Railroad Crossings

[mrsticka]

Railroad crossings used to be pretty common in Omaha, but not anymore. There are still some, but not very many. But for years, I've often wondered something: Why do crossings with 2 or more tracks have signs warning drivers how many tracks there are?

Can anyone explain that?

[Brad]

That’s easy. Incase a Tran stops on the first track closest to you. If there is a second track and your visibility is blocked by the first train, you know to proceed cautiously incase a second train is speeding towards you.

[mrsticka]

Fair enough. Many years ago when I was just a kid, I went for a drive with my family through small town somewhere in Nebraska. I don't know what it was, but there was a railroad crossing there and it had 7 tracks which kind of surprised my brother. He had never seen a crossing with 7 tracks before. He was used to 2 or 3.

[Brad]

Fair enough. Many years ago when I was just a kid, I went for a drive with my family through small town somewhere in Nebraska. I don't know what it was, but there was a railroad crossing there and it had 7 tracks which kind of surprised my brother. He had never seen a crossing with 7 tracks before. He was used to 2 or 3.

Union street in Fremont has 7 and if you go a block south, there are 2 more.

union-st.JPG

[mrsticka]

Maybe that was it? I don't know. It was years ago when we did this. Like 1990 or so.