Airport Road, Opelika, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-12-24*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After getting M605, we hung around this crossing as I'd heard there was another train running right behind it. After a bit of waiting, we were able to get our second, and, IMHO, best, train of the day: CSX W014 with an SD23T4 leading an ES44AH for power! It was definitely nice getting to see one of these SD23T4 rebuilds for the first time, especially leading! These are EMD SD40-2s which CSX has had rebuilt by GE with new GEVO prime movers, with the first one being completed for testing back in 2022.

This crossing is a very nice one, and one I've been meaning to film for literally years at this point. The signals here are an old WofA install from the early-1970s, and are still decently original. It appears that in either the 1980s under the Seaboard System, or in the early-90s under CSX, the closer signal had its gate mech replaced. Then, in the 1980s or 1990s, CSX also replaced the original bell on the far signal. Next, in the late-90s or 2000s, CSX replaced the original bell on the closer signal with a GS e-bell. After that, sometime between 2013 and 2015, the gate mechanism on the far signal was replaced by the current Safetran one, I presume being either reused from another crossing or new old stock. The crossing then remained largely unchanged until sometime between 2019 and 2021, when CSX replaced the GS e-bell on the closer signal with the current NEG e-bell.
Thankfully, despite these changes, this crossing still retains its original cantilevers with all of its original 70s Safetran 12 inch lights. It appears that at some point CSX may have installed the current 24 inch backgrounds on them to replace the original 20 inch ones, though I suppose it also isn't impossible these backgrounds are original as well. Sadly, the mast lights on the far signal are pretty well beaten-up, with their lenses and reflectors having been broken, as can be seen on madisoncountysirens4295's video of this crossing. I'm also glad to see the WCH mechanical bell is still here and sounding fairly healthy. All in all, this is still a nice little crossing and I'm glad I finally got it recorded.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/Opelika/Airport/