Church Street (TX 154), Sulphur Springs, TX

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 2-5-24*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran mechanical bell, a WABCO AL-70 gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

On January 5th, the day after HarmonyCon, Juniper and I packed-up our stuff into my car again and we set off back for Huntsville. On our way out of Texas on I-30, I decided to stop by a trio of old installs on a couple of shortlines along the way to document them for the website. As we pulled-up to this crossing in Silver Springs on the Northeast Texas Connector, a maintainer was testing a nearby crossing which caused it to activate. As such, while I was documenting this one, I kept an eye out for him in case he came over here to check this one. Thankfully, just as I finished-up documenting it, he came over here and did the monthly maintenance on this one, which let me record it in action a few times.

This crossing is a rather nice one, which appears to have originally been installed by the SSW, I believe back in the 1970s. The signals here were originally a pair of gated mast signals with early Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a pair of 1st generation Safetran mechanical bells, and a pair of WABCO AL-70 gate mechanisms. Admittedly, I ain't sure if these signals are from the 1970s or not, but I suspect the lights and bells were original. Either way, if they ain't, then they were definitely upgraded in the early-70s. At some point, the far signal had its backgrounds upgraded to 12x24s, it appears, though I don't know exactly when it happened beyond being no later than 2007 per street view. The crossing remained largely unchanged since the 1970s otherwise, until 2023, when the closer signal was sadly knocked down and replaced by the current one. Thankfully, the far signal has remained unchanged, and still retains its nice older equipment.
Of course, the best piece of equipment here is the classic WABCO AL-70 gate mech on the far side, which I'm glad to see still exists. It's a shame the closer one doesn't exist anymore. If you follow this line east onto the Blacklands Railroad in Winfield, you'll find some older signals installed by the SSW back in the 1960s. On these signals are another pair of WABCO triangle gates, but these featuring the older Type LW branding that it appears WABCO originally used for them. I wouldn't mind getting that crossing in action at some point, those signals seem to still be fully original.
Either way though, I'm quite glad I was able to get this crossing in action.