Wheaton Avenue, Wheaton, IL

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freebrickproductions
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Wheaton Avenue, Wheaton, IL

Post by freebrickproductions » Mon Aug 15, 2022 4:39 pm



*originally recorded on 6-5-22*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Electro-tech LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the far right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Electro-tech LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the near right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Electro-tech LEDs and a WCH Type 3 electronic bell.
Pedestrian signal on the far left: a WCH gate mechanism.
Pedestrian signal on the near left: a WCH gate mechanism.
Pedestrian signal on the far right: a WCH gate mechanism.
Pedestrian signal on the near right: a WCH gate mechanism.

After catching the westbound intermodal train, I saw that this inbound Metra train was going to be arriving at Wheaton soon, so I went over to this crossing to set-up and film it. After a little bit of waiting, I was able to film said inbound Metra passing through the crossing with an F40PH-3 for power.

This crossing is another nice one, with a rather neat set-up at it. The signals here appear to have originally been a 1980s C&NW install, with the railroad replacing the bell here with an ASC e-bell sometime between 1992 and 1994. Then, in the late-90s, it appears that UP replaced both of the gated signals here, but re-used the ASC e-bell onto the newer signals. After this, the crossing remained largely unchanged until about the mid to late-2000s, when UP upgraded this crossing to LED. Then, sometime between 2012 and 2016, UP installed the four pedestrian signals here and added the current WCH e-bell onto the (technically no-longer) gateless signal here. Finally, sometime between 2018 and 2019, UP sadly replaced the ASC e-bell here with the current GS Type 3. Since then, no major changes appear to have occurred to this crossing yet, thankfully.
Honestly, the main reason I decided to film this crossing was due to the pedestrian signal nearest to my camera. Gateless, off-side pedestrian signals like this aren't too common to see down in the SE, and even though it's technically no longer gateless, it still looks rather neat with the short ped gate next to it. Hopefully these signals get to remain around here for a good while to come before UP inevitably replaces them.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Illinois/R-Z/Wheaton/Wheaton/
They/Them for me, please.

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