Dudley Road, near Vance, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-12-20*

Signal on the left: 6 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran mechanical bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

On May 12th, I went back down to the NS AGS South District to continue documenting crossings. While I got to my first one, I decided to go ahead and set on up. After a while of waiting, I thought I heard a distant train horn to my west, so I started my camera, but crossed over to the other side of the crossing to look at something. Glad I did start my camera though, as after a few minutes, while I was still on the other side of the crossing, this northbound mixed freight came flying through with an AC44C6M leading an ES44AC and an ES44DC with an SD70ACe as the mid-train DPU. Certainly a nice train to start off the day with.

This crossing is a 1990s NS install, that's had a few changes to it since 2007, it appears. On the closer signal, a new splice box and ladder were installed to the cantilever's mast, while all but one of the mast lights were replaced with newer Safetran 12 inch lights (with the remaining original mast light being upgraded to a 24 inch background), and the original Safetran mechanical bell was replaced with the current GS Type 2. On the other hand, the only change that the far signal has had was that the original Safetran gate mech was replaced with a Siemens one (sometime before 2017, it appears). The relay case also appears to have been replaced at some point. Not entirely sure if these upgrades were all at the same time, or if they were staggered any, but this crossing is still a pretty nice one overall, and I'm glad I recorded it.
Something a bit unusual about this crossing though would be the far signal. For whatever reason, the main overhead lights are mounted above the overhead side lights, even though it's usually the other way around on NS installs of this era. Perhaps the bend in the road on that side of the crossing has something to do with it?

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 4-27-24*

Signal on the left: 6 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and a RECO gate light.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

After I caught NS 131 in McCalla, I swung by the crossing near Brookwood on the CSX Mineral Sub that I needed to document before continuing onto this crossing to get its upgrade documented. After a little while of waiting here, I was able to get my second (and best) catch of the day: NS 344 with NS 8100, the Nickel Plate Road heritage unit (an ES44AC), leading a UP SD70ACe for power! This unit was completely unexpected, so I'm glad I was able to catch it leading, in the daylight this time around!

As you can see, this crossing now looks a lot different from when I first filmed it back in 2020. At some point between then and 2023, the closer signal here was replaced entirely. Strangely, NS chose to use a Progress Rail cantilever, which certainly ain't common for NS. Also weirdly, the lights on this new cantilever are 12x24s rather than NS's standard 12x20s. EthantheRailfanner has documented another new Progress Rail cantilever that was installed over at Conley Road in Conley, GA, and it looks pretty similar to this one, so I suspect both would've gone-up at about the same time. Also strangely, the GS Type 3 e-bell on this signal seems to have been reused, as it has already lost a lot of paint on the back of it, though IDK where it would've come from. The gate lights on this new signal are also RECO incandescents, which is a bit odd given that the crossing had all LED gate lights before.
It appears that about the same time the other signal here also got some upgrades to it. All of the lights on the far signal were upgraded to LED, while the remaining original Safetran mechanical bell on it was replaced with the current GS Type 3 e-bell. Strangely, this signal also had all of the NEG LED gate lights on it replaced, with these replacement ones being a mix of two RECO LEDs and a RECO incandescent. Thankfully, the signal does still retain its weirdly-mounted overhead lights, which I'm glad to see are still around.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Vance/Dudley/