Dry Creek Road, Pell City, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-20-23*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the far right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the near right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.

After the westbound intermodal train came through, Zac and I continued east into Pell City. Here we went over to this neat three-way crossing, where, after a little while of waiting, Amtrak 19 came rolling through with a pair of P42DCs for power!
Admittedly, this train is the main reason why I decided to head back to the NS East End District on this day. I saw on Facebook where Amtrak had started testing the new Chargers on the Crescent over the past few months, but they were still in the trailing position, but could potentially soon start leading. I'd wanted to get at least one more Genesis unit leading before the Chargers took over, hence why we came down here. Strangely, this one had a solid P42DC lash-up, but I don't mind, as it let me see the P42s leading the Crescent at least one more time.

This crossing is a pretty neat one, thanks to having a nice three-way install at it. It appears that, originally, there was a 1970s SOU install here. However, in the 1990s, NS replaced both the left-hand signal and the closer signal on the right with the current ones, along with upgrading the lights on the far-right signal to the current Safetran 12x20s. Then, in the 2000s, the gate mechanism on that signal was replaced with the current Safetran one, followed by NS replacing the Safetran mechanical bell that had been here with a Safetran Type 3 e-bell sometime between 2008 and 2013. The crossing then remained largely unchanged for nearly a decade, but, sometime between 2022 and when this video was recorded, NS replaced the Safetran Type 3 e-bell here with the current GS Type 2 e-bell.
Honestly, it's a bit strange that a GS Type 2 went-up here, but I'm guessing it's new-old stock they had on hand, given how new it still looks. Honestly, I'm kinda surprised that, despite the various upgrades to this crossing, the signal on the far right is still the old SOU one, which is honestly rather nice to see.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/P ... Dry_Creek/