System and method for servicing a breakaway gate

An apparatus, comprising:

• a crossing gate release mechanism to couple to a crossing gate actuator, the crossing gate actuator to couple to a vertical swing pivot of a crossing gate mount, the crossing gate actuator to rotate along a vertical swing path, around the vertical swing pivot, up and out of a path and down and into the path;
• a crossing gate coupled to a horizontal swing pivot that is coupled to the crossing gate release mechanism, the crossing gate rotable along a horizontal swing path, around the horizontal swing pivot, into the path and out of the path while the crossing gate actuator is down;
• a spring assembly coupled to the crossing gate and the crossing gate release mechanism, the spring assembly including a bias to maintain the crossing gate in the path;
• and
• a bar segment coupled to the spring assembly and removably coupled to the crossing gate to decoupled the spring assembly from the crossing gate in maintenance to swing the crossing gate out of the path,
• wherein in a path blocking mode of operation the bar segment is fastened to the crossing gate and the spring assembly exerts a spring bias against the bar segment to hold the bar segment against a brace, with the bar segment fastened to the crossing gate and the crossing gate extended across the path,
• wherein in a break-away mode of operation the bar segment is fastened to the crossing gate and the spring bias of the spring assembly is overcome, with the crossing gate pivoted out of the path, and
• wherein in a maintenance mode of operation the crossing gate is unfastened from the bar segment, the spring assembly exerts the spring bias against the bar segment to maintain the bar segment against a brace and the crossing gate is free to swing around the horizontal pivot, free of the spring bias, to position the crossing gate out of the path.

A method of servicing a crossing gate, comprising:

• rotating a crossing gate actuator around a vertical swing pivot of a crossing gate mount, along a vertical swing path and into a down position to block a path such that a crossing gate coupled to the crossing gate actuator blocks the path, with a spring biased crossing gate release mechanism maintaining the crossing gate in a center position blocking the path;
• temporarily breaking the crossing gate from blocking the path by overcoming a spring biasing the crossing gate into the center position, with the crossing gate free to return to the center position when the spring bias is no longer overcome;
• and
• decoupling a bar segment from the crossing gate to permanently decouple the spring from biasing the crossing gate into the center position until the bar segment is recoupled, with the crossing gate free to swing around a horizontal swing pivot, perpendicular to the vertical swing pivot, and out of the path while the bar segment is decoupled from the crossing gate.