Pine Hill Road, Tarrant, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 1-16-20*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs and an NEG electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 1.5 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs and a Modern Industries 12x24 inch light with a Leotk EV Series LED.

On January 16th, I went back out to the Birmingham area again, this time to document all of the crossings along the CSX Pinson Valley Branch, as it's the last section of the old L&N Mineral Loop still owned by CSX. While documenting the crossings along the line, I found this local with a single GP38-3 at the north end doing some switching, so once he got going, I chased him on down to this crossing, where I caught him hauling a single covered hopper back to Boyles Yard.

This crossing is a pretty decent one, and is probably one of the better crossings on this branch. The signals appear to be some WCH signals from the SBD, but not long after they were installed, one of the light-heads was struck and replaced with an MI 12x24 inch light. Not sure when the original WCH mechanical bell here was replaced, of if there were any bells used here between it and the NEG (the street view images from before 2013 seem to be inaccessible), but by 2013, the NEG e-bell was already here. The crossing then remained pretty much unchanged up until sometime within the past year, when it (along with the rest of the incandescent crossings along this line) were upgraded to LED.

The Pinson Valley Branch is a pretty nice little line. All of the signalized crossings along it, save for one with new some brand-new signals (upgraded from crossbucks), are gateless. The line also used to have two mechanical bells left along it, but sadly, the one that trains regularly go through was replaced with a GS Type 2. So while this branch does see two trains working it every day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon), I doubt I'll be coming back here anytime soon.