Cumberland Street, Cowan, TN

[freebrickproductions]

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of 12x24 inch Safetran lights (one of the pairs has WCH 2nd Generation LEDs while the other has Dialight Ball LEDs), a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of 12x24 inch Safetran lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Modern Industries mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-28-22*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1 pair of Safetetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Modern Industries mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.

On May 28th, I decided to go up to the Chattanooga Subdivision to meet-up with Ethan the Railfanner and do a bit of railfanning with him, as well as dropping off a cooler of drinks he'd accidentally forgotten in our hotel room in Mobile. After about an hour of waiting here, we were able to catch our first train of the day: a northbound grain train with a pair of ES44AHs leading an ET44AH on the head-end and another ES44AH working as the mid-train DPU.

Decided to start-out at this crossing, as I hadn't recorded it in almost 8 years, and wanted to see how it was holding up. As you can see, no major changes appear to have occurred to these old L&N cantilevers since I last filmed it, though the closer signal has had the tip gate light replaced with an NEG LED gate light in that time. Thankfully, both L&N cantilever still remain here, and the Modern Industries bell is still here and still sounds rather nice.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A-F ... umberland/

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-28-24*

Eastbound signal: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Westbound signal: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Modern Industries mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, NEG LED gate lights, and a RECO LED gate light.

On May 28th, I went-up to the CSX Chattanooga Sub again to see about getting some more crossings along it recorded and rerecorded. I decided to go to this one first and saw CSX already had a northbound lined into the siding with a southbound waiting for it there. I wound-up getting here at a very good time, as, within a few minutes of me getting my camera set-up and started, this northbound mixed freight came through with an ES40DC leading an ES44AH, an ET44AH, another ES44AH, and an SD70MAC for power.

The northbound mixed freight I'd caught apparently had been getting a shove up into Cowan. As the train was passing through Cowan, the pusher uncoupled from the train and came to a rest just south of the crossing while waiting for it to clear the southern end of the siding. As such, I had just enough time to get the upgrades at this crossing documented and get my camera set-up on the other side before they got going again. Here we see the Cowan Pushers, CSX H381, rolling north through the crossing with a pair of ES44AHs, running lite.

Nothing too much has changed to the equipment at this crossing since I last recorded it, thankfully, though the base gate light on the westbound signal was replaced with a new NEG LED gate light. Unfortunately, two new foundations have gone in here on opposing sides of the crossing, along with a new relay case, indicating an upgrade here is imminent. At the time, no conduit or foundations were in for the new cantilevers, so there was a bit of speculation that CSX may be retaining them. Unfortunately, since this video was taken, new cantilever foundations have been installed, indicating that the classic L&N cantilevers here are due for replacement as well.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A-F ... umberland/

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 1-17-25*

Signal on the far left: 3 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the far right: 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the near left: 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the near right: 3 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After I shot 288, I hung around the Bass, AL, area for a few hours, as I thought that a coal train I saw in the siding at Anderson, TN, would be going south through it before too long. However, instead, they pulled off the power from the cut that had been brought down there, and ran back up to Cowan to collect the rest of their train. During this process, literally nothing else ran (due to the coal train hogging the main between Anderson and Cowan), so eventually I made my way up to Cowan to see about revisiting the Cumberland Street crossing. Thankfully, when I got here, the coal train was finally about to be leaving, so, after a little while of waiting, I was finally able to get my fifth train of the day: CSX C306 with a pair of ES44AHs pulling on the head-end, another ES44AH working as the mid-train DPU, and the manned helpers, yet another ES44AH and an ET44AH, shoving on the rear.

Well now this crossing certainly looks quite a bit different from how it used to, even when I filmed it last May, now doesn't it? Last July, CSX replaced the aging pair of Federal Signal cantilevers here from the L&N with the current quad-gate set-up. Strangely, the gate arms here don't fully cover the road, and leave the center lane unblocked. I can see where CSX and TDOT would probably want to avoid having the gate arms on the left getting too long and striking the overhead power lines, but I'm kinda surprised the right-hand ones aren't longer to compensate. Admittedly, this does make me wonder if TDOT plans to have the center turn lane here removed at some point, though I suppose given the fact that this very much ain't a quiet zone, the large gaps in the middle on both sides don't really matter...
Thankfully, the old L&N cantilevers here were able to avoid being scrapped, as the Cowan Railroad Museum was able to contact CSX and save the previous signals here. Their video of the replacement process, along with saving the signals, can be seen here:

I'm definitely glad I was able to get a good few videos of the old L&N-era signals here though, especially with that nice-sounding MI mechanical bell. Glad to see they'll live on though, even if they aren't actively protecting a crossing anymore.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A-F ... umberland/