Grew up in Atlanta, old railroad town, dad was a railroad buff, I married one too - the South had relatively few gate crossings (most were just sawbucks and it's on you to watch for the trains!) and they were automated pretty early.
Funny how “Stop, Look, Listen (And Live)” at the railroad crossing (emphasis on “Stop”, or so it was in the past) is lost on so many people these days.
Federal law still stipulates that the engineer of a train has to blow a signal before getting to the crossing as well, except in the case of “quiet zone” crossings where the four gates have generally made a comeback.