BRIGHTON PARK Crossing (old) (Chicago, Illinois)

 railway, level crossing

BRIGHTON PARK is the at-grade crossing of the former Alton RR main line with a number of other rail lines including the former PRR and B&OCT. Currently the two-track Alton main (now owned by CN) crosses 5 other tracks for a total of 10 diamonds.

BRIGHTON PARK was unique in that it was a non-interlocked crossing. All trains had to stop and then receive permission to proceed from a switchtender my means of manually operated semaphore signals. The semaphores were operated via pipelines from a small lever frame in the tenders shanty. This is the last manually operated semaphore system in the country.

BRIGHTON PARK's complexity involving a crossing with so many different railroads allowed it to survive into the 21st century. However BRIGHTON PARK is slated to be closed and automated on or around July 4th 2007.