School Rd Level Crossing, Menzies Creek, Up End (Before & After Upgrade)

This is the School Rd level crossing in Menzies Creek (on the up end), on the Puffing Billy railway, with footage I took in December 2017, May and July 2018, October and November 2019, September and October 2022, and March, June, July, September and October 2023
In 2017 to 2019, this crossing had:
- A McKenzie & Holland teardrop bell. This bell was programmed to sound particularly fast paced for some reason
- A Westinghouse cross-arm on the eastern signal and a McKenzie & Holland cross-arm on the western signal
- Marked and unmarked Westinghouse lights, both LED and incandescent
- A Westinghouse base on the eastern signal and a McKenzie & Holland base on the western signal
In March 2018, this crossing was the scene of an accident. A minibus travelling down the steep embankment of School Rd collided with a train at the crossing after failing to stop. One passenger was taken to hospital, though luckily no-one was seriously injured. In light of this accident, the tradition of legs dangling from the sides of Puffing Billy was banned (though was reinstated in 2021). Shortly after this accident, Puffing Billy announced it would be installing updated equipment at this crossing, alongside two others (Beaconsfield-Emerald Rd in Emerald & Healsville-Koo-Wee-Rup Rd in Cockatoo). These upgrades were to include boom gates, LED lights and fencing, and were to be completed by November 2019
I filmed the crossing during it's upgrade, when half the new signals were installed. Part of the old crossing had to be modified to accommodate the new installation, with the cross-arm on the northern signal extended to make room for the new gated signal pole (thanks AH137 for that info)
The works were completed on time by November 2019, and the new crossing now has:
- A Western Cullen Hayes mechanical bell. This is an unusual installation, as most level crossings with boom gates have two bells. However, all boom gate upgrades on the Puffing Billy railway post 2017 have one bell installed (except for Healsville - Koo Wee Rup Rd). It is also unusual as it is a brand new mechanical bell. The only brand new mechanical bells for level crossings manufactured these days are Western Cullen Hayes bells. I'm assuming this bell was chosen to keep with the heritage feel of the railway AND to adhere to the modern standards of new crossings
- Westinghouse cross-arms
- Marked LED Westinghouse lights
- Western Cullen Hayes boom gate mechanisms with unmarked bases
- Updated crossing ahead warning signs. Additional yellow signs with illustrations of crossing signals were added on both sides of the crossing, on the right side of the road to accommodate the signs already on the left side. The sign on the eastern side with the "rail crossing" diagram and the "drive slowly" additional sign was removed, while the sign on the
western side was replaced with sign with an illustration of a crossing signal. A "200m" warning label was also added to the furthest away sign on the western side
The tubes and concrete bases of the old crossing signals are still present
I filmed both before, during, and after the ban on legs dangling out the sides of Puffing Billy was implemented in 2018 following the previously mentioned collision, and then subsequently removed in 2021, so you'll see some occasions where passengers have their legs out, and other occasions where they don't. One bit of consistency you WILL see, however, is the waving passengers. It is customary at Puffing Billy that you wave to the passengers on the train as it travels past. It's a good little bit of fun and brightens up everyone's day!
And apologies if some of the footage from 2018 seems to be of less quality and of a lower frame rate. My camera produces two types of videos files, the lower quality MP4 and the higher quality MTS. I used to always use the MP4 files for my videos, because the file size was heaps smaller, and if I made videos using the MTS files the high quality was lost when I rendered them for uploading. I've only recently figured out a way to render videos with MTS files that KEEPS the quality, which is why my most recent videos are of better quality. I didn't know this years ago though, so I unfortunately deleted a lot of the higher quality MTS video files because they took up so much room, not thinking that I'd need them. I have since adopted the practice of using the MTS files from now on for my videos, though there are some old bits of footage where I can only use lower quality MP4 files, as the MTS files have been deleted. Better than nothing I guess?

[@emmaziccone4037]

Wonderful

[@stuarthunt101]

Thanks Emmy :)

[@AustralianRailamedia7]

Great video, these mechanical bells sound great! ( and the first teardrop was a little fast).

[@stuarthunt101]

Thanks man :)

[@tomhenry6440]

It is on a pretty steep hill lol

[@stuarthunt101]

Lol yep