Athens-Quincy Road, Quincy, MS

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 9-14-23*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a US&S Model 95 gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a US&S Model 95 gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

A little bit after the northbound autorack train came through, the rain finally let-up and I was able to get my camera set-up. While waiting for the next train, a BNSF hi-rail truck came through ahead of a weed sprayer hi-rail truck, and the guy driving that let me know that there was an 8 hour curfew on the line in Alabama due to a switch down there being replaced. However, he checked and saw there was a southbound ethanol train approaching but was still probably about an hour out, so I thanked him and continued to wait.
After about an hour of waiting, this southbound ethanol train came through with an H2 Dash-9 leading an H3 ES44C4 and an H3 SD70ACe on the head-end, and another H3 SD70ACe working as the train's DPU! Definitely was worth waiting the hour for.

This crossing is a nice one, and appears to have a bit of an interesting history with it. It appears that originally, there were a pair of Frisco signals here, but, in the late-1990s, BNSF replaced them. These signals remained largely unchanged until sometime between 2015 and 2019, when the bell on the far signal was replaced. Then, sometime between 2019 and 2022, the closer signal was replaced for some reason. Interestingly, the closer signal appears to have reused a Safetran mast (or base) from the early-2010s, and a set of incandescent Safetran 12x24s. No idea where either of these would've come from. It seems the US&S Model 95 gate mechanism from the old signal was reused onto this replacement signal.
Another neat thing about this crossing is that it's still on the old Frisco relay case, and also still operates on the old Frisco bell sequence. As such, the bell here shuts-off when the gates are down, rare for a BNSF crossing these days, and then rings again when the gates rise, also rare for a BNSF crossing these days. It also seems like this crossing is on its original flasher relay, due to the lights flashing a bit slower than they typically do for a BNSF crossing. Kinda surprised this crossing didn't get a full upgrade when BNSF did a bunch of upgrades to the Birmingham Sub a few years back, but I ain't gonna complain about it.
All in all, this is a pretty neat crossing and I'm glad I got the opportunity to film it. Hopefully BNSF will leave it alone for years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I got at least this video of it.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Mississippi/G ... ns-Quincy/