Crossing Cams??

Was browsing railpicturearchives the other day and I came across this train crossing on Blair road in Port Reading:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3344573" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And was wondering what are those funnel shaped objects up on the side of the grade crossing, some kind of cameras?
Just curious as since they made Potter and Tingley quiet zones they have cams but are mounted way up high on a pole and you can tell just by looking at them they are cams.

Those dang things on Blair road look like old style fire alarm sirens, well not exactly!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_siren" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's a great sound for one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIos0ya-yss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What can they be???

Looks like cameras for deterring motorists from running the crossing. It's one way of ensuring compliance, just like "quad gates" or center barriers to keep someone from scooting around the end of a gate. The "air scoop" look is probably because of a weather-resistant housing.
Some crossings in Brunswick, ME had cameras installed cameras last year as part of the upgrades for the Amtrak Downeaster. They're activated when the signals activate. Maine law prohibits the state or a municipality from using cameras "to prove or enforce a violation of [the motor vehicle law]," but in the event of a crash, a video could go a long way towards showing that the signals were working, but a driver disregarded the warning.

You were closer with the fire siren, A quick look on Google Earth shows 'NO TRAIN HORN' signs back on the Advance Warning Sign posts and the FRA Crossing Database (http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofs ... fault.aspx) shows this as a quiet crossing. Those devices are wayside train horns tied to the signal which project the sound down the road instead along the track.

M.E. Allen

I think those things sound horrible. And you cant really hear them that well in a V8 truck with the stereo on lol. Hell in probably any one of these new sound proof cars today. Need louder train horns.

think those things sound horrible. And you cant really hear them that well in a V8 truck with the stereo on lol. Hell in probably any one of these new sound proof cars today. Need louder train horns.

Agreed. I live near the Potters "quiet zone". I don't particularly like it and I find myself really slowing down to look both ways, although I KNOW there won't be a train there. Somehow the thought of a massive train going through a grade crossing without tooting a horn is still so "wrong" to me, no matter how many gates, barriers, bells and (lack of) whistles. Anyway... just my opinion.

Well, I learned something new from this thread: wayside horns. I s'pose the neighbors like them better than something that starts honking 900 feet or so either side of the crossing.

BigDell wrote:I live near the Potters "quiet zone". I don't particularly like it and I find myself really slowing down to look both ways, although I KNOW there won't be a train there.

Good thinkin'. More people should practice the "Look-Listen-Live" method.

Somehow the thought of a massive train going through a grade crossing without tooting a horn is still so "wrong" to me, no matter how many gates, barriers, bells and (lack of) whistles. Anyway... just my opinion.

I agree. Around here, even though state law requires motorists to slow down after they've passed advance warnings (the round "W10-1" signs and/or pavement markings) and look both ways before crossing, very few people slow down, and hardly anyone bothers to look. They just expect active warnings to protect them.
One city on the line nearest to where I live has a no-horn zone for every crossing, thirteen I think, except one. Some of the crossings don't have gates, but they're on a running track, so train speeds are relatively slow. The last crash that I know of in that city was on the crossing that is outside the "quiet zone." I think somebody tried playing the "beat the train game," and lost.

Have a safe, happy and prosperous new year, everybody.