A good example of this very procedure can be seen at the Washington St. crossing of the BNSF 3MT in Downers Grove IL. The Metra station being adjacent to MT #3 or south side of the 3 track "Aurora Racetrack". When the METRA commuter trains are stopped, they are just shy of the Washington St. crossing. The warning lights and bells will switch off and the gates will raise after a few seconds. When the engineer receives the highball, he will proceed very slowly towards the crossing,making sure the gates and safety devices have been activated and will continue that slow acceleration until the gates are completely down and all traffic,vehicular and pedestrian, are clear of the ROW. When that fact is accomplished the engineer will proceed with the normal acceleration of the train. Commuter service is a good example for railfans to watch in various locations since you can witness first hand a lot of procedures and operation according to various rules in this service. The "Racetrack" is an especially good example of that, but I will save that for another forum. If anyone cares to discuss more about this please reply at the "Storytime with Charlie" thread on the Railfanning Discussions forum on "Trainboard" CT
