Discarded wooden railroad crossing gates. Hawthorne Junction. Chicago Illinois USA. June 2007.

One can never know what they may find while railfanning with a camera on location. I had discovered this pile of forelorn wooden crossing gates near the crosstracks at Hawthorne Junction. The red and white color scheme seen on todays crossing gates, became the industry standard in the year of 1972. Prior to this they were painted black and white. Two bladed crossing gates were the standard for many years. After numerous crossing gate highway accidents where cars or trucks wouldn't stop when the gates were lowering, and they were destroyed, Single bladed metal gates with breakaway hinges became todays industry standard.