I am an engineer for BNSF and I can tell you exactly what happened here. What you have witnessed is a reported crossing malfunction. There are two procedures the crew must use depending on the nature of the malfunction. In this case the train is required to stop short of the crossing and a crew member must protect the crossing and remain on the ground until the crossing is occupied by the train, then he can climb on and the train may proceed. This is why the flares were used (note: the railroad calls them fusees not flares). Keep in mind the crew was notified of the crossing malfunction by the dispatcher in advance of their arrival at the crossing, and the procedure must be followed even if the crossing devices are seen to be working. The irritating thing about watching this video is seeing an engineer hang his conductor out to fight traffic. When I run my train in this situation I stop just short of the road, literally with the knuckle at the pavement; not a hundred feet back like this guy did. This will either activate the gates if they happen to be working or at least put pressure on road traffic to stop at the crossing. This makes the job of the conductor way easier and safer! Instead this poor conductor has to try to place fusees on both sides while dodging cars at night. And as you can see most cars don’t consider a flare on the ground to mean stop.
I can work around stopping to far back but I for the life of me can't figure out why he was waving traffic by after dropping the fusees. Just adds to the confusion at a scene most motorist may never see and if one of them does something stupid you know it'll be your fault.
Charles Faulk - The reason he was doing that is because he’s feeling the pressure of a line of cars all waiting and wondering what’s going on. I know from experience. All of it could have been avoided if the engineer would just stop right at the crossing. There’s no reason not to. I’ve done it that way many times and the whole things takes literally two minutes. It doesn’t confuse traffic and it doesn’t put the conductor in harm’s way. This is just lazy, uninspired railroading all around.
The biggest problem is that most motorists don't have a clue that a fusee means that you are supposed to stop. They won't stop unless the conductor or the train is occupying the intersection. SMH
That's always an "interesting" intersection to go through. Lagrange has grown incredibly and what used to be moderate traffic through there has become increasingly congested. Adding a slow moving heavy hauler train at rush hour tends to make the situation worse. Since that intersection has only stop signs and relies on people taking turns and courtesy, accidents are common there and the intersection approximately 400' north of it. I avoid it whenever possible at any time of the day.
🤦♂️ why the US making such deal with a crossing like that? In Germany you have one worker with a red-white-flag, blocking the crossing, when the begin of the train is passing, he jumps on and all is done…
I dunno why they dropped fares, either .. I live in KY this is a first for me . Somehow ,maybe, there had been an incident where the crossing barricades were not enough, perhaps?
ah ja - the old "blame the other part for my own stubidity"-thing of you US-guys. sorry, but I remember several videos where drivers ended up in the rail bed. asume, you call it correct track ballast. who is to blame? the driver or the RR‽ same with trams - sorry, I've to look out for a tram, when I am crossing tracks…
The train that goes through La Grange normally doesn’t blow its whistle unless there’s somebody standing on the tracks the purpose for that horn because the lights were not working
There is an average of just over 10 trains a day here. The month of December had as few as 8 in a day and as many as 14 in a single day ( 24 hours ). Most trains are southbound and if you want to see a train the most likely time to see one for sure is between 9:30am and 10:30am but it will be auto racks.
I am a High school drop out I can tell you exactly what happen here .Cold weather mixed with snow had messed with the controls on the crossing That cop threw down "Flares" as cops and the rest of the non rail line world calls them To alert drivers Red means stop Also wait for the cop to tell you when its safe to cross Keeping in mind it's eazier to stop a car then a train ...My 2 cents
Canadian rules for this are so much better. You don't have to use flares to protect a crossing and you don't ever have to use the horn when flagging a crossing either.
@@redbean9273 That is correct. "Color" means colour in American English. Do you know why there is a lot of words with less letters in American English?
Crossing circuits and salt/brine road treatment for slick conditions don't get along well. Crew may have noticed issues on approach and decided to flag or dispatch had a flag order out.
The crossing signals evidently didn't function after the engine passed over the first trigger. As more of the train crossed that, the crossing signals finally started working.
@Lee Burton - DOC .. Well, the city doesn't stop because there's an incident here. Crime goes on, with police still responding. Would you rather they cut the sirens that warn other drivers of their pending approach.
There's not a single thing I would do like these guys. Stop where any car would stop at the intersection, blast horn for a moment, people will stop and through you go!
Not everybody. Ive seen a few videos from this same crossing and one person just sat there and let the train come up from behind and side swipe the car lol bells tolling, horns blaring, and they just sat there even though there was more than plenty of time and room to move. Gotta take extra precautions because not everybody thats driving should be.
It was reported that the signal had been malfunctioning. As you can tell, the gates didn't drop until the train had just about reached the intersection. The gates should have already been down in relation to where the train was.
@@benandrews7886 - er, no it doesn't Benny....- this just shows your sneak character... 'please Sir, that nasty man stole this footage'... yep, got your number OK....
@@benandrews7886 - yep I would be OK with it... I certainly wouldn't want the Classroom Snitch to start shouting on my behalf.... as you obviously don't know...there's nothing worse than a snitch....
I am an engineer for BNSF and I can tell you exactly what happened here. What you have witnessed is a reported crossing malfunction. There are two procedures the crew must use depending on the nature of the malfunction. In this case the train is required to stop short of the crossing and a crew member must protect the crossing and remain on the ground until the crossing is occupied by the train, then he can climb on and the train may proceed. This is why the flares were used (note: the railroad calls them fusees not flares). Keep in mind the crew was notified of the crossing malfunction by the dispatcher in advance of their arrival at the crossing, and the procedure must be followed even if the crossing devices are seen to be working.
The irritating thing about watching this video is seeing an engineer hang his conductor out to fight traffic. When I run my train in this situation I stop just short of the road, literally with the knuckle at the pavement; not a hundred feet back like this guy did. This will either activate the gates if they happen to be working or at least put pressure on road traffic to stop at the crossing. This makes the job of the conductor way easier and safer! Instead this poor conductor has to try to place fusees on both sides while dodging cars at night. And as you can see most cars don’t consider a flare on the ground to mean stop.
citation needed.
RandomRoulette GCOR Rule 6.32.2 Procedure 1
@@RandomRoulett3 - behave yourself RR - best get back to the Tables...
I can work around stopping to far back but I for the life of me can't figure out why he was waving traffic by after dropping the fusees. Just adds to the confusion at a scene most motorist may never see and if one of them does something stupid you know it'll be your fault.
Charles Faulk - The reason he was doing that is because he’s feeling the pressure of a line of cars all waiting and wondering what’s going on. I know from experience. All of it could have been avoided if the engineer would just stop right at the crossing. There’s no reason not to. I’ve done it that way many times and the whole things takes literally two minutes. It doesn’t confuse traffic and it doesn’t put the conductor in harm’s way. This is just lazy, uninspired railroading all around.
The biggest problem is that most motorists don't have a clue that a fusee means that you are supposed to stop. They won't stop unless the conductor or the train is occupying the intersection. SMH
Virtual Railfan's number one place for action on the tracks.
Kentucky is amazing!
The driving manners of the car are also wonderful! !! The best!
When I hear “La Grange” I think of ZZ Top immediately! Well, even though this isn’t Texas.😊
Yeah, me, too. Memories of my college days (ahem)
That's always an "interesting" intersection to go through. Lagrange has grown incredibly and what used to be moderate traffic through there has become increasingly congested. Adding a slow moving heavy hauler train at rush hour tends to make the situation worse. Since that intersection has only stop signs and relies on people taking turns and courtesy, accidents are common there and the intersection approximately 400' north of it. I avoid it whenever possible at any time of the day.
This is literally my home town. I understand all the struggles happening in this video.
FRED = Frigg'n Rear End Device
in the modern world where I live we don't have trains going down the middle of the street
🤦♂️ why the US making such deal with a crossing like that? In Germany you have one worker with a red-white-flag, blocking the crossing, when the begin of the train is passing, he jumps on and all is done…
I've never seen flares in Europe either
I’ve never seen that in America.
I dunno why they dropped fares, either .. I live in KY this is a first for me . Somehow ,maybe, there had been an incident where the crossing barricades were not enough, perhaps?
Anytime there is a crash they want to blame the RR and sue big time. $$$ So RR has to protect themselves from suits.
ah ja - the old "blame the other part for my own stubidity"-thing of you US-guys. sorry, but I remember several videos where drivers ended up in the rail bed. asume, you call it correct track ballast. who is to blame? the driver or the RR‽ same with trams - sorry, I've to look out for a tram, when I am crossing tracks…
The train that goes through La Grange normally doesn’t blow its whistle unless there’s somebody standing on the tracks the purpose for that horn because the lights were not working
@Jaw Tooth have you ever seen the Marquette Rail engines before you will like the 3389 they have that is a old cp engine
Awesome Joe Peach how are you? Haven't seen you on Virtual Railfan in a while
how often trains come and through ? I saw this town at Jaw Tooth channel, and was wondering. i would like to stop by at there if i have chance.
There is an average of just over 10 trains a day here. The month of December had as few as 8 in a day and as many as 14 in a single day ( 24 hours ). Most trains are southbound and if you want to see a train the most likely time to see one for sure is between 9:30am and 10:30am but it will be auto racks.
I am a High school drop out I can tell you exactly what happen here .Cold weather mixed with snow had messed with the controls on the crossing That cop threw down "Flares" as cops and the rest of the non rail line world calls them To alert drivers Red means stop Also wait for the cop to tell you when its safe to cross Keeping in mind it's eazier to stop a car then a train ...My 2 cents
The "cop" got on the train and left ;-)
That was a conductor or train crew.
Are we above a police station ?
Hi Fred.
Canadian rules for this are so much better.
You don't have to use flares to protect a crossing and you don't ever have to use the horn when flagging a crossing either.
No horn so it's actually so much lamer. L for Canada on this one.
@@kishascape The horn isn't necessary.
Are you from Tennessee Joe?
This is a virtual railfan camera
And red is a colour.
@@jyrkimaansiirrotoy1836 color
@@redbean9273 That is correct. "Color" means colour in American English. Do you know why there is a lot of words with less letters in American English?
@@jyrkimaansiirrotoy1836 - hahaha - awesome!!
@@jyrkimaansiirrotoy1836 lmao
Why would need flares if grade crossing is operated?
Kenneth McCann
Maybe they were malfunctioning with one train
Crossing circuits and salt/brine road treatment for slick conditions don't get along well.
Crew may have noticed issues on approach and decided to flag or dispatch had a flag order out.
The crossing signals evidently didn't function after the engine passed over the first trigger. As more of the train crossed that, the crossing signals finally started working.
@@dwightstewart7181 "approach circuit" malfunction- crossing signals function as the train was on the "island circuit".
Per the rule u must light 2 fusees
'
thank to safety police on the street and train
What's with the flares? People drove past them anyway.
He was flagging some of the cars to go threw.
2:46 fusees... very retro; I suspect that half of the drivers don't know what they mean.
I'm Swiss. And I really do not know what those flares mean.
What was the reason for those 2 Police cruisers at the end
Unrelated. They were just responding to a call.
FRED fell off.
fred is in the bar starting a fight.
@Lee Burton - DOC .. Well, the city doesn't stop because there's an incident here. Crime goes on, with police still responding. Would you rather they cut the sirens that warn other drivers of their pending approach.
rear speaker
I guess Fred Flintstone gets ill tempered when he’s drunk
Sounds like gta 5 ambulance
I haven't stole one of those in a while
There's not a single thing I would do like these guys. Stop where any car would stop at the intersection, blast horn for a moment, people will stop and through you go!
Not everybody. Ive seen a few videos from this same crossing and one person just sat there and let the train come up from behind and side swipe the car lol bells tolling, horns blaring, and they just sat there even though there was more than plenty of time and room to move. Gotta take extra precautions because not everybody thats driving should be.
Railroaders have rules that they have to follow.
Are the gates responding to the train horn? Why the flakes?
Ummm if this was published in July why is there fugging snow?
Because it was published in July doesn't mean it was filmed in July.
The date on the footage is January 15th, 2018.
@@JohnPap_Net ok I didn't see that
@@engine2151 No worries! We are here to help each other. 🙂
and we just got the children off the sleep .....LOL
Hehe... FRED = Flashing Rear Engine Device
We railroaders all call it F***ING rear end device
@@rickkilimun5430 too funny
They Generate the light and a signal via air line.
@@rrich52806 only on the one's that use the air to drive a mini generator.
Good thing you cleared that up there G, I thought it was a reference to the Barbershop Quartet.
It was okay, but I wouldn't call it interesting and it was night so I wouldn't call it evening either. Overall an OK Night.
Well I am informing virtual railfan about the matter 😀😀😀
мне не понятно, зачем и для чего?
@cursant I see that we have a couple of Trump supporters here!!
I don't get this.
Full moon or a twilight zone flare up.
It was reported that the signal had been malfunctioning. As you can tell, the gates didn't drop until the train had just about reached the intersection. The gates should have already been down in relation to where the train was.
szalai jewisch
So does virtual railfan know you stealing their footage
Ben - and who are you ...'the Classroom Monitor/Snitch'....bet you're hated where you live aren't you...
@@felixthecleaner8843 it takes a snitch to know a snitch.for your information im not hated where i live.
@@felixthecleaner8843 also if you had footage you have shot taken without your permission would you be ok with that.
@@benandrews7886 - er, no it doesn't Benny....- this just shows your sneak character... 'please Sir, that nasty man stole this footage'... yep, got your number OK....
@@benandrews7886 - yep I would be OK with it... I certainly wouldn't want the Classroom Snitch to start shouting on my behalf.... as you obviously don't know...there's nothing worse than a snitch....