14th Street (AL 150), Bessemer, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-12-20*

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

After getting the local freight, I continued working my way north documenting crossings. When I got to this one, I had just begun documenting it when I noticed a train was approaching so I went ahead and set-up. After a bit of waiting (as I guess they had to get permission from the dispatcher to get onto the 3B District), this NS mixed freight (I believe NS 385?) came through with an SD70ACe leading a pair of ES44DCs. Another mixed freight got lined-up at the signal behind this guy, but he didn't get going until probably after I had decided to head on from Bessemer.

This crossing is easily the largest, and probably busiest, crossing in Bessemer, in part due to it being on a state route. In fact, despite all of the traffic lights around this crossing, the gates here get regularly taken out by vehicles, much to the dismay of the signal maintainers here who have to crank the gate mechs down every time they have to replace the gate arms here. (In fact, the signal maintainer I spoke with admitted that he wants the gate mechs here to be replaced with newer ones that have a button to automatically drive the gate mech down for that very reason). And this activation was seemingly no exception, as while the signals are activating, a J.B. Hunt truck runs the red light and whacks the lowering gate arm on the far side, knocking off the tip gate light. Thankfully, the spring gate on that side pushed the arm back into place, so hopefully no replacement is needed this time around.
The signals themselves are pretty decent, being a large pair of 1990s NS cantilever signals, which have had a few upgrades over the years. It appears that in the 2000s, the gate mech on the far side was replaced with a newer one. Then, sometime between 2014 and 2016, the original Safetran mechanical bell here was replaced with the current GS Type 3, with the traffic lights here all being upgraded at the end of 2016. Since then, it doesn't appear any noteworthy changes have occured here.