Bransford Avenue, Nashville, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-4-18*

Signal on the left: 6 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

This crossing is a bit of a cool one, and another one that I had wanted to get as well. It's located along one of the remaining portions of the Tennessee Central Railway's Beltline that went around downtown Nashville, though most of it was bought by the state of Tennessee in the 1960s, abandoned, and then torn-up to build I-440 (which was never fully completed, from what I can tell). The portion that the NERR uses is used to allow them to interchange with CSX, and as such, there's a small three-track yard here, plus an industrial spur that passes through this crossing. The signals themselves appear to have been installed by the NERR in the 1980s or 1990s, with just the one WCH mechanical bell and two WCH gate mechanisms and are mostly unchanged from that. However, according to Google Street View, the original gate mast on the far side (which lacked a bell) was replaced sometime between 2015 and 2016 with the current one, and had the GS Type 3 e-bell installed on it. I believe the Safetran gate mech that's used was re-used from another crossing, though I can't say for certain. However, the remaining WCH gate mech here is the oldest WCH gate mech on the NERR, and the only one located west of Watertown, TN, AFAIK. The mast lights on the right-hand signal are also mounted on a small extension out from the cantilever mast, for some reason. This is also technically the southernmost crossing on the NERR.