Colisuem Boulevard #2, Montgomery, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 8-2-21*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Harmon 12x24 inch lights, 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Modern Industries 12x24 inch light, a dead General Signals (Type 1?) electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gae lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

On August 2nd, I went out to document the crossings on the former SAL main in Montgomery, and, when that was done, I started documenting crossings on the AWP Sub. While I was documenting this crossing, I heard a horn to my east, which turned-out to be CSX Q605 heading into Montgomery with the Spirit of Ravenna leading and an ES44AH working as the mid-train DPU! Been a hot minute since I'd seen one of CSX's spirit units, much less leading, so this was a nice little surprise.

This crossing is definitely on the boring side of things, and I kinda wish I'd been able to get this train at a different crossing, but overall it's still pretty decent, I suppose. The signals here appear to have originally been a late-90s install (no idea if they replaced anything older), with at least one MI 12x24 mixed in on the cantilevers, interestingly enough. At some point, not entirely sure when (but I think around the same time the closer cantilever signal was replaced), the original GS Type 1 e-bell on the closer signal died and was replaced with the current GS Type 2. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, CSX also replaced the closer cantilever here with a newer one, I'm guessing due to the old one getting struck. Since then, the only major change here it appears is that one of the overhead lights on the far signal got replaced with a re-used Safetran 12x24 inch light.
Sadly, what was probably the most interesting thing about this crossing, what appears to have been a GS Type 1 e-bell here is dead. No doubt that CSX will soon (or at least eventually) replace it with a new NEG e-bell, but it's still a shame that it doesn't work. The crossing at least does still retain most of its incandescent lights though, and I suppose the mix here is at least a bit neat. Would've definitely prefered to have recorded this train at the 90s CSX install just to the east of this one, as that still has a mechanical bell, but oh well. I'll just see about returning down here at some point to film it.
One slightly unusual thing about this crossing though is the fact that there's an extra crossbuck on each of the gate masts here. Dunno why CSX installed them, but assuming they're supposed to be there, I wouldn't be surprised if they were supposed to face the opposite side of the crossing.