Somers Road #1, Somers, WI

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 11-15-23*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Harmon Fading LEDs, a WCH Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Harmon Fading LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After getting the crossing in Highwood, IL, filmed, I continued on up into Wisconsin for a few crossings on the CPKC C&M Subdivision. I was initially set-up at 18th Street to the south, but, as Amtrak 336 was coming first, I decided to move up to this crossing, as I wanted to also get a good recording of the defect detector between the two crossings. After a bit of waiting, AMTK 336, a southbound Hiawatha service, came flying through with a P42DC on the head-end and an SC-44 on the rear.

This crossing is a pretty decent one, despite being a bit on the more boring side. The signals here are an old SOO install from the 1980s, though with an MI/US&S bell originally, it appears. In the 1990s, the SOO replaced the original Safetran gate mech on the closer signal with a newer Safetran one. Then, sometime between 2007 and 2012, the bell here was replaced with a seemingly-reused WCH mechanical bell by CP, along with the lights appearing to have gotten an LED upgrade in the same time-frame. Then, sometime between 2012 and 2017, CP would replace the bell here once again, this time with the current WCH e-bell. Since then, thankfully, no major changes appear to have occurred to this crossing.
I believe these signals are the oldest signals, and the only SOO-era ones, left on the C&M Sub. The SOO, a bit unusually, seems to have preferred to put the counterweights on the front-side of their signals, and use weight-less arms on the rear, which is opposite of how most railroads that used arms like this did it. Hopefully these signals will remain here for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm certainly glad I was able to get them.