15th Street, Lipscomb, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 11-22-21*

Signal on the left: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 1 Safetran 12x20 inch light, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, a RECO gate light, a RECO LED gate light, and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After catching the mixed freight, I came down to this crossing to wait on Amtrak 19, as I think they'd finally gotten into the station by this time. After a little while of waiting (and the sun was sinking further below the horizon), I eventually got an Amtrak, but it wound-up being Amtrak 20 rather than Amtrak 19. It had the typical pair of Phase V P42DCs, but, TBH, I didn't mind it. Always nice to see them, IMHO.

This crossing is another pretty nice one. It appears that the far signal is an 80s NS install (though maybe a late-70s SOU install with the lights upgraded in the 80s), and is possibly the original signal to this crossing. I suspect that a similar one originally stood over on this side as well, but, it appears that in the late-90s, NS replaced the closer signal entirely while replacing the gate mech and bell on the far one with the current Safetran gate mech and what I suspect was another GS Type 1. The crossing seems to have remained largely unchanged after that up until sometime between 2014 and 2019, when one of the rear lights on the far signal was replaced with the current Safetran 12x20 and the bell got replaced with the current Safetran Type 3. Since then though, no major changes appear to have occurred to this crossing, thankfully, and the closer signal still retains its original GS Type 1 e-bell. Hopefully the Type 1 here hangs around for a good while longer, but I'm glad I've been able to successfully record three different crossings in the Birmingham area with GS Type 1s on this trip.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/Lipscomb/15/