Avenue F #2, Birmingham, AL

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*originally recorded on 2-8-20*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a dead WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

On February 2nd, I went back out to the Birmingham Metro Area to try and get the CSX Mineral Sub again. Thankfully, this time, I was successful. Before that though, when I got down there, I decided to go ahead and start documenting some crossings. While documenting this one, the signals over at the BNSF diamonds turned on, so thinking a train was coming on the BNSF Birmingham Sub, I grabbed my camera and ran on over to the nearest crossing on that line. However, when I got over there, I found out that the train approaching was actually an NS local freight on the NS Ensley Branch, so I ran on back up to this crossing, and was just barely able to get set-up in time. The train was pretty decent, with a nice pair of SD40-2s for power. I actually caught these exact locomotives a week prior at F L Shuttlesworth Drive, though that time, the ex-N&W one was leading.

This crossing is a pretty nice one, located within the Pratt City neighborhood of Birmingham. It features three different tracks running through it, each one being a different railroad line. From closest to furthest, you have the BHRR North Ensley Line, the NS Ensley Branch, and the CSX Mineral Subdivision. It appears that the bells here ring while the gates are down, but sadly, the closer bell is pretty much dead, only sounding out a few quiet clicks before dying about when the gates start to lower. The closer signal does still retain an older gate arm with a full set of incandescent gate lights, so that's quite nice to see.
However, despite three different railroads here, it appears that CSX installed and maintains the signals here. The signals appear to have been installed by CSX in the 1980s, but in the late-1990s, the lights and gate mechs were replaced with no other major changes to the crossing since then.
However, this is where things start to get weird. As you can see, NS and BHRR still have a pair of crossbucks guarding their tracks, for some reason. CSX, also had one as well (which still featured an older, white ENS sign), but, sometime after 2017, that crossbuck was removed. It's worth pointing out not a single other signalized crossing on this stretch of the Mineral Sub through Pratt City features any crossbucks.
What was also removed, for seemingly no reason, was all references to CSX's DOT number here. Sometime after 2017, CSX's relay case was repainted, which removed the DOT number from there in the process. Also, within this time period, for some unknown reason, all of CSX's ENS signs on the signals on this part of the Mineral Sub were removed and replaced with NS ones. As a result, one can only find the BHRR's DOT number and NS's DOT number, but not CSX's. This is also true for the other crossings on this triple-line in the Pratt City neighborhood, with them either featuring CSX's & NS's DOT numbers, or NS's and BHRR's DOT numbers, but never all three.
Either way though, this was still a pretty neat crossing, and I'm glad I got to record it.

[freebrickproductions]

No major changes here as of 11-28-21, though the closer WCH bell doesn't even attempt to ring at all now:


http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Birmingham/F2/