Hunter Street, West End-Cobb Town, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 9-28-24*

Signal on the left: 3.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 1 Safetran 12x20 inch light, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After catching the eastbound intermodal, I went and documented some crossing signals over at the Talladega Gran Prix Raceway before going and documenting some nearby crossings that I'd missed the last time I was in this area, though I wound-up missing a westbound while I was finishing-up the crossings. Once that was done, however, I went over to this crossing and got set-up for my next train of the day. After a bit of waiting, I was thankfully able to get my second train of the day here: NS 346 with a lone AC44C6M for power! Hadn't seen a "one-unit wonder" for a road freight in a while.

This crossing is another neat one, and I'm glad I got to record it. The signals here are a pair of Safetran signals from the 1980s, which I believe were originally installed by the late-SOU or early-NS. It appears these had remained largely unchanged up until the late-90s or (early) 2000s, when a few changes occurred here. In this time-frame, the cantilever here had its bell replaced with a GS e-bell (assuming there even was a bell on the cantilever to begin with), while the far signal had its gate mech replaced with the current Safetran one. At about the same time, it appears, NS swapped-out the original 24 inch background on the far signal's left-rear light with the current 20 inch one. Then, sometime between 2008 and 2014, the original Safetran mechanical bell was replaced by the current GS Type 2 e-bell. The signals here remained largely unchanged for about another decade or so, but finally, sometime between 2019 and 2021, NS replaced the bell on the closer signal (again?) with the current GS Type 3 e-bell.
Admittedly, this is another crossing I'd been wanting to record for a while. For whatever reason, the overhead lights here are mounted out in front of the arm, rather than being centered on it. Typically when I've seen this, it's because there's an extra pair between the mast and the lights at the end of the arm, so it's a bit unusual to see them like this here. Either way, it definitely makes this crossing look a bit more unique, so I'm definitely glad I've been able to record it.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/W ... wn/Hunter/