NE 6th Avenue, Galva, IL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 11-20-23*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Federal Signal 12x20 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Federal Signal 12x20 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After I got the two bell-only crossings on the line filmed, I returned back to Galva and met-up with TommyBNSF again at this crossing to get some more of the early WCH signals on the BNSF Mendota Sub recorded. Not too long after we got here, we were able to catch this eastbound BNSF mixed freight with an NS ES44DC leading an NS Dash-9, an NS AC44C6M, another NS ES44DC, another NS AC44C6M, and a CSX CM44AC on the head-end and a BNSF SD70ACe working as the train's DPU. Definitely a bit of another neat lash-up here.

This crossing is another great one, featuring another classic early WCH install done by the BN back in the late-70s. This one is slightly newer than the other one I'd recorded in Galva, however, as this one features the not-as-early worded style of WCH gate mechs, though these are almost just as rare as the very early WCH gate mechs.
In the 2000s, BNSF replaced the bell here with the current GS Type 2 e-bell. Then, in the early-2010s, the crossing was given an LED upgrade by BNSF. Thankfully, since then, the crossing has remained largely unchanged, and is still fairly original as a result.
Honestly, I do always enjoy seeing and recording older WCH gate mechs, especially the rarer early variants of them like these ones. Hopefully these old WCH signals continue to hang-on for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm definitely glad I got to record them when I did.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Illinois/A-K/Galva/NE6/