Carrington Drive, Trussville, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-13-20*

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

After catching NS 179, I went on to the next crossing up and set-up there for the next train. After waiting about an hour, NS 16T got permission to head north out of Irondale to Attalla, and came on through this crossing not long after. However, he was easily my best catch of the day with an ES44DC leading the Erie Heritage Unit (an SD70ACe) and an SD60e, with a Dash-9 and ES44AC working as the mid-train DPUs! Certainly wasn't expecting to see NS 1068 on this train, but I wasn't gonna complain either! This also wound-up being the only other train I'd see on the AGS North for the rest of the day, though it wasn't the last video I'd record on the 13th.

This crossing is probably the best crossing along the NS AGS North District between Irondale and Attalla, and it's easy to see why: this crossing features one of the last two mechanical bells along the line in the state of Alabama! In fact, this guy is the only one between Irondale and Attalla, with the other one along this line in Alabama being a 1st Gen. Safetran mechanical bell up in Fort Payne (which I recorded all the way back in 2014!). Not entirely sure how this guy has managed to hang on for so long, but I'm glad it's still around.
The crossing itself is also pretty nice, being a "pure" 1990s NS install that hasn't seen any major changes since being installed, which was probably when this road was built, I'm willing to bet. In fact, all of the gate lights and both gate arms here appear to be original, though the closer one has been partially restriped. The gate arm seems to have bounced a bit when it lowered as well, causing the bell to click (and even ring!) a few times after shutting off. The bell then started back up again at the end of the train before the gates rose, for some reason, though I didn't mind hearing it a bit more. All in all, I'm glad I was able to record this nice older crossing, and hopefully it remains unchanged for a while longer.