Temple Avenue, Highwood, IL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 11-15-23*

Signal on the left #1: 1 Griswold Type-B 8 inch light and 1 Unknown (Safetran?) 14 inch "No Right Turn" light.
Signal on the left #2: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 1st Gen LEDs, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 1st Gen LEDs, an ASC Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Pedestrian signal on the left: a WCH gate mechanism.
Pedestrian signal on the right: a WCH gate mechanism.
This crossing is located in a quiet zone. Trains do not blow their horns at this crossing.

After catching the outbound Metra at Northbrook, I continued on over to Highwood for another crossing on the north side of Chicago I wanted to film. After a bit of waiting here, I was able to catch another outbound Metra train meeting an inbound one at the station near this crossing, each with an F40PH-3 for power.

This crossing is another rather nice one, and certainly one I'm very glad I got to record. It appears that originally, the C&NW had installed some Griswold signals here. However, in the 1980s, the C&NW replaced all of the gated signals here with then-modern Safetran ones, with at least the pedestrian gates featuring Model 85 gate mechs. Then, in the mid-90s (or slightly before), the C&NW replaced the bell here with an ASC e-bell. Then, in the late-90s and/or early-2000s, UP did a couple of upgrades here. One was upgrading the gated signals to LED, while the other was (unusually for UP at the time) replacing the gate mechs on the same signals with newer Safetran ones. Finally, sometime between 2007 and 2012, UP added a GS Type 2 e-bell to the closer signal, which originally didn't have one, and replaced both of the Model 85 gate mechs on the pedestrian signals with the current WCH ones. Since then, thankfully, no major changes have occurred to this crossing, outside of the closer signal having its base replaced with a WCH one sometime between 2012 and 2015.
While the ASC e-bell here is quite nice, and is easily one of the main reasons I went for this crossing, the real star of the show here is easily the No Right Turn signal at this crossing. This one is definitely a classic C&NW signal dating back to the old Griswold equipment originally here, though the base on it was replaced with a Federal Signal one in the 1960s or 70s (a bit unusually as well, given that the C&NW seems to have largely stuck with Griswold/RACO/Safetran equipment), and there's a chance the 14 inch light on it is newer as well. However, this signal very much features something rather special for me: a Griswold Type B light! These are easily one of my favorite 8 inch lights, especially since they mount from the back rather than the top of the head, and have a rather neat design. Unfortunately, they're getting rather rare to find these days, and I haven't been able to record any of the other crossings I've visited with them, though with this crossing I was finally able to film one in action. Strangely, this particular light has a completely untextured yellow lens in it, which certainly looks a bit odd, especially since incandescent lenses usually have at least some texturing on them to reduce sun-phantoming.
Hopefully this nice crossing continues to remain unchanged for many more years to come, though, with the upgrades Illinois wants UP (and other railroads) to do, its days may start being numbered sooner rather than later. Either way, I'm quite glad I was finally able to film a Griswold Type B light in action, along with another ASC e-bell.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Illinois/A-K/Highwood/Temple/