Hanging Rock Road, Clairmont Springs, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 10-14-23*

Signal on the left: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, 1 WCH 12x24 inch light with a Dialight Ball LED, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Low Wattage LEDs, a dead NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and a dead NEG LED gate light.

After I caught M202 at AL 77 in Abanda, I decided to chase it back north to this crossing, as I figured I'd just be able to beat it back here. Thankfully, however, I wound-up beating it here with plenty of time to spare, especially since they wound-up meeting a train down in Lineville. Anyways, after a little while of waiting, I was able to get M202 once more for my final video of the day, just as the last rays of sunlight left the skies of Alabama. After this, I went on back home to Huntsville.

This crossing is another pretty nice one, even if the equipment here is a bit on the boring side these days. The signals here appear to have originally been installed by the SCL back in the late-70s, and appear to be a WCH install with 12 inch lights, something I haven't seen too much of outside of North Carolina. Though, that being said, it's also possible this was an SBD install done back in the 1980s, but the relay case here suggests to me it's a 70s SCL install. Either way, it doesn't affect the equipment history here too much, as in the 2000s, CSX replaced almost all of the lights here with Safetran 12x24s, though one of the original rear lights on the far signal was left in place. Then, in the 2010s, more upgrades here occurred, as it appears this was when the lights were all upgraded to LED, with both bells being replaced by the current NEG e-bells sometime in the latter half of the 2010s or possibly even the very early 2020s. Since then, however, thankfully no further major changes appear to have occurred to this crossing.
Amusingly, both piece of NEG equipment on the closer signal are dead, including the newer NEG LED gate light, while both pieces of NEG equipment on the far signal are still working. No idea how it wound-up this way, I'm guessing it was just the luck of the draw. Wouldn't be too surprised if CSX replaces at least the gate light at some point though.
This crossing is definitely a rather rural one, Clairmont Springs is an unincorporated community that isn't even marked on Google Maps, and there certainly isn't much traffic on this road. That being said, however, I think the reason why the SCL (or SBD) had installed the gated signals here when they did is due to the woods around this crossing, and the fact that this crossing is located on some curves. Still nice to see another pair of SCL (or SBD) WCH gated signals in service here in Alabama, even if they are fairly well modernized these days. Hopefully CSX keeps them around for quite a while yet, but, either way, I'm glad I was finally able to film these as well.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/C ... ging_Rock/