Re: signals?

George, we have not considered this idea, but will do so. It seems however to defeat the purpose of the gate. I remember when I was stationed in Japan in the mid '50s that many of their countryside crossings were manned by a person who dropped a manual bamboo pole gate when the train approached. Of course they could afford it at the time when salaries were typically $20/mo. When I returned to Japan on business in the early '80s that had certainly changed and now they have automatic gates, or no gates at all. Being the disciplined society that they are it would be dishonorable to get hit by a train at a crossing.
Thus far I like the idea of turning on the automatic signals the morning of the first day running, and then turn them off the evening of the last day, and leave them off all week. This means any work trains during the week will have to flag the crossing, but I believe this would be acceptable. However, we do run up against the issue of who has the keys? Right now only 2 or 3 people have access, and we would need to broaden that to hopefully include someone on duty with a key every weekend, and key holders may need to be certified or bonded or whatever.
dan