Broad Street, West Point, MS

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 7-25-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs Harmon 12x20 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights and a Safetran mechanical bell.

After catching NS 265 in Courtland, I went off and got the upgraded crossings on the BNSF Birmingham Sub documented, along with the signalized crossings on the Luxapalila Valley Railroad between Kennedy, AL, and Steens, MS. Since I still had enough daylight, and I knew there at least was a mini-bell out here, I decided to ride over here to document it, should it still be around. Sadly, the mini-bell is gone (having been replaced with a re-used GS e-bell), but I still documented both of the signalized crossings on that road. After documenting them though, I decided to go across town to see about documenting an 8 inch crossing (that's still unchanged, thankfully), but decided to go a route that'd let me pass through this crossing and see if it still retained its Safetran mechanical bell. Thankfully, it did, so I stopped to get it documented. Right as I was about to start though, I heard an RS5T to my south, so I quickly grabbed my tripod, and looking to my south, I saw this northbound local freight approaching. I'd thought about setting-up on the other side, but I noticed the sun was moving behind a cloud, so I decided to go with this side as it wouldn't be too backlit. A few minutes after setting-up though, the crossing activated and the northbound local freight came through on its way I believe up to Corinth with a pair of Southern Belle GP40-3s sandwiching a Grey Ghost GP40-3! It was nice getting to catch another KCS train, especially since it still had a grey unit in the middle of it and a nice RS5T on the leader.

This crossing is also a rather nice one, featuring a pair of older gateless signals. It appears that the signals here were originally installed by Midsouth Rail back in the mid-1990s, though it is entirely possible that the equipment here had been installed by the ICG back in the 80s, but the lights were then upgraded by Midsouth or KCS in the mid-90s. Either way though, at some point, the far signal was replaced by KCS and had some older Harmon 12x20 inch lights re-used from a different crossing elsewhere. The crossing was then left basically unchanged up until sometime after 2016, when the lights on the far signal were upgraded to Leotek EV Series LEDs. No idea when this would've happened, but I'm glad that the closer signal basically hasn't been touched since the mid-90s.
Unfortunately though, the Safetran mechanical bell here is definitely starting to wear out, as it's starting to sound rather "clicky" as it rings, and it also seems to struggle to keep a steady tempo. KCS probably won't have to worry about fixing or replacing it though, as there's pink tubing around the crossing (part of which can be seen right in front of the closer signal) that indicates this crossing is sadly about to see an upgrade by them.
Believe this is one of the last two last mechanical bells in West Point on the Artesia Sub though, or possibly even the last one if the one at Old Tibbee Road on the southeast side of the city has already been replaced (latest street view is from 2013, and I haven't been by that crossing to check). Either way though, I'm quite glad to have been able to record this crossing completely by chance, and it was quite a nice one to end the day off on.