3rd Street, Arkadelphia, AR

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 2-5-24*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Electro-tech LEDs, a WCH Type 1.5 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and Alstom LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Electro-tech LEDs, 1 pair of Harmon 12x20 inch lights with Electro-tech LEDs, a WCH Type 4 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and Alstom LED gate lights.

After getting the southbound mixed freight, Juniper and I continued on up to this crossing. We didn't have to wait here too long for the next train, however, as here we were soon able to catch this northbound intermodal train flying through with an AC45CCTE leading an AC44CW and another pair of AC45CCTEs on the head-end, and a fourth AC45CCTE working as the mid-train DPU.

This crossing is another nice one, featuring what I believe is a MoPac install from the early to mid-80s, which is still fairly original. A bit unusually, it appears that the MoPac chose to use a pair of Harmon 12x20s as the side lights on the closer signal, which I honestly don't mind, lol.
Sometime prior to 2006, it appears, UP replaced the original Safetran(?) mechanical bell on the closer signal with a WCH e-bell. Then, sometime between 2008 and 2013, the lights here were upgraded to LED with the current Electro-tech LEDs. Next, sometime between 2013 and 2019, the (remaining) Safetran mechanical bell at this crossing was replaced with the current WCH e-bell. Sometime more recently, it seems, the previous WCH e-bell on the closer signal died and was replaced by the current one.
Thankfully, despite the upgrades, these signals retain their original light heads and gate mechanisms, which are nice to see. Hopefully they remain around for many more years to come. You can also hear and see the signals as they were back in 2006 in this video: