Congress Street Level Crossing, Portland

In case of interest, a few photos from the attractive and photogenic Congress Street grade crossing in Portland, which is right next to the site of the old Union Station.

This urban street crossing is good little hotspot, as it makes it possible to photograph both freight trains and the Amtrak passenger workings from the Downeaster run to Brunswick.

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Thanks! Can you help me locate the photos you referenced? I tried to find them at the link you posted but I can't seem to spot them.

Here's a video I took of the first Downeaster to cross Congress, with our friend gokeefe aboard

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Hard to believe it's already been four years ... (!) .... Thanks for the memories markhb.

You'd think they'd have full gates there. Pretty easy for some fool to cruise around them if they felt so inclined.

They don't but as things get more complicated if the "north leg" of the wye is ever installed I would expect to see this crossing receive some substantial additional protection.

Hux wrote:You'd think they'd have full gates there. Pretty easy for some fool to cruise around them if they felt so inclined.

Honest question: what more would there be (given the current configuration, not the potential wye from the Mountain)? Maybe you could add median dividers, but the gates themselves block the entire crossing. (Note that Congress St. is one way coming towards us at this point, so both gates that are there are on the same side of the track.)