“STOP – DEATH – STOP” a gloriously excessive 1930s railroad crossing signal
In the mid-1930s, a dangerous Illinois Central railroad crossing in Grenada, Mississippi, had claimed too many lives. Local inventor Alonzo Billups had seen enough, and his solution was gloriously excessive: a massive gantry spanning the highway, topped with a giant neon skull and crossbones that flashed “STOP – DEATH – STOP” in alternating blue and red whenever a train approached.
The Billups Neon Crossing Signal was almost certainly the first gantry-style railroad crossing in America, predating the type now commonly used. But Billups wasn’t content with just dramatic signage. He added flashing neon arrows indicating the train’s direction and replaced the standard crossing bells with an air-raid siren. Standard railway flashers were mounted below as a backup, almost an afterthought beneath the screaming neon death warning.
Locals called it “the Skull and Crossbones,” and for a few years, it did its terrifying job. But World War II brought neon shortages, and the signal had a persistent problem: the siren would sometimes start wailing and refuse to stop until a maintenance crew arrived to shut it up. No additional signals were ever built.
The original stood until around 1970, when it was finally replaced with boring standard crossing equipment. Today, Lionel makes O-gauge models of it for toy train enthusiasts who want a little memento mori on their layouts.