8th Street #1, Fort Payne, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 10-3-24*

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

After I caught 12T in Trenton, GA, I saw it was meeting the southbound so I hopped back onto I-59 and made my way back down to this crossing in Fort Payne. After a little while of waiting, I was able to get my fifth (and second best) catch of the day: a southbound ballast train with an ES44DC for power!

This one is another nice one, which I had also been meaning to record for a while. This crossing features a pair of old Safetran signals installed by the Southern Railway back in the mid-1970s at it, though, as you can see, they've been modernized a bit by NS. In the 2000s, NS replaced the relay case here with the current one. At about the same time, the lights here were all replaced with the current Safetran 12x20s, while the bell(s) here was/were replaced with the current pair of GS Type 2 e-bells. Thankfully, since then, this crossing has remained almost entirely unchanged, and these old SOU-era signals still soldier on. One great thing about this crossing though is easily the fact that both signals still retain their original mid-70s Safetran gate mechs, which are great to see. These I believe are the last ones of their kind on the AGS North, and I believe are now also the oldest ones on the line too. Hopefully NS leaves these old signals alone for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I was finally able to record this crossing when I did.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Fort_Payne/8_1/