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Railroading Merit Badge

Requirement 6 Study Guide

Explain the appearance and meaning of the following warning signs and devices: advance warning sign pavement markings crossbucks flashing red lights crossing gates Every public Grade Crossing in the U.S. should have these 5 signs and devices. You can look for them when you are near a street-level crossing where the road meets train tracks.

The Advanced Warning Sign was th model for today's version of the Railroading Merit Badge. It is a large, circular yellow sign, with a large black X dividing the sign into quarters, and two black R's. The two R's stand for Railroad and Road, and the X stands for Crossing. The sign is placed near the crossing, but it is intended to be the first thing that a driver would see, to alert them that they are close toa railroad crossing. The Pavement Markings are the next thing that a driver will see. It has the two R's, and the large X in the middle. There are also thick white lines before and after the letters. This collection of markings are painted on the road, often using reflective white paint. The markings are close to the tracks crossing the road, meaning that the driver is almost on the tracks! If the road has many lanes, the pavement markings are made in each of the lanes. In the picture to th right, the crossing is just around the curve. While the Advanced Warning sign can be seen at a distance, the Pavement Markings were made before the curve, to warn the driver to be ready to stop on the other side of the curve if the signals are active.

Now we get to the crossing itself, where we find the crossing devices found at most public crossings. The mast is located to the right side of the roadway, near the tracks, but placed safely away from the tracks, between the track and the approaching traffic.

The Crossbucks are located on the upright mast, at the crossing. They are two large white boards, arranged in a large X. The signs today say Rail Road Crossing. In days past, they used to say Stop Look and Listen, or Stop Listen, and Live, as part of early Operation Lifesaver programs. You should see the Crossbucks at every road crossing, even if they don't have any of the other devices. There are many Flashing Red Lights. Most people will think about the two large red lights, one mounted on each side of the crossbucks, but there are also usually three smaller lights on the Crossing Gate. One is at the end of the gate farthest from the mast, and is always on when the crossing is active, so that cars on the road will know where the end of the gate is at all times. The other lights are located along the mast, near the lane markings on the road, so that cars lined of at an active crossing can still see the lights on the crossing gate. The lights start as soon as the crossing signal is activated, and they stay working until the crossing is cleared, and the crossing gates have been completely raised. (Did you notice that the light on the right side of the gate is on at the same time as the light on the right side of the crossbuck? They are supposed to be synchronized, look at a few and see for yourself.) Finally, there are usually another pair of large flashing lights mounted behind the crossbucks, facing the other direction, as an indication to the opposing traffic that the signals are active.

Finally, the Crossing Gate used to be made of wood, but more recent gates are made of fiberglass or aluminum. The gate is pained with reflective paint, in a white and red diagonal stripe. This pattern makes this a very distinctive device, and is not to be confused with the vertical read and white reflective stripes that dirivers may see on a passing truck trailer. The gate is set up to block all of the traffic lanes on one side of the road. (There may even be a smaller gate that blocks the sidewalk at certain crossings with high amunts of pedestrian traffic.) The gates have counter-weights on their mounting assembly, so the gates will lower if the system ever loses power. (This helps make the system safer for cars, because the car driver can't know if the crossing has no power.) This slight off-balance also makes it easier for the motor to lift the gate when the crossing is clear.

There is one other warning device, which is at most public crossings, that is not discussed in our requirement. This is the warning bells. Each crossing signal mast has a "bell device" mounted on the mast. The bell starts to sound when the gates are activated, and it stays on until the crossing gates have completely raised. Originally, these were real bells, but many newer signals now have electronic bells. Can you tell the difference when you listen to the bells at an active crossing signal?

There are currently 120 active merit badges that can be earned by Boy Scouts today, and scouts can find information about all of these on the Internet at the Merit Badge Research Center (MBRC) website, including the Railroading merit badge requirements. The MBRC has worksheets for most of the current merit badges.