Question about crossing signals (read details)?

Question

Just curious about the crossing signals that are set up with the mast and gates seperatly. Were they originally set up like that or had they been crossings that had only masts before and had gates installed later using the original masts and having the gates on a seperate figure??? Here is a photo of what I am talking about (If you think I am wacko for asking this question, someone actually did a websight about stuff like this, thanks to rxsignals.net) http://www.rxrsignals.net/California/Glendora/Foothill/13.jpg

Answer 1

sometimes,there might be physical constraints, such as signal light visibility, that may need to be considered.

lots of times, for older signals, it was a matter of having lights first, and then adding gates later.

in your particular picture, i dont think that is the case tho'.  this all looks pretty new, and purposely designed that way.  if you look at how shiny and clean the railroad signals and poles are, look at the new-ish sidewalk w ADA ramps, and in particular, the new style of pedestrian crossing signal button, i would say that this entire intersection is a fairly fresh rebuild.  

i would need more context and a bigger picture of the area to compare it better to other elements such as pavement surface condition, the condition and colour of other concrete sidewalks outside of the new-ish ped ramp, and so on.

if it is new, and i have been seeing some new installations like this, i'm not sure why.  hopefully some civil/signal engineer can tell us more.   you might want to check signal mfgr web sites, if you live near this area, find out who made the signal (maybe union signal, maybe someone else?) and look up tech specs on their websites.

i only do transport planning, to determine if/how crossings should exist, whether they should be lit or gated or quad gated or not, ped/rail/traffic flow, etc.  but the engineering aspects of what types of signals, visibility, manufacturer and price, etc, i leave that to my civil eng buddies to figure all that out.

Answer 2

It appears that the lights on the gates were added as a safety measure to make the gates more visible to motorists, especially on heavily traveled highways.  I can't remember seeing them on grade crossings that have light vehicle traffic.

Answer 3

I think you have it exactly right.The lights were there first and when they upgraded to gates to save money they left the original lights.