Republic Road, near Forestdale, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-18-20*

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

After catching NS 320 at CP Bryan, I chased it on down to this crossing in rural Jefferson County just outside of Forestdale. This crossing is another nice one, featuring a pair of mostly-original gateless signals installed by the Southern Railway back in the 1960s. In the 1970s, the lights here were all upgraded to Safetran 12 inch lights, though for whatever reason, it appears that the SOU chose to mix in a pair of 20 inch backgrounds on the rear lights of the far signal, given the fact that the rest appear to have used 24 inch backgrounds since installation. Either way though, the crossing remained pretty much untouched up until at least 2008.
Then, sometime between 2008 and 2013, NS sadly replaced the original WRRS 1203 bell here with the current GS Type 2. The crossing then remained further unchanged until sometime between June of 2019 and when I first visited this crossing in March of 2020, when one of the front lights on the far signal was replaced with a newer Safetran 12x20 inch light (I'm guessin' due to bein' struck by somethin'), though the rest of the older Safetran 12 inch lights from the 70s still remain here, thankfully. No other changes appear to have occured here since March of this year either.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/F ... /Republic/