7 Mile Road #1, Caledonia, WI

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 11-15-23*

Westbound signal: 2 pairs of Harmon 12x20 inch lights with Harmon Fading LEDs, an RSI electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Eastbound signal: 2 pairs of Harmon 12x20 inch lights with Harmon Fading LEDs, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After getting the Empire Builder, Brenton81 and I continued on our separate ways with him going home and me continuing up towards Milwaukee, stopping at this crossing for at least one final video of the day. After a bit of waiting here, I was able to get CPKC 249 coming through the crossing with a KCS ES44AC leading a KCS SD70ACe and a CP AC44CWM for power. Nice to get another CPKC freight train on this line.

After CPKC 249 came through, I tried to get a recording of the defect detector to my north. However, while waiting for it to read-out, Amtrak 7, which was running almost right behind 249 on the other track, with no more than a minute between the two trains, came through first instead before I had the chance to move to the other side. Either way, here we get to see the westbound Amtrak Empire Builder flying through Caledonia with an ALC-42 leading a P42DC for power.

After catching the westbound Empire Builder, I knew AMTK 337 was getting close, so I set-up on the other side of this crossing for it. After a bit of waiting, I was able to get this northbound Amtrak Hiawatha service as my last train of the day, with an SC-44 pulling and a P42DC on the rear. After this, I swung by the detector to my north to grab a photo of it (and briefly met another local railfan, whose name I sadly cannot recall, there) and then continued onto my hotel in Milwaukee for the evening.

This crossing is another great one, featuring the second of the two RSI e-bells on the C&M Subdivision. The signals here were installed by CP in the early-2000s, but received an LED upgrade sometime between 2007 and 2012. In 2018, the original WCH mechanical bell here was replaced with the current RSI e-bell, and thankfully no further changes have occurred to this crossing since.
Like with the RSI e-bell at 18th Street in Somers, the bell here seems to skip a bit while ringing, though per Brenton81's video of this crossing from shortly after it was installed, it was skipping a bit then as well. Again, RSI's equipment was never of the highest quality, as I understand it, so these skips are probably to be expected. Either way, I'm definitely glad I was able to get both RSI e-bells on this line filmed, as they are a rather rare bell to find, with most being on shortline railroads and other smaller operations.