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This is the only railroad crossing actually in Ash Fork and I had to abandon it because the tracks were being checked ahead and took too long. I waited for over an hour. It just sat there. These were taken March 23, 1998.

The mechanical bells are unknown, but the 12"x20" lights are incandescent, and are from US&S. The gate lights are 7".

 

4/14/2001 UPDATE:

 

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More views as of April 14, 2001. The old mechanical bells have also been replaced GS electronic bells.

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Just like on March 23, 1998, a train was sitting by the crossing doing nothing. I didn't decide to wait for this one.

 

5/11/2003 UPDATE:

 

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Updated pictures as of May 11, 2003.

Nothing's changed since 2001.

Views of the tracks. Picture #10 is facing West, while picture #11 is facing east.

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A Close-up.

 

9/28/2003 UPDATE:

 

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For the third time, a train sits right by the crossing and doesn't move. It did turn on its front lights, but then turned them off. Picture 15 shows the tracks heading to Williams.

 

4/14/2005 UPDATE:

 

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There has been one slight change to this crossing. The 7" lights have been changed to Aurora L.E.D. gate lights. The 12"x20" lights are still the same though. Picture 21 shows no trains waiting around unfortunately.

 

5/23/2006 UPDATE:

 

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I came this way after leaving Flagstaff, and spending some time in between Williams and Flagstaff.

I came here just for fun, and saw a train with its lights on just west of the crossing, and crawling its way towards the crossing.

Pictures 25 and 26 show the signals starting up. The train stops short of the crossing, the signals time out after about 30 seconds, and the train turns its lights off.

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I hung around for a while. BNSF crews were out here. Someone from BNSF came out and went out to a red switch labeled "OS". Shortly, another train was coming from the east! Pictures 28-30 show it's duration. The train was only pulling about 30 cars, but took 4 minutes to cross, because it was going through at 10 MPH.

 

After the train crossed, I went across the street, because the eastbound train turned its lights back on. A former ATSF employee came up to me and started talking to me about a lot of railroad signal stuff. He told me the train was going to come by, and was waiting for the eastbound one to cross. He told me that signals DO GET REUSED at crossings where there aren't any. He told me that vehicle traffic, and speed limits of rail lines determine if there are any signals at crossings.

 

Anyway after 14 minutes of waiting, the eastbound train begins to cross...

 

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This one was much longer, and took only 3 minutes to cross, because it was moving at around 30 MPH.

 

After the train crossed, I talked with the former ATSF employee for a while longer. The westbound train had to wait for the eastbound train to move, because it was too long and was blocking the main track (the eastbound was on a side track). The westbound never moved after that. I was told that near the Bullock crossing that a rail was being replaced because of expansion problems with heat. I guess locations like this, including the desert areas such as Congress, Wickenburg, and Phoenix have a lot of problems with expansion and shrinking due to the extreme climates that the rails go through. The line was on a 10 MPH limit. I would've gone and gotten it at the Drake crossing, but I didn't want to wait, and it was getting late as it was.

 

I really wanted to follow the eastbound up to Williams, and get it crossing 7th St. but it was getting late, and since I started my day at 6:15 AM, I was getting tired.

 
CLICK THE ICON TO THE WESTBOUND TRAIN CROSS.
(RECORDED MAY 23, 2006)