Truss Ferry Road, Pell City, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-20-23*

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

After catching Amtrak 19, I documented an upgrade nearby and then Zac and I went over to this crossing to wait for the next train. We'd been hearing the dispatcher talking to an eastbound (IIRC) freight, but, they were having trouble with their locomotives, so we just sat here and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, after about 5 and a half hours of waiting, just after sunset, this eastbound mixed freight (a different train from the one we'd heard the dispatcher occasionally talking to) finally came through with an ES44DC leading a Dash-9 on the head-end and an AC44C6M working as the mid-train DPU. After this, we went and got some supper and then I drove Zac back up to Jasper before I went on home myself for the evening.
I don't know how or why we only saw three whole trains this entire day, normally the NS East End District is usually a good bit busier than this. We may have just been a bit unlucky, however, as we heard this eastbound meeting a westbound just as we were heading for food at a siding to our east, so most of the traffic may have just been coming through overnight...

Despite the extremely long wait (and unfortunate lack of daylight trains), this crossing is definitely a nice one and I'm glad I finally got to record it. The signals here seem to have been installed by NS in about 2000 or so, as there's a GS Type 1 and Type 2 mixture here and both bells appear to be original. I'm glad to see the GS Type 1 on the far side is still around, I had had a feeling there was a GS Type 1 here so I'm glad I was able to confirm my suspicions. The bells here also ring while the gates rise, which is rather nice to see. Hopefully this crossing remains largely unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I got to film these at least once.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/P ... uss_Ferry/