I live in a relatively flat part of Wisconsin and you can see at least a mile up and down the track as you approach a RR crossing. Not everyone slows down but most do, not because of approaching trains though. It seems the railroads are responsible for maintaining the narrow strip of highway between the gates. State/County crews will not touch that area and for good reason. On the other hand, RR crews very seldom pull maintenance either with the consequence that the crossings are usually in a terrible state of repair. When they finally get around to fixing things, they don't stay fixed for long as the constant pounding causes the roadbed to move with the passing freight cars. It's scary to sit at a crossing and watch the rails flex 4 to 6 inches as the wheel trucks roll down the line.
There was a time when government subsidized the railroads, that time has long passed and it shows. The flow of government money has shifted to interstate roads (trucking) and regional airports (air freight), neither of which can move the thousands of tons of coal a day needed to keep a central power plant operating. So the railroad slowly returns to rust.
I usually take the long view up & down the track from a quarter mile away and then hit the throttle so that I literally fly through the gate without touching the muffler grabbing, chuck hole ridden surface.
Don't get me started about gates stuck in the down position w/ lights flashing and bells clanging for days at a time. No wonder people drive around the cross-bucks, sometimes you have no choice.
Regards,
GtG
Hi Gandalf,
Thanks for the insightful look in your neck of the woods.
I’m out here in california ( yea i know the politicians suck) :-)
But out here I only have view of the railroad tracks about 10 feet either way sometimes, as the path down the railway is blocked but fencing/buldings/bushes/ (you name it), so the only way to really see what is coming down the tracks is to actually slow down.
I do turn off the radio and open the windows usually as i approach the train tracks and slow down to about 20mph or less if there is no visibility either way.
Luckily the trains know to slow down to a crawl as some of the roads don’t have signals and some of the tracks are in poor condition (as you mentioned).
Better safe than sorry, right? :o)