Crossbuck

Crossbuck with white background and black lettering, as used in the United States

A crossbuck is a sign composed of two slats of wood or metal of equal length, fastened together on a pole in a saltire formation (resembling the letter X). Crossbucks usually are a traffic sign to indicate level railway crossings, sometimes supplemented by electrical warnings of flashing lights, a bell, and/or a gate that descends to block the road and prevent traffic from crossing the tracks.

International variants

In the United States, the crossbuck carries the word "RAIL ROAD" on one arm and "CROSSING" on the other ("RAIL" and "ROAD" separated by the "CROSSING" arm), in black text on a white background. Older variants simply used black and white paint; newer installations use a reflective white material with non-reflective lettering. Some antique U.S. crossbucks were painted in other color schemes, and used glass "cat's eye" reflectors on the letters to make them stand out. Other countries, such as China, also use this layout, but with appropriately localized terms. Often, a supplemental sign below the crossbuck indicates the number of tracks at the crossing.

A special kind of crossing sign assembly was introduced on an experimental basis in Ohio in 1992, the "Buckeye Crossbuck". It includes an enhanced crossbuck, reflective and with red lettering, and also a reflective plate reading "YIELD" below the crossbuck, whose sides are bent backwards in order to catch and reflect at a right angle the light of an approaching train. The experiment's final report gave the device a favorable review.^[1] However, the plate was rejected for inclusion in the 2003 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.^[2]

In Canada, crossbucks have a red border and no lettering. These were installed in the 1980s shortly after English-French bilingualism was made official, replacing signs of a style similar to those used in the U.S., except the word "RAILWAY" was used instead of "RAILROAD".

In Mexico, the crossbucks read "CUIDADO CON EL TREN", meaning "beware of the train".

In parts of Europe, the cross is white on a rectangular red background; in Finland the cross is yellow, trimmed with red.

In Taiwan, the cross is white with a red border. A special symbol in the center indicates an electric railroad crossing, cautioning road users about excessive height cargo that may contact the electric wires.

In Australia, the crossbuck is a St Andrews Cross as in Europe, but uses words and the same color as the American crossbuck. In contrast to the American "RAIL ROAD CROSSING", Australian signs say "RAIL WAY CROSSING" or "TRAM WAY CROSSING". (Most cases where a tram in its own right-of-way crosses a road do not use a crossbuck and so are regular intersections rather than level crossings.)

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  U. S. railroad crossing sign, MUTCD R15-1.

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  Canadian railroad crossing sign

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  St. Andrew's Cross–like crossbuck in white on red

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  Crossbuck used in the United Kingdom. Currently used only on level crossings without gates/barriers.

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  Australian Crossing with Lights

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  Crossbuck in yellow trimmed with red as found in Finland

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  Crossbuck in Taiwan

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  St. Andrew's Cross Germany

Multiple tracks

Several countries use a sign to indicate that multiple tracks must be crossed at a level crossing. In Australia, the U.S., and Canada, a sign is mounted beneath the crossbuck (above the warning light assembly, if any) with the number of tracks. Many European countries use multiple crossbucks or additional chevrons ("half-crossbucks") below the first one. Taiwan also uses half-crossbucks below the regular crossbuck.

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  A U.S. crossbuck with an additional sign indicating four tracks.

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  Double crossbuck at a level crossing in the Netherlands

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  "One-and-a-half" crossbucks, as found in Finland, indicating two or more tracks.

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  "One-and-a-half" crossbucks in Taiwan

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  "One-and-a-half" crossbucks in Taiwan for an electric crossing

References

1. ^ Russ College of Engineering and Technology (December 2000). "Evaluation of the Buckeye Crossbuck at Public, Passive Railroad/Highway Grade Crossings in Ohio" (PDF). Ohio Department of Transportation. http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/TransSysDev/Research/reportsandplans/Reports/2000/Traffic/14612-FR.pdf. Retrieved 2009-11-04. 
2. ^ "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices - Part 8: Traffic Controls for Highway-Rail Grade Crossings" (PPT). United States Federal Highway Administration. 2003. http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/ppts/training/2003changes/MUTCD03_Part_8and10.ppt. Retrieved 2007-12-06.