West Monticello Avenue, Madison, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-29-17*

Signal on the far left: 2 pairs of Federal Signal 8 inch lights, a dead Modern Industries mechanical bell, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the near left: 1 pair of Federal Signal 8 inch lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Federal Signal 8 inch lights, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

The crossing here is a rather nice one, but, as you can see, the bell is sadly dead. I'm guessing it had finally just died since it was sounding pretty bad when Ethan the Railfanner was last here. We called the bell into CSX after the train had passed, so they could come out here and fix it. However, the bell will most likely be replaced with an NEG e-bell, which is kinda sad when you consider that this is pretty much a pure mid-1970s L&N install (other than the gates and gate lights). Either way, I'm still glad I filmed this classic crossing!

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 7-10-24*

Signal on the far left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the near left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After I shot M584 crawling into Radnor Yard, I was hanging out nearby watching a yard job work the hump yard there when E002 came through with an SD70MAC leader, so I decided to hit the road and chase it north. I decided to go for this crossing again, and, after a bit of waiting, I was able to get my fifth train of the day: CSX E002 with an SD70MAC leading an ES44AH for power!

As you can see, this crossing now looks a fair bit different since I last recorded it back at the end of 2017. Not too long after I recorded that previous video, CSX swapped-out the dead MI bell for an NEG e-bell. However, in 2018, CSX replaced all of the signals here entirely (with the NEG e-bell *not* being reused) with the current ones, with the crossing basically remaining unchanged since. Thankfully, the new install still retains the neat auxiliary signal on this side, so the crossing does still look a bit neat. This new extra signal does feature a pair of rear lights now, something the previous install lacked. Interestingly, the lone bell here is also mounted to the same signal as the one on the old L&N install from the 70s. All three signals also have double-crossbucks on them, somewhat unusually.
Apologies for the dirt on my lens in this video, I didn't notice it until I got home. I'll see about returning here in the nearish future for a better video.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/G-Q ... onticello/

[freebrickproductions]

Got a better video here on 7-18-24: