Railroad Street #1, Montgomery, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 8-3-19*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs and an NEG electronic bell.

After catching the mixed freight and recording the Rheem, I decided to go and document a few abandoned crossings near the downtown. Unfortunately, it started absolutely pouring rain and thundering, so I had to hang out in my car for a while. But after it let-up a bit, I was able to go ahead and document the crossings, making my way back towards the CSX S&N Yard. When I had finished documenting the last one, however, I heard and saw a train approaching, but based on it being an older EMD, I had assumed it was a local. Either way, I wasn't going to let it slip by me so I quickly made it over to this crossing to catch him. However, much to my surprise, it turned out to be the CSX A724 I had caught yesterday! Not entirely sure why he was only getting into the S&N Yard at around noon, especially since he was scheduled to get out at about 7 or 8 in the evening the day prior from what I understand, but, if I had to guess, he was tied down just outside of the downtown after being run up here, or he was actually tied down in Dothan overnight and was actually scheduled to get a new crew at 7 or 8 in the morning on August 3rd. If it was the latter, then that's a shame, since I had a few more crossings I wanted to try to get. EIther way, it was nice seeing this train once more, especially with the Clinchfield SD40-3 leading. Also, as you can see, the hopper with the open door had emptied out completely by the time he got up here.

This crossing is honestly a pretty boring one. It appears that the left-hand signal was installed in the mid-1990s while the right-hand one is from the late-1990s, and both were likely knock-down replacements from some old L&N gateless signals. It appears that, originally, the right-hand signal had a GS Type 1 on it, but that was replaced sometime after 2017 with the current NEG e-bell. Up until about 2013, this crossing was still incandescent, but by 2014, it was upgraded to LED.
The crossing is gateless, however, so I guess that's some points in its favor. The set-up honestly kinda reminds me of some of the gateless crossings on the CSX S&NA North Sub though. This crossing is also probably the busiest crossing in Montgomery though, as almost all of the traffic heading into or out of the S&N Yard, as well as pretty much all of the traffic heading through Montgomery, has to pass through this crossing. The CSX S&N Yard is just north of this crossing as well, so trains will crawl through here, it appears. Not too bad of a crossing, I suppose, just a bit boring, it seems.

[SirKrunch]

Color me curious. What's up with the triangles forming the stop line on the street at both crossings there?

[freebrickproductions]

Color me curious. What's up with the triangles forming the stop line on the street at both crossings there?

They're the current "yield" markings, pretty much used with yield signs at intersections to indicate that you don't have to stop, but have to yield to cross traffic. Not sure why Montgomery replaced the original stop lines at the closer crossing with them though (and it appears they didn't do too good of a job of removing the old stop lines, given the fact that they're still visible).