Main Avenue #1, Sylacauga, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 3-25-20*

Signal on the left: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO 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 RECO gate lights.

On March 25th, I went back down to the P Line to finish-up documenting crossings along it in the Birmingham area, along with starting work on the Rome Line. While documenting some crossings in the Childersburg area that weren't on the P Line, I heard a southbound roll though on the P Line. Thinking I had missed it, I continued-on documenting crossings until I reached Zubers, when I saw the train I thought I had missed earlier! Seeing they were about to leave the siding, I quickly got on down to Sylacauga to record a couple of crossings I wanted to get. After a while of waiting, the southbound train that I was waiting on came: NS A45 with an SD40-2 leading an SD60E and three other SD40-2s!
Apparently the reason why this local freight got such a large lash-up on him was because two of the engines had failed.

This crossing is a fairly decent one, IMHO. It appears that the first signals here were some old Southern Railway signals installed back in the 1970s, which saw few changes to them for several decades. Then, in the early 2000s, the closer signal and relay case were replaced entirely, while it appears that the far signaly only had its bell and gate mechanism replaced at about the same time. The original Safetran 8 inch lights on the far signal would actually remain for several more years until sometime between 2017 and 2019, when NS replaced them with the current Safetran 12 inch lights.
No other changes appear to have occured since I first visited this crossing in 2019. The crossbuck on the closer signal's also a bit crooked.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Sylacauga/Main1/