Gloster Street (MS 145) & Main Street #1, Tupelo, MS

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 9-1-23*

Signal on the far left: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights.
Signal on the near left: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights and a dead General Signals (Type 2?) electronic bell.
Signal on the far right: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights and a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell.
Signal on the near right: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights.

After catching the local freight and finally getting some lunch, I returned to this crossing to hopefully be able to record it. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long as, shortly after I got here, this BNSF H-BIRMEM came through with a BNSF ES44AC pulling on the head-end and a CEFX AC44CW working as the DPU! Definitely neat seeing another leaser unit, even if it wasn't leading.

This crossing is a rather neat one, and is easily the largest one in Tupelo, given how the Birmingham Sub cuts diagonally across a large intersection here. It appears that, back when this intersection still had US 45 and MS 6 running through it (both having long since been rerouted away from it), the Frisco had some gateless mast signals here. The only reason I suspect this is because, at an antique store here in Huntsville, I've stumbled across a painting, seemingly done back in the 1980s or early-90s, depicting the closest corner of the intersection. In it, it appears to show a gateless mast signal with what appears to be 8 inch lights and a US&S Teardrop bell on it, though, as this is a painting and not a photograph, I can't entirely say for certain if it's accurate.
Either way, the signals here appear to have been installed by the BN in the mid-1990s, and, per an old photograph on Google Maps that has sadly since disappeared, originally had a pair of Safetran mechanical bells at it. However, in the 2000s, BNSF replaced both bells here with the current General Signals Type 2 e-bells. Thankfully, since then, this crossing has remained pretty much entirely unchanged, though the bell on the west side of the crossing here has since gone dead (and, as such, I only suspect it was a GS Type 2).
All in all, this is a rather neat crossing, even if how busy it still is can make it rather frustrating to try to record sometimes. I always do enjoy filming intersection crossings like this though, so I'm glad to have been able to get a fairly useable video of this one. Hopefully it continues to remain unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm quite glad I got to film it when I did.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Mississippi/R ... ter_Main1/