Ramer Grady Road, Grady, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 4-2-22*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Federal Signal 8 inch lights, 2 pairs of Federal Signal 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1 Safetran 8 inch light, 1 WABCO 8 inch light, a WRRS mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Federal Signal 8 inch lights, 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, 1 pair of Safetran 8 inch lights, a WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

This was the sixth and final crossing I caught CSX B211 at. I decided to head straight on up to this crossing and not record/re-record any of the crossing between Troy and here, as I didn't want to miss this one. Though, I will admit I stopped and waited at the crossing in the community of Shady Grove to the south of here to see that crossing activate and what type of GS e-bells were at it. Unfortunately that crossing uses a pair of GS Type 2s, though I'd personally been kinda expecting GS Type 1s based on the condition of them.
I probably had plenty of time & daylight to be able to chase this train all the way to Montgomery, but I decided while I was here not to. The main reasons that I decided not to were the fact that I still had yet to eat (and I knew there was some restaurants down in Troy), and that it was also a good three hours back to my hotel in Tallahassee, FL. As such, I let the phosphate train go here, and began my journey back to Florida for my last night there.

This crossing is a very nice one, and is another one I'd been wanting to record since I was last down here in 2019. The signals here appear to be a mid-70s SCL install, though, a bit unusually, it seems that the SCL decided to go with at least one WRRS bell here rather than a Safetran one. It appears that later on in the 1970s, or in the 1980s under the SBD, the bell on the closer signal was replaced with the current WCH bell. In the early-80s, however, the SCL replaced one of the rear lights on the far signal with the current Safetran 8 inch light. The crossing then remained relatively unchanged for a few decades, until the mid to late-2000s. Around this time, the closer signal had all of its original overhead lights replaced with the current Safetran 12x24 inch LED lights. At about the same time as that, or shortly afterwards, CSX upgraded the overhead lights on the far signal to the current LEDs. Since then, thankfully, no major changes appear to have occurred here.
This crossing is honestly probably one of my favorites along the Dothan Sub, due to the nice equipment variety at it, along with the nice location it's in. Even though all of the overhead lights are LED, I'm glad that the far signal still retains its original heads and that all of the mast lights here are still 8 inch. I also do quite like the way Safetran 12x24 inch lights look on older cantilever signals like this, especially when they have Dialight ball LEDs in them. Both mechanical bells here also do still sound fairly healthy, which is great to see as well.
All in all, this is a rather nice little crossing, and I'm glad I was able to end off my railfanning on the Dothan Sub on this day with it. Hopefully these signals remain unchanged for many more years to come, but either way, I'm quite glad I was finally able to record this nice old crossing.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/G ... mer_Grady/