Crossbuck

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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 are usually used as traffic signs 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.

[edit] International variants

Level crossing on China National Highway 109, Beijing, China. The crossbuck here looks like the US version; however, the warning sign in the foreground is European-style

In the United States, the crossbuck carries the word "RAILROAD" on one arm and "CROSSING" on the other, in black text on a white background. Older variants simply used black and white paint, but 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.

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 United States except the word "RAILWAY" was used instead.

In Mexico, the crossbucks read "CUIDADO CON EL TREN", which means "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 to caution road users not to have anything too high that may cause electric hazards.

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.)

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

Crossbuck in yellow trimmed with red as found in Finland

Crossbuck in Taiwan

St. Andrew's Cross Germany

[edit] Multiple tracks

Several countries use a sign to indicate that multiple tracks must be crossed at a level crossing. In the United States 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 uses half-crossbucks below the first one as well.