Australian railway level crossings.

Click on the pictures for a larger image.

Railway crossing sign with hazard triangle. This kind of level crossing warning is now obsolete and most have had the red triangle replaced with standard GIVE WAY signs.
A few of the old signs still remain in forgotten areas like the Sale - Bairnsdale railway which closed before the conversion was complete. When the line reopened, a few of the old signs remained. Pictures of some will be online soon.
The picture here was taken at Maldon, Vic. Despite being a heritage line, they still had to update all their signs. The old hazard triangles now decorate a wooden fence either side of the crossing. Alas they are all mounted upside down.

Railway Crossing - 2 Tracks -  Give Way signs on wooden post.  That the post is wooden may not seem terribly remarkable. But closer inspection showed that this post originally had one of the old wooden X signs mounted on it. The current aluminium style signs came into use from circa 1960 as far as I can tell. Very few of the wooden ones survived into preservation however. I did manage to locate one to add to my own collection though.
The sign pictured is now no more. The Princes Hwy adjacent to it is now a freeway and the gravel road was sealed and had flashing light signals erected.   Trafalgar, Vic.

Another wooden post. This time with a 'Give way to Trains' sign. Note the diagonal line above the railway crossing sign. There are also 2 holes 9 inches apart. The wooden X crossing sign would have been mounted here originally.
The 'GIVE WAY TO TRAINS' signs were never as numerous as the hazard triangles, but they too have largely disappeared.
This sign was at Meeniyan, Vic.  As the railway here has closed and been dismantled, It seems safe to assume that it is no longer standing.

There is a lot of reading material here. Perhaps that's the reason for the STOP sign. You need to stop to read it all. But seriously. The problem is that many motorists just don't seem to be aware that a stop sign at a level crossing means exactly the same as it does at any other intersection. But still, many don't even slow down much and just glance each way - if they even bother to do that. I've spent enough time at crossings to observe this behavior many, many times.
The STOP sign at rail crossings has never been very common in Victoria. So perhaps that is part of the problem. It seems to have been far more common in South Australia where (according to old road rules I've seen one had to stop at all SA crossings and look for trains before proceeding.
Wolseley, SA.

Wig-wag crossing signal.  Prior to the standard flashing light crossing signal coming into use. Each state had its own methods of warning motorists of approaching trains. In Victoria the Victorian railways had a number of wig-wag signals. These had a light which swung from side to side and also a bell that was struck by the swinging mechanism. I am aware of only 2 examples of these signals to have survived intact. One at the Australian Railway Historical Society's railway museum in Williamstown. And this one at Korumburra's Coal Creek Heritage Park. An 'Out of Order' banner can just be seen poking out under the black panels on the bracket.  I've recently heard the Puffing Billy railway has a wig-wag under restoration.
South Australia had wig wags too.  But I have no photos yet.

Got these just in time. When in Newcastle, NSW in 1992 I looked down a street and saw these old boom gates about to be replaced by standard electric ones. From the hiss these made I'm assuming they were pneumatically operated.

This was one of those magical finds for those of us interested in old signs. Following a disused railway near Lithgow, NSW. We came across this veteran crossing sign amid the undergrowth. It appears to have had cast iron lettering originally. This was also in 1992. A subsequent trip has shown that the sign has been removed.  One wonders if it was preserved or destroyed?

I've always referred to this shot as "Signal Plantation" because it just looks like those signals were planted along the road and are growing along with other crops. But perhaps that is just me.  :)
Western Junction, Tas. The sign on the signal in the foreground has a 3 Tracks sign on it. There are 3 tracks. But the 3rd one has its own set of crossing signals as it is quite a distance from the other two tracks. All are wired as one crossing though.
Whilst I was here. I saw a car cross one railway crossing just as the lights started flashing. So of course it had to stop at the next crossing. The train, however, passed on the first   crossing - behind the stopped car. 
A similar situation existed at Ararat, Vic.

This one had me curious. Apart from the black on white STOP ON RED SIGNAL sign; the visors on this signal had odd squarish attachments under them. I have no idea what their purpose was.
Kooragang Island (?), NSW.

An old and somewhat dilapidated looking crossing signal on the former private line to the paper mill at Maryvale, Vic. This line is now operated by Freight Australia trains and has newer crossing signals too.
This set had an unusual bell that rang continuously like an alarm rather than the slower ring usually heard at rail crossings. The old McKenzie & Holland lights had seen better days. In fact the top set were redundant as the alignment they faced was replaced by a roundabout. Note the 'home made' Stop on Red Signal sign.

At first glance. Just another ordinary railway crossing signal. But for the sign-spotter, this example has much of interest. From the top. The bell is of a type not normally seen in Victoria. The RAILWAY and CROSSING boards are reversed. The 6-tracks sign is also noteworthy. And have a closer look at those lights facing the side street. I've not seen these anywhere else. They have rather stubby looking visors for a start. Even stranger is the fact that they have their lenses mounted on an angle and flush with the front of the visors. The signal at the far end of this wide crossing also had the same style lights. More photos later.
Herne Hill / Fyansford, Vic.

The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) once ran an extensive 90cm gauge electric railway to move coal to its power stations. There was a strange collection of signals on these lines for both trains and the many SECV roads crossing the lines. Some of these were standard railway signals and others were adapted from traffic light components. This was one example at Yallourn. 2 alternating flashing red lights and a white lamp which was apparently lit when the circuit failed. Note the crossing bell (McKenzie and Holland) on the adjacent post.

Here's another SECV crossing signal made from a traffic light. Red lights top and bottom. White in the middle. Apologies for the poor quality. But this was taken from a coal train moving over an even rougher section of track than what was usual for the line.
Morwell, Vic.

McKinnon interlocking boom gates.
These unusual gates were operated by a wheel in the signalbox like the more usual interlocking swing gates.
Removed when a 3rd track was added.   McKinnon, Vic.
David Delaney collection.

Disused gates at Bairnsdale.
The road here was removed and the gates left shut to road traffic. Now the gates are gone and the road
reinstated. But there are no trains running here - yet.
Log trains to Bairnsdale stop over a kilometre short of the station yard.
Bairnsdale, Vic.

The unusual hand operated steel gates that used to be at Longwarry, Vic.
I've never been sure just why Longwarry had these gates. It was the only place in Victoria to have them.
Removed in 1988 and replaced by boom gates.

Two more views of the Longwarry gates. Posts for the new signals stand ominously as blue X 40 crosses the road.
View of the crossing looking east. The positon of the gates allowed for the planned double track which to this day has not materialised.
They were apparently placed at this crossing in the 1970's, replacing wooden gates to allow for road widening.
Thanks to Peter Beechey of Longwarry for this information.

VR Interlocking crossing gates.
These gates were operated by the signalman from a wheel in the signalbox. They were connected to the mechanical interlocking of the signal lever frame so that the signals could not be cleared until the gates were closed across the road. Most are now gone. In fact I believe this set at Kyneton is the only set still operated in the traditional method. The better known gates at Ballarat now being electrically operated

Different coloured boom gates.
Victoria used to have black and white boom gates. But now they are mostly repainted red and white.
The black and white booms have white reflectors on the black parts.
Red and white booms have red
reflectors on the red painted
sections.
Photo taken at the then newly rebuilt High Street, Cheddar Road and Spring Street intersection at Reservoir, Vic.

Railway Reopened.
This isn't a sign you see often.
But when the Sale - Bairnsdale railway in Victoria was reopened for log traffic, many motorists tended to ignore the railway crossings as they were not aware that trains were running on the line again. So now all crossings on the line have these reminders.
Unfortunately some people never catch on though.
Buchanan's Lane, Hillside, Vic.

Oncoming train!  This rather dangerous crossing is near Rosedale, Vic.  The angle that the railway crosses combined with flashing light signals that are hard to see much of the time (the road runs east - west. Extremely difficult to see the crossing if the sun is low) means that some train drivers tend to get rather nervous when they see a car or truck on the road. On one occasion I approached it at speed - not expecting a train (and I'm a rail enthusiast). I barely noticed the flashing lights and looked each way and saw no train. But it was there - BEHIND me. I was still about 100 - 150m away. Even as I slowed down the train driver took no chances and used the horn almost continuously until at the crossing.

Cross crossings cautiously stamp.
Level crossing safety has long been a problem. With all the improvements since, this scenario is still all too common. Postage stamp sized label.

Another view of this unusual crossing.

F

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home.

THINK FIRST.

'STOP' and 'GIVE WAY' signs at railway crossings mean the same (by law) and should be treated the same as those at any other intersection. You wouldn't drive through a cross road without slowing down and looking both ways would you?   In taking these photos over the years, I have seen many people do just that. Even a log truck travel through a limited visibility crossing protected by stop signs at 80km/h. A train was approaching.
Same goes for flashing red lights at railway crossings. I see people drive through them all the time, even if a train is near. Yet these same people would sit at a red traffic light even if there wasn't another car in sight. Both signals mean the same thing. Stop! You are breaking the law if you don't.
On several occasions I have seen people drive around boom gates as a train pulled onto a siding at Morwell. Most people did not look the other way. One one occasion there was a passenger train approaching at speed on the other track.