New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

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railrod1949
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New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by railrod1949 »

There are now crossing gates and signals on N. Superior Street on GLC RR in Farwell, MI (North Road outside of Farwell village limit). Also Surrey Road, east of M-115 in Surrey Township , northwest of Farwell, now had crossing gates and signals as well on the GLC. Crossing gates and signals including cantilever signals are now up at the W. 5th Street (M-115) crossing of the GLC, west of Clare. These new railroad crossing gates and signals in Surrey Township were installed in late September, 2016 which is two years ago late next month and the one west of downtown Clare, MI were installed August 15, 2015 which is three years this month. And the new railroad crossing gates in Farwell were installed last year I think. There are one train in each direction Monday thru Fridays only thru Farwell.
Last edited by railrod1949 on Wed Aug 22, 2018 4:21 pm, edited 3 times in total.

csx801
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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by csx801 »

GLC Has had signal upgrade fever for a few years now. A lot of older signals have fallen in Ithica, Alma, Clare, and Shepherd. I talked to someone from GLC a while back. They said they were having crossings evaluated and ranked based on current protection levels, traffic levels, and age of existing equipment; then they set replacement goals based on funding.

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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by Stinger4me »

I believe there are crossing gates on Blue Grass /West Campus Drive where GLC crosses. On Broomfield where there is much more traffic there are NO gates. What is the criteria for determining gates or no gates? I'm curious.

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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by Chip »

Stinger4me wrote:I believe there are crossing gates on Blue Grass /West Campus Drive where GLC crosses. On Broomfield where there is much more traffic there are NO gates. What is the criteria for determining gates or no gates? I'm curious.
View of the tracks from the road is one consideration, an at least looking north towards the tower dorms you can see the trains coming for a while before it reaches Brookfield. That signal also activated very early too.

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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by Saturnalia »

Chip wrote:
Stinger4me wrote:I believe there are crossing gates on Blue Grass /West Campus Drive where GLC crosses. On Broomfield where there is much more traffic there are NO gates. What is the criteria for determining gates or no gates? I'm curious.
View of the tracks from the road is one consideration, an at least looking north towards the tower dorms you can see the trains coming for a while before it reaches Brookfield. That signal also activated very early too.
MDOT's Office of Rail has a very active crossing upgrade program which looks at several dozen crossings each year based on data submitted by the railroads. The sites get field visits and are then refined to a dozen or so (depending on funding and scale) which will get upgrades. The GLC has received many of these projects. However many are still internal GLC projects, I'm sure.
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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by Standard Railfan »

Stinger4me wrote:I believe there are crossing gates on Blue Grass /West Campus Drive where GLC crosses. On Broomfield where there is much more traffic there are NO gates. What is the criteria for determining gates or no gates? I'm curious.
The Bluegrass Road / West Campus Dr project was funded by the State with little or no local funds used. If state money is used, the project must adhere to the current design standards. Broomfield was reconstructed a number of years ago and met the standards in place at that time.

The decision to upgrade a particular crossing is more or less based upon the amount of carnage that has occurred.

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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by Chip »

Standard Railfan wrote:
Stinger4me wrote:I believe there are crossing gates on Blue Grass /West Campus Drive where GLC crosses. On Broomfield where there is much more traffic there are NO gates. What is the criteria for determining gates or no gates? I'm curious.
The Bluegrass Road / West Campus Dr project was funded by the State with little or no local funds used. If state money is used, the project must adhere to the current design standards. Broomfield was reconstructed a number of years ago and met the standards in place at that time.

The decision to upgrade a particular crossing is more or less based upon the amount of carnage that has occurred.
The other thing too is that line isn’t super active, and usually only sees one train a day in the evening heading south towards Alma. I remember that from my days at CMU.

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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by TC Man »

Chip wrote:
Standard Railfan wrote:
Stinger4me wrote:I believe there are crossing gates on Blue Grass /West Campus Drive where GLC crosses. On Broomfield where there is much more traffic there are NO gates. What is the criteria for determining gates or no gates? I'm curious.
The Bluegrass Road / West Campus Dr project was funded by the State with little or no local funds used. If state money is used, the project must adhere to the current design standards. Broomfield was reconstructed a number of years ago and met the standards in place at that time.

The decision to upgrade a particular crossing is more or less based upon the amount of carnage that has occurred.
The other thing too is that line isn’t super active, and usually only sees one train a day in the evening heading south towards Alma. I remember that from my days at CMU.
I'd say 2 trains a day (1 north, then back south again). :)
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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by MQT1223 »

Although it is sad seeing such classic and rare signal equipment fall at such a rapid rate, but its also good seeing the state invest in GLC and the former Ann Arbor.
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Re: New crossing gates, signals on GLC RR in Farwell, MI

Unread post by Chip »

TC Man wrote:
I'd say 2 trains a day (1 north, then back south again). :)
I only ever normally saw one just because of how my classes were usually scheduled

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