They just released a study an listed the most unsafe crossings in the US. Just to paint the picture, the BNSF mainline runs parallel to Grand Ave. (US60) starting just south of Wickenburg and ending near downtown Phoenix. That's about a 40 mile run, and there are probably two dozen or more crossings there. The study shows that out of the top 13 unsafe crossings, 5 of them are those that cross this track, 3 in Phoenix, 2 in Glendale. This is based on the number of incidents at these crossings. There are about 3 in Sun City that didn't make it high on the list though. We use these frequently and know that these all have room for just one or two vehicles between the tracks and Grand Ave. Anyone trying to squeeze a second car or even not fully pulled though, can and do get wiped out by one of the frequent trains. I'm not sure which came first, the tracks or US60, but it used to be the only route between Phoenix and Los Angeles for both cars and trains.
Just a point to let you all know that our railroads here are still in the news. :wait:
ezdays Wrote:They just released a study...
And just who are "they"?
railohio Wrote:ezdays Wrote:They just released a study...
And just who are "they"?
"They" being the
Federal Railroad Administration. They ranked those Phoenix crossings as #1, 2 and 5, while the Glendale crossings came in at #3 and 12. Who paid for this study? We all did, of course.
Is anyone going model this kind of thing?
lajry Wrote:Is anyone going model this kind of thing?
I'd guess, with our layouts often squeezed for size, that many of us already do. The difference is that, on most layouts, there are no incompetent automobile drivers, so fewer grade crossing incidents.
Wayne
Right , and they don't have 1/87 th texting ......yet
Interesting... They (Transportation Safety Board) just released a similar study in Canada.
Andrew
Unsafe crossings really means impatient drivers. Last time we had a car hit in town the Darwin Award winner said " They could have stopped before hitting me..They had airbrakes." The award winner was caught in traffic and instead of stopping before the crossing he chose to stop on the crossing and got to meet the front end of a CR GP38-2.
Of course the headline read "Train hits Car". A CR train hit a car driven by blah,blah, blah.
Not once did the newspaper story say the car was stopped on the crossing-that was reported by the local radio stations.
Of course next morning the local "experts" at the usual coffee drinking haunts( Hardees and McDonalds) pointed their finger at the crossing and CR.
The crossing had gates since the steam era and was once controlled by crossing watchman as was all major street crossings in town.
The crossing guard shanties was elevated.
"The difference is that, on most layouts, there are no incompetent automobile drivers"
True, but some of us do have a few incompetent locomotive drivers!
What I've seen at these crossings are drivers who can't read signs. I wonder how they got their drivers license when they don't seem to understand the, "DON"T STOP ON TRACKS" or the "STOP HERE (w/big arrow)" signs. They stop with the rear end of the vehicle or the full vehicle on the tracks or under the crossing gates. These tracks are busy, and the stop lights favor US60, so waiting on a track for a few minutes can be a bit nerve wracking... if you care that is. Nope, I wouldn't do it, but then again, I'm usually not in that much of a hurry to take the risk. Obviously, there are those who do.
teejay Wrote:Right , and they don't have 1/87 th texting ......yet
Oh Gawd. Please No
Mark
Tyson Rayles Wrote:"The difference is that, on most layouts, there are no incompetent automobile drivers"
True, but some of us do have a few incompetent locomotive drivers!
Not to mention just how expensive our model cars and trucks are.
Not that locos are cheap by any standard.
Mark
On a more serious note the State Government of Victoria is currently working on a program to remove the 50 worst crossings from around metro Melbourne. Some rail lines are being Trenched and others will be Skylined, which will be an interesting project to say the least. So far the NIMBYS have be remarkably quiet about the issue, I wonder why? I wonder if it could have something to do with the fact that it is a Labour Govt, pushing the project, mmmm?
Still the pay off should be fewer accidents and less delays caused by level crossings, so there are long term benefits.
Mark
Mr Fixit Wrote:Not to mention just how expensive our model cars and trucks are.
Not that locos are cheap by any standard.
Mark
Just think about it, how much does your models cost in real time? If I were to spend $250 on one of my N scale locos, that would come to $45,000 in full-scale money. Still very cheap for a 1:1 loco...
Mr Fixit Wrote:On a more serious note the State Government of Victoria is currently working on a program to remove the 50 worst crossings from around metro Melbourne. Some rail lines are being Trenched and others will be Skylined, which will be an interesting project to say the least. So far the NIMBYS have be remarkably quiet about the issue, I wonder why? I wonder if it could have something to do with the fact that it is a Labour Govt, pushing the project, mmmm?
Still the pay off should be fewer accidents and less delays caused by level crossings, so there are long term benefits.
Mark
We have a major intersection here that is undergoing an overpass that includes going over the BNSF mainline. There are lots of stores and businesses in the area and of course, the NIMBYs spoke loudly. They thought that their businesses would perish and that there would be streams of bumper-to-bumper traffic through the detours all day long. Well, we're about a month into construction and it's still difficult to find a parking place in those shopping centers, and no one seems to mind that it takes an extra minute or so to get through the detours. And so no, we don't hear from those NIMBYs anymore, maybe because their worse fears about the project hasn't come true.
My point was why even bring this up on a MODEL RR forum when there's plenty of PROTOTYPE forums to discuss this topic.