Commissary Road, near Trafford, AL

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Commissary Road, near Trafford, AL

Post by freebrickproductions » Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:47 pm



Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs and a fast General Signals Type 1 electronic bell.

Today, since I was off from work, I decided to head out to the southern end of the CSX S&NA North Subdivision to get the crossings along the line between Birmingham and Hanceville. When I got down to this crossing, I saw a green signal to my north and, not long after, I heard a horn to my south. Then, just a few minutes later, this northbound CSX Autorack train came rolling through with a pair of AC44CWs for power, with CSX 4 trailing!

This crossing is a pretty nice one. It appears that originally, there was a pair of L&N gateless signals here. Then, in the mid-1990s, the right-hand signal was replaced with the current one, likely having a WCH mechanical bell on it originally. After that, in the late-1990s, the far signal was replaced and the previous bell was replaced with the current General Signals Type 1. The most recent change here appears to have been the LED upgrade, which would've occured in about 2012 or 2013, along with the rest of the crossings along the line.
For whatever reason, the GS e-bell here sounds quite fast, especially when compared to other GS e-bells. I'm not sure if the bell was just set this way or if something inside the bell/signal is messed-up making it sound like this.
Either way, it's an unusual sounding e-bell though.
They/Them for me, please.

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