Camp Hill PA
Olmstead Falls OH
Darby PA
Cumberland MD
Lancaster NY
Timonium MD

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This section covers grade crossing protection for pedestrians where they have to cross a railroad right-of-way, such as crossing gates, signals, and signs.


Camp Hill PA (Harrisburg) on the Norfolk Southern

In this southern suburb of Harrisburg, adjacent to the Camp Hill depot and on the Lurgan Branch, is this grade crossing on the Norfolk Southern.  It is fairly easy to get here off of I-83.  See my railfan guide map for Harrisburg here.

                    

           


Olmstead Falls OH on the Norfolk Southern

Olmstead Falls is just west of Berea.  You have good sight lines in both directions here, although it is all NS action.  The road level Snag is from Google Maps, and the aerial shot is from Bing's birds eye view, too bad they were shooting into the sun :-(.

           

             


Darby PA (Philadelphia) on the CSX (ex B&O)

This crossing gate and it's brother are in Darby PA, a southwest suburb of Philadelphia. It protects people from freights on the old B&O, their only track in and out of town to the south. It is on Main St (cross street of N 6th St), not too far off of Island Ave, which is an exit off of I95.  You can also see, especially in the streetcar shot, that the trolley tracks cross here too.  What a great town!  Sorry I didn't get more pix of it, the streetcar was coming for a photo run-by and then we had to get back on.

              



This is the PCC we chartered for a 5 hour trip around Philadelphia, wherever we wanted to go as long as it was active track.  You too can do the same for $200 an hour, 2 hour minimum.... great fun!  SEPTA had a bunch of these cars rebuilt at a cost of $1.1mil apiece, and the refurb included adding A/C, installing new solid state controllers, new wiring, new operators console, new interior panels (probably with insulation, as the original PCC cars didn't have any), LED tail and stop lights, and white LED emergency lights (continuously lit).  A job well done that will likely keep these things running for another 20-30 years (hopefully).


Cumberland MD - CSX (formerly the B&O)

           

         

   
These crossing gates seem to be a little bit better maintained than their brothers in Darby (above).

   
Other "stuff" at the same location.



Lancaster NY - NS Southern Tier Line

There are several grade crossings in the Lancaster NY area with these combined vehicular and pedestrian crossing gates.  The aerial shot is at the Court Street crossing.

 

           

         

         

           

     

         

           





MTA Light Rail - Timonium Rd - Timonium MD

It's a typical "hand-man" signal used in regular traffic light service.  For those not familiar with the terminology used with auto type signals, the "hand" and "man" refer to the symbols displayed.  The white symbol of a man walking signifies it is OK to walk, an orange hand replaces the traditional "don't walk".

This is the cheap way to provide pedestrian protection at a grade crossing, but not many pay attention to them.

              

A pedestrian crossing signal on the Baltimore Light Rail at Timonium Rd in Timonium MD.

The "signal" in the last two pictures is a special, one-of-a-kind LED matrix display that goes off when two trains are approaching the crossing at the same time... first, it warns the drivers that there are two trains in writing, and then it displays two trains, one at a time, one going in one direction, and the other in the opposite direction.  Now that they have double tracked the line, trains don't meet here too often any more.  The signal was designed by a former foreman of the light rail Systems department.


COMING.....  some day? - maybe? - not? - pictures of a unique pedestrian crossing gate(s) in Bethlehem PA


Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  I do these pages because I love spending my time doing them - although I do a reasonable amount of research to make sure the information presented is accurate! :-)  :-)

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in, oooooooops, oh well! :-)  

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

BTW, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given! BE NICE!!! Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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New: 12/21/2006
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