Wisconsin Signals Volume 1

Note: This DVD was not produced by me. It was pre-produced by WEHRAR17@uwgb.edu.

Mills St. (Black Earth, WI) -Wisconsin & Southern Railroad's excursion train goes through this crossing with Modern Industries cantilevers and 12"x24" incandescent lights.

Junction City, WI (exact street unknown) - An eastbound Canadian National freight crosses at this crossing with 12"x24" Safetran ball L.E.D. signals and a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell. At the time, CN had a lot more locomotives still in the paint schemes of Wisconsin Central and Illinois Central (both of which it purchased) than it does today.

Dixie St. (Fond du Lac, WI) - A southbound Canadian National freight crosses this crossing with 12"x24" fading L.E.D.s and a WCH electronic bell. Andy was switching between taking video and still pictures so the entire train was not recorded.

Milwaukee St. (Madison, WI) - This crossing has mismatched incandescent signals, one 12"x20" US&S signal and one 8" Harmon signal. Neither one has a bell. A Wisconsin & Southern train crosses here. There is a transition from digital camera video to DV camcorder video near the beginning of the video.

Main St. (Adams, WI) - A slow-moving eastbound Union Pacific train crosses here. The signals have 12"x20" red L.E.D.s and a mechanical bell.

Dousman St. (Green Bay, WI) - A long, slow WPSX (Wisconsin Public Service) coal train pulled by a colorful mix of power (but operated by a Canadian National crew) rolls northbound into Green Bay through this crossing with some newer Safetran cantilevers featuring 12"x24" ball L.E.D.s and General Signals Type 2 electronic bells. This footage has several glitches with skipped frames and audio/video sync which was tried to minimize during editing, but not all errors were able to be corrected.

Perkins St. (Appleton, WI) - A southbound Canadian National freight pulled by two GP40s still in Wisconsin Central paint goes through this standard 12"x24" ball L.E.D. gated crossing with a GS Type 2 electronic bell. This video was compiled from footage from 2 different camcorders.

Lake St. (Neenah, WI) - The same train from the previous video crosses here. There are cantilevers with 12"x24" Safetran fading L.E.D.s and a GS Type 2 e-bell. Once again this is a compilation of footage from two camcorders, but this time we were set up on opposite sides of the crossing to provide two unique views of the train crossing.

Ludington St. (Columbus, WI) - Later on the same day as the last two videos, an eastbound Canadian Pacific grain train with one of their new GE ES44AC locomotives on the point goes through this cantilever/gate crossing with a mixture of clear and red (mostly clear) 12"x24" L.E.D.s and a mechanical bell.

Commercial Ave. (Madison, WI) - This is Commercial Ave. #1 on your site. Here are some older cantilevers with gates, 8" incandescent lights, and a Safetran mechanical bell. Wisconsin & Southern Railroad's northbound local train crosses here. The lead locomotive, SD20 #2052, has a nice Nathan K5LA horn.

Military Rd. (Dane, WI) - Several crossings in Wisconsin are still protected by WRRS Harpes wigwags, and this is one of them! This video features the same train as the Commerical Ave. video. The locomotives switch cars at an industry nearby, triggering the wigwags for a short time, then back up to pick up their train and go through the crossing.

Hickory St. (Mauston, WI) - First a westbound Canadian Pacific freight train goes through the crossing pulled by a GP38-2 and an AC4400CW. Then Amtrack's eastbound "Empire Builder" races through. The crossing has 12"x20" US&S incandescent signals with a US&S mechanical bell that rings when the gates are going down, stops, and rings again when the gates go back up.

County Highway O (Wisconsin Dells, WI) - This video also features two trains. First a westbound Canadian Pacific freight goes through, then an eastbound that had been waiting in the siding. The crossing has fairly standard 12"x24" Safetran ball L.E.D. signals and a GS Type 2 e-bell that only rings when the gates are going down. As a trivia note, the lead locomotive of the first train, ES44AC #8797, is the same locomotive from the Ludington St. video.

Note: Part of the second train is missing due to a camcorder error.

Pearl St. (Janesville, WI) - This crossing has one 8" Griswold signal with a GS Type 1 e-bell, and a 12"x24" WCH signal with a mechanical bell. GCFX #3059, which was being leased to the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad at the time, pulls through the crossing and backs up again in order to add some cars to a train it is assembling. This is the only video on the DVD taken from inside a car, so the audio is somehwat muffled.

Broadway St. (Green Bay, WI) - This is Broadway St. #5 crossing. This crossing has an 8" Safetran gated signal with a GS Type 1 e-bell, and a 12"x24" Safetran signal. A light engine move with two Union Pacific locomotives heads through the crossing and into the main Green Bay yard.

Walnut St. (Green Bay, WI) - A northbound Canadian National freight train with an Illinois Central-painted locomotive in the lead and a CN GP40-2W pushing from the rear crosses here. This crossing is situated right at an intersection and features a third mast signal in addition to two gated cantilevers. There are 12"x24" Safetran ball L.E.D lights and three GS Type 2 e-bells.

Memorial Dr. (Janesville, WI) - On this day, Wisconsin & Southern Railroad ran a special passenger train for Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission executives to inspect the line. This crossing has gated cantilevers with 8" red L.E.D.s and a Safetran mechanical bell.

US Highway 14 & Kennedy Dr. (Janesville, WI) - The same train from the previous video crosses here. This crossing slices right through the intersection of these two roads, and there are a total of eight 12"x24" incandescent gated signals with four mechanical bells.

Williams Dr. (Stoughton, WI) - Another run of the Wisconsin & Southern/WRRTC passenger special, at a crossing with 8" incandescent lights and a WRRS mini bell!

County Highway B (Stoughton, WI) - Wisconsin & Southern's southbound MAJ (MAdison-Janesville) freight crosses here, pulled by three locomotives all running long-hood forward. The crossing has 8" incandescent lights (one signal has WRRS lights and one signal has RACO lights, although its bracket nameplate says GRISWOLD SIGNAL CO) but no bell.

Bonus Footage - This clip, taken from on board the same Wisconsin & Southern excursion train that opened the DVD at Mills St., shows train-side views of a WRRS Harpes wigwag, an 8" incandescent signal, a 12"x20" incandescent signal, and a 12"x24" signal with a mechanical bell that sounds very loud as the camera microphone passes within a few feet of it.