Madison, WI Wig Wags

WSOR 2052 heads south, passing the wig wags at the Yahara Parkway crossing. There's also a friendly hello from the engineer!

**These signals were retired from service in the spring of 2010.**

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[WPRR1]

Why do they have to stop? Only a dumbass would cross the tracks when the crossings are activated.

[Brenton81]

@WPRR1 There was a stop order on this crossing because the tracks are in poor condition and rusty. The detection equipent depends on the rails to detect an approaching train and start the signals. Poor track condition and especially rust on the rails inhibits the ability for the wheels to shunt the current back to the detection system at the crossing and start the signals. Because there's a chance the signals may not function properly at this lightly used location, the engineer has to stop.

[metraF40PH163]

Too bad it's gone now, it looks like the one across the tracks keeps hitting part of the pole it's on

[Brenton81]

@metraF40PH163 The harp on the one across the tracks was bent somehow, so yeah, it was hitting it on each swing.

[wileyk209zback]

I hope they still have SOME kind of signal there now. They should at least install gates, red lights and bells when replacing wig-wags.

[Brenton81]

@wileyk209zback No new signals replaced them. It's just two crossbucks with Yield signs now. This used to be a street but has been coverted to a bike / walking path. The train movements are few and far between on this track, and are done at a slow speed. At this particular location, the train's horn and bell should provide sufficient warning for pedestrians and bicyclists. Still, it's kind of sad that they pulled out the wig-wags.

[leamericanos]

lol , he's funny , '' is like wave , stop please I'm crossing "

[PhilbruProduction]

Magnificent horn. 5*

[TheKcsmithy]

great vid you have here

[KudoKing145]

5*



[ColumbiaAndHoodRiver]

the wig wags swing faster than the diesel moves

[wileyk209zback]

@Brenton81 Wow. But if it's a walking/bike path, it does seem to make sense to just have cross bucks, but then again, the pedestrian railroad crossings at the stations in my area use red lights and bells, but we get 25 to 30 trains a day (most of them passenger trains.)

[Brenton81]

@metraF40PH163 No, they didn't. There are just crossbucks with Yield signs now. There isn't a law that states you can't downgrade a signalized crossing to passive. The railroad needs to get approval before removing the signals and they need to file a new crossing inventory record with the FRA reflecting the changes. The Lima Center wig-wag was removed in March and it's now a passive crossing. Hwy 75 in Kansasville and Hwy 45 in Union Grove, WI have also been changed to passive crossings.