Creepy Railroad Crossing Gates (Malfunctioning)

[Applachia0928]

Question: Is it illegal to hold up a crossing gate when it's down and the lights are going off, even if it is malfunctioning? Because some jackass just did that.

[gregrocks66]

Wounder how a storm triggered the gates to malfunction. Something to ask a signal maintainer

[LARDLOGO]

Do you happen to know where this is?

From a NW railfan

[Centaurmanexe]

If its a work crew chases are it wouldn't go up and down however; it would stay down then go up again immediately afterwards so it could instead have been electrical failure which grounds the wire inside the rail and 'affixes' the signal saying there is a train on the tracks when there isn't.

[starsandbarsforever]

close encounters of the 3rd kind?

[nick06111226]

It's illegal to pass any downed gates in the state I live in

[SantaFebuff]

Turbulent weather messes with the crossings on older train detection setups.

[ScubaMichele]

Just for those who are not aware, I am in the passenger seat filming. My friend is driving and is the one talking. And we were both very well aware that the gates and lights were glitched by the storm, not an "invisible death train." We were being safe by waiting for them to go up, so spare me the silly accusations. :)

[mange308]

What's the song that's playing in the background?? anyone know?

[adenbug123]

it could be the lighting that hit a power line or somthing and it made the arms go down

[HeinzBeard]

They're Not malfunctioning. lol They dropped because a railroad crew is obviously working graveyard withing CP (control point) limits and the EIC (Employee In Charge) Dropped a shunt so the train dispatcher could see there protection limits. Now the crew can work on the tracks and not have to worry about a train, although you always want to expect a train when working on the tracks, Any Track Any Direction & at Any Time.

[nsrailfann4life91]

@HeinzBeard I highly doubt that. Storms often drive these poor railroad crossing systems crazy lol. Its like giving a cat catnip. The signals act drunk when in storms. Happens all the time here in Culpeper, VA. Lightning along with the unstable electrical charges in the air and atmosphere are the reason for this. During storms involving lightning, the ground often becomes electrically charged (Grounded) which will activate the trigger circuit for crossings. Simple.

[M1911A1]

There's a crossing close to were I live that does this all the time (raining or not). People have got TOO use to going around the arms, and it's on a blind corner!

These just look downright erie tho, with the storm and everything.

[bybeert]

My brother works for the railroad and says this kind of thing happens alot when it's storming. You did the right thing stopping. Too many people are in a hurry and sometimes pay for it.

[mkmurray98]

your entering hell lol

[trailbreakeradk]

It's like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

[grunthunt]

mmm...it sounds like you might have a smelly vagina

[chris40539]

daddy im scared of the railraod crossing at night

[UP9390]

Rain and lightning shunted it which results in the flow of electricity interupted, which activates the crossing.

[HeinzBeard]

@UP9390 I doubt it bruh, im sure an EIC put down a shunt chord withing certain MP limits for a crew to work.

[4202EJW]

That is frigin creepty!!

[chrisc95367]

it is not crepy it is stormy

[gatewayeast1609]

I remember one instance where a rail crossing signal malfunctioned and the gate fell on someone's car, missing the driver by about 6 inches

[HeinzBeard]

@gatewayeast1609 dude a gate wouldnt hurt a car... unless you mean the entire signal, but the arm you can hold up with one hand. it doesnt have much down torque.

[crazyrailfan152]

that needs to be in a horror movie leatherface or jaon voohees

[MultiMonster69]

theyre possesed it happens

[Catnip11147]

Excellent, Ladies! Better safe than sorry. I just more people were as smart as you.

[bullrunlover]

@Flamingchickenvideos agreed driver of the week lol

[SuperDuckman24]

CREEPY

[TheIzzy41]

Yeah you're smart! Only idiots try to go around train crossing gates!

[ekoslosky]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Stay up gates LOL

[gamersofthedead]

tell me what this song please

[paintballsniper5]

GHOST TRAIN O_O

[joshmeister4449]

the reason they were doing that is because power was disrupted, causeing the computer in the crossing box to reset itself

[recycleboy3]

that is funny as shit!!!!!!

[Sp33dy312]

if i was in that situation, i woud shit my pants, seriously!

[ScubaMichele]

Why thank you. It's always better to be safe than sorry! That guy didn't even slow down! :O

[LuxeXx]

Incubus, thunderstorms and strange crossing gates. Sounds like a fun night!

[InformationCenter]

With the crossing the eletric current may of connected with each causing them to activate.

[unionpacific8485]

if only there was a train to hit thoes people

[PsYcHoFaB]

"Yeah go around me, Ass. I wish you would get hit by a train..."

Too funny!

[ScubaMichele]

Haha, yes that was my friend Jenny. :)

[jusprazem]

what song was that playing

[bloo96]

ha! I hear Incubus!

Crazy crossing

[gamersofthedead]

why it's Raining & Thundering

[ScubaMichele]

lol

[techphy100]

great idea for a horror movie, modern day wizard of oz, but duh, not to creative these days.

[FoxyWolfProductionz]

i like this one. it is pretty with violent thunderstorms in the area

[ScubaMichele]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, every once in a while we get really bad ones. The past few years trees have ben coming down into the roads!

[UndertakerRocks123]

how long did the storm last?

[ScubaMichele]

About a day and a half. This was taken on the way to my friend's house. (She's driving.) And we got to her house and the power was out and stayed out until the next evening. The rain stopped in the early afternoon the next day.

[wle200]

too bad there was no train. That would have been nice!

[bwitz72]

Yes it is illegal to drive around lowered gates, and it is also illegal to drive through a crossing while the gates are being lowered OR raised.

[keyondmorris]

I seen the police try to go through it while it was bieng raised. & he didnt even have his siren on so it wasnt an emergency.

[Targetsignal2]

Oh my God!! That is not a fun thing to have happen. In this situation you should have sat at the gates and then called the RR.

[thejagshow1]

666gh

It is illegal to go around the gates in MN

[ScubaMichele]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's illegal here too, but some peoplea are just not that cautious I guess. :]

[1990hornet]

It's illegal in Florida, You must wait till the lights are off before you move.

[ScubaMichele]

I'm almost certain it's illegal here too, especially if there's actually a train coming.

[6V92TA]

its an invisible train...the Nightmare Express!

[sd40u]

the gate kept going down because the crossings are activated by a electric current in the rails. when there is enough water that it can conduct enough electricity it activates the gates. but it did seem like something out of a horror movie

[LARDLOGO]

This happend last night exept there was no lightning the gates stayed down and there were more lights on top its on my 26th video

[LARDLOGO]

I hope the lightning caused the crossing to smoke,catch fire,and explode HAHAHA

[eddieg749]

it'll go off if lightning strikes the ground near the tracks

[neuman1001]

You're all wrong: there was a ghost train from another dimension with dead passengers passing through. No big deal.

[quickman55]

How does a storm trigger that?

[ScubaMichele]

lightning hit the box or the fuses or whatever works the lights and electrics at the railroad crossings

[6V92TA]

if lightning hit the control box for this crossing, trust me, it would not be workin at all.

[bwitz72]

Actually railroad crossings are equipped with 'fail-safe' backups (including batteries) where, if the electric current is knocked out, it will automatically activate the lights, bells, and gates.

[robertgift]

Wrong, witz.

The batteries will operate the train detection circuit and crossing signals when the power is off.

They will operate NORMALLY.

No train, no signal activation.

You don't want the signals to be draining the batteries for nothing and don't want traffic needless blocked.

Depending upon the number of trains and length of signal activations, there is several days worth of power stored in the batteries.

[Dutch3DMaster]

Here in Holland we have a sort of backup system that only keeps the warning signals (lights and bells, but the bells have a limit, don't know about the lights) on.

Whenever the main power would fail the batteries are responsible for the backup power, the gates lower themselves automatically.

Nice lightning! As someone mentioned, "great idea for a horror movie" can only agree on that one ... :)

[plateshutoverlock]

stop look listen carefuly

[plateshutoverlock]

or better yet, don't risk it at all and find another route. A very dangerous situation

[tfoster09]

That guy was an idiot that went around the gates!!! He could have waited 10 seconds for the gates to go up.

[ScubaMichele]

Yes, very true. Because at this point we still weren't really sure if a train was tripping the gates or if there really wasn't one at all. Just playin' it safe. :)

[ScubaMichele]

yea they got struck by lightening or something somewhere. no train whatsoever.

[DrWinstonBoogie]

This looks so weird. There was no train coming i mean it was just the gates going crazy?