and the audio is not a bell but "Hey, idiot, stop!"

[ljudice]

What prevents idiots to walk around the pedestrian crossing gate? Maybe next year the install 4 more additional arms that close that gap.

The no trespassing signs!!!! 

$250k probably pales in comparison to the lawsuit from not responding to some request.  Could have been funded by the state or town or something too....

[mplsjct]

I wonder if these might have something to do with a visually impaired person living nearby. In the neighborhoods where I live, occasionally you will see a sign that says "Deaf Child", it stands to reason these additional gates would be an extension of this type of sign.

Just a thought, we do have a few of those gates in Minnesota.

[peteski]

Wow!  What a nice prototype for . . . . an N scale model.   

[Cajonpassfan]

Florida, huh? What's next, gator gates?
Seriously, depending on the type of funding, we'll see more and more ped gates and I suspect protection from liability tops protection from trains here. Could be a fun little current era project? Personally, I like the way the Brits have done this where the gates are actual gates that swing 90 degrees across the tracks, literally fencing off the railroad to both cars and pedestrians....
Otto K.

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

There isn't even a sidewalk. The pedestrian should be walking in the middle of the road where they would see the crossing gate. 

[Greyryder]

There isn't even a sidewalk. The pedestrian should be walking in the middle of the road where they would see the crossing gate. 

In Florida!? Last I heard, they had the highest pedestrian death rate in the country.

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

This is the problem with the world. What ever happened with survival of the fittest. We keep trying to keep the stupid people alive. 

[davefoxx]

CSX has had pedestrian gates like this for years in Newark, Delaware at the North College Avenue crossing, where many students walk across the tracks to get to their classes at the University of Delaware.  Unfortunately, these gates wouldn't stop automobile drivers from taking an errant left turn on to the tracks, which has happened here in Newark.   

DFF