Why are crossing gates sometimes set up at different angles when in the upright position?

Question

At one railroad crossing I noticed that one gate is set to fall straight up into the air, flush with the signal base when in the up position while the one on the other side of same crossing is set to fall at an angle. This looks like a complete eyesore as they are not symetrical to each other. Also noticed at one particular crossing that they were once set straight up in the air and then they set them at an angle where they appeard nearly down.

Answer 1

If the road crosses the tracks at anything other than a right angle, the arms have to be parallel with the tracks to avoid being hit by a passing train. When pulling up at a crossing, make sure you are well clear of the arms as they can do severe damage to equipment such as antennas. They are not designed to be pressure sensitive and swing up again if they hit an obstruction.

Appearance is not as important as safety

Answer 2

crossing gates are set up to intersect the road at a right angle. sometimes that makes them look ****** or off centered. These are usually checked by Maintenance of way very often, but occassionally some wahoo trying to beat the train clips the gate and spins it a little bit.

Answer 3

I think all crossing gates are supposed to open all the way and be flush with the signal base, but they can't do maintenence on every single crossing gate to make sure it opens at a 90 deg. angle to the roadway.  They just fix the ones that aren't operating properly so that they will close every time a train is coming and not endanger any lives.

Answer 4

Do the gates work and do their job without incident? Then who cares?