Anyone Else Interested in Railway Crossings?

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I know I already made a post about such a topic viewtopic.php?t=257645 but I would like to do a topic that's much shorter and more to the point. I'm feeling bad about making my previous post so long and need to start writing less!

Railroad crossings (or train-crossings, level crossings) are things most people aren't into or don't really care about, and many people even dislike them because of the inconvenience they cause, which I can highly understand. Having to stop and wait for those trains to go by, which can take less than a minute to 10 minutes or more, although it usually takes up to 4 minutes for trains to pass. Another issue with crossings is that they're so dangerous, deadly even!

And yet, I'm fascinated by railroad crossings! I especially like the ones with both flashing red lights and gates, especially the ones used here in the United States and in countries that are similar to the U.S. (I also kind of like the ones in Germany and the U.K. but I mostly prefer the U.S style like in Canada, Australia, Netherlands, parts of Argentina, Brazil, Panama, and the few in Mexico.) But I like just about any crossing as long as it's gated, lighted, or preferably both, and I prefer red and white striped gates over all other colors. I also like that they come with bells!

https://www.deviantart.com/willm3luvtra ... -834491914 (This link tells why I might like them)

One reason I might be interested in them is because where I'm from, Gary, Indiana has lots of them and I started noticing them when I was 1 or 2 years old! And I'm not ashamed of this interest, I actually like this about myself, this is what makes me me! I hate to imagine myself without this interest! I also have this ridiculous feeling that someone has to be interested in them, which is not true!

I'm also not the only one who has this interest, lots of other people do and this is your ultimate proof http://www.rxrsignals.com/ I came across this website when I was 16 and learned I was not the only one who was interested in railroad crossings (sadly the original host of this website died nine years ago but I did get to interact with him.) And I know some of you on Wrong Planet are into them too because some, not all, but some people with autism or Asperger's, including yours truly, have an interest in railroad crossings. And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with this interest!

Railroad crossings, I know, are irrelevant things, but there's no shame in being interested in them. I know they're dangerous and an eye-sore, something I know many people wish didn't exist, even railroad companies, but they make my life more interesting! It does tear me up to have some of them closed and eliminated but I can and do understand why, and there are some crossings even I think should be eliminated, but I do want some to stay around and would like more of them to have lights and gates added to them (I'm not so crazy about passive crossings, they're boring and way more dangerous!) I'm sorry but I don't want to live in a world without railroad crossings, and I don't want to live in a place without them either, which is one reason why I live in Tucson, although some in my area have been or will be closed and grade-separated. And seeing those red lights flash, including the gate arm lights, just makes my day! I mean I don't have to see railroad crossings activated all the time I don't mind just seeing them but I especially like to see them in action!

And it's not just real, prototypical railroad crossings I'm into but also those on toy trains and those featured in cartoons, animated shows, and movies (and I created this page on railroad crossings in animated shows and movies https://peridot0.fandom.com/wiki/Railro ... and_Movies)

If you're into rail crossings too, please do not be afraid to admit this. Please tell what you like about them or what made you interested in them. And you don't exactly have to be autistic to be into them. You may also talk about your relatives that like them (children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, etc.)

I prefer only people who are interested in/fascinated with railroad crossings or any other railfan respond to this post, but anyone can respond as long as they're respectful about this, and not just to me but to others who share this interest with me. No rude replies please!

I hope this was short enough, in fact I'll stop right here and let you talk!

You may find this post interesting on another site that I am on which has come up recently.

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=52186

As part of a job I once used to do, on certain railway lines I would be the one who had to press a button to lower some of the crossings on token worked lines.

I like trains. I don't mind waiting for one. A lot of people are annoyed by it when there is a train coming at the crossing, but I like it when there is a train coming.

Car drivers are a lot more likely to get in an accident involving another road vehicle than an accident involving a train, but accidents involving trains are more dangerous.

Yeah and that's what scares me, cars crashing into other cars! My number one fear was and might still be getting into a car accident, especially a T-bone collision, or getting hit by a car as a pedestrian and that happens a lot here in Tucson and up in Phoenix!

I don't mind either! In fact I would hate that I would go a day without seeing a railroad crossing in action or not being there when a train was crossing a crossing, especially a gated crossing, and especially when seeing railroad crossings was a rare opportunity for me! I would hate arriving too early or too late!

I also got upset when there was a train crossing but my stepfather refused to wait and would find another way across the tracks.

Imagine being upset for not watching a train go by, not to mention not being able to see the warning devices while they're in action! That was me, and can still be me! Most people would get upset about having to wait for a train, but some of us if not just me, are the opposite! And I'm sorry but I hate being deprived of railroad crossings! I know I can live without them and I know I can just watch them on video and I have toy railroad crossing signals, mostly HO scale, that actually light up, but still I want the real thing and in person, even if for just a few seconds, although the longer the better (sometimes it can get too long even for me!)

If there's a cure for love of railroad crossings, I don't want it! Same with the cure for autism!

So I think you and I are riding in the same boat, or rather train!

I am NOT interested in railroad crossings.

But...um...you seem to suggest that there is a lot of variation in railroad crossings between different countries.

Can you enumerate the different approaches, by country?

And, remember, I am not interested in this! So, please make it as terse and concise as possible.

Thanks. I read some of it and learned a little more, including when yellow lights were introduced. Kind if reminds me of Germany too. The older German signals had just red lights that would blink although East Germany had different signals than West Germany. The East German signals had the light in the center of the crossbuck (the X-shaped sign) while the West German ones usually had lights above the crossbuck and surrounded by a black square background with a white border around the black and a red border around the white.

Now newer German signals have a red and a yellow light, neither of which flash but light steady. They're like traffic signals minus the green light! I do like those and the old West German signals, I don't like the East German signals all that much! I do wish they did double-red flashing lights and put lights on their gate arms themselves like we do!

We don't have yellow lights on our crossing signals in the U.S., although I do wonder if we should! But some of our Railroad Crossing Ahead signs, the round yellow sign with the black RXR (we use those instead of signs displaying a train symbol or gate symbol and regardless of whether the crossing is gated or not) have flashing yellow lights. They're hard to find though! Otherwise the lights at the crossings are completely red, and I'm just fine with that!

How about having traffic lights at railroad crossings like those at road intersections? How would that be? I think some railroad crossings have traffic lights.

I remember the Mario Kart 64 video game in the desert race track had a railroad crossing with lights and bells.

Different countries adopted a different approach according to their needs and also the technology available to them and the type of signalling system and the line speeds in the area along with the types of road in which are crossing over them, so in the UK we habe quite a few different types of crossings from basic open crossings with no lights and no gates where those crossing must look to see if the line is clear to double barrier crossings with lights. We even have the old gated crossings in places, and other places there are automatic half barrier crossings with lights. Others are open crossings with lights but no barriers.
In the years I worked on trains, we had a few close calls at crossings. One such close call was recorded and may be on the internet where our train must have missed the car by inches, and the lady driver with her kid in the back who was not strapped in, did not even notice the train even in her mirrors as I had my head out the back cab window wondering why the driver was sounding his horn and had put the brakes on!

Okay here we go. All featured crossings will have both gates/barriers and lighted signals.

American Railroad Crossing https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/railr ... 99-8094520

Canada https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_voge ... /in/stream Similar to the U.S. but with a different crossbuck (the X-shaped sign)

Mexico
https://mazatlan.gob.mx/2018/06/08/pone ... roviarias/ (https://mazatlan.gob.mx/2018/06/08/pone ... roviarias/) and these are extremely rare down there as many of the crossings are passive!

United Kingdom crossing https://www.shutterstock.com/de/video/c ... 2011-train see also https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-v ... -697277221

German Railroad Crossing
-Modern https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo- ... ge55975040

-Old West German https://www.dreamstime.com/local-public ... e108180222

-Old East German https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-zosse ... 36744.html

Czech Republic/ Slovakia https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-railw ... 07707.html

Netherlands https://www.alamy.com/warning-lights-an ... 34240.html

Australia https://www.alamy.com/may-13-2016-melbo ... 82239.html There are variations on the crossbuck, flashers, and gate arms and gate lights.

That's all I'll show for now but for more information https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossing and for crossbucks https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbuck

If i didn't know any better I would have assumed all crossings were the same but they really vary from place to place!

Anyway I hope this helps and i hope I followed your directions, I apologize if I didn't!

I find they can be quite scary - I have a fear that while I am walking or driving across the boom gates start lowering

Still not interested in railroad crossings.

But...um...it looked to me like (a) Canada and U.S. were very similar, and (b) the other countries were only different in the light mounting and the artistic style of the gates--but they had lights and gates.

Do any two countries have gates and lights so dissimilar that I would get confused by them?

In Australia the they are well marked but the boom gates come down really suddenly and I have had a couple of close misses