Brock Road, Brownsboro, AL

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Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

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Got another video from the other side today:

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Another video today with ex-SP and ex-CEFX engines this time:

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*originally recorded on 1-1-20*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

Went out today to go ahead and get an early start on railfanning this year. In fact, this is easily the earliest I've gotten out to get trains in a year, TBH. I decided to head out to the NS Memphis District East End today, mostly to see what all's changed along the part east of Decatur. The line was a bit slow today though, and I only saw three trains, though I was able to chase all of them a bit. This was the first train I caught today: NS 362 with a pair of AC44C6Ms for power. Interestingly enough, the trailing AC44 was still in old NS paint.

This crossing's had a few changes since I last recorded the crossing in 2018. First off, both signals appear to have been remounted onto newer foundations that are higher up than the old ones. Likely around this same time, a few things were replaced on the signals. One of the more minor changes was the gate arms, though the gate lights were re-used from the old ones. The next change was that the front pair of lights on both signals were replaced with newer pairs Safetran 12x20 inch lights, though the new lights are also incandescent. Finally, the last change (and, IMHO, the most unfortunate), was that the Safetran mechanical bell here was replaced with a Safetran Type 3 e-bell. Oddly enough, the "new" e-bell appears to have been re-used from another crossing, as it features the older base.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Brownsboro/Brock/

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*originally recorded on 12-17-22*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

After catching NS 286 in downtown Huntsville, I chased it over to this crossing as I'd seen an old signal from this crossing laying in downtown. Turns out that the far signal here was indeed replaced, but it was replaced with the old signal from Shelton Road in Madison, and nothing really too major with that signal has changed equipment-wise (as all of the lights, the bell, and the gate mech are all basically the exact same), though the gate lights on it are now all RECO LEDs. For all I know, the far signal might've been replaced back when NS did some upgrades to the signals here back in 2019.
No other changes have occurred to this crossing since I last filmed it, however.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Brownsboro/Brock/

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No major changes here as of 7-24-23:

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Got another video here on 1-28-24:

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Finally got a video of the north side of the crossing again on 9-6-24:

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*originally recorded on 6-18-25*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO gate lights, and a RECO LED gate light.

I heard over the scanner that A81 and A23 were both meeting 286 at Elko, so, after I caught A23, I made my way back over to this crossing for the 286 that was approaching. After nearly an hour of waiting, during which I got to meet-up with traincrazykid1917 while waiting here, I was able to catch my fourth train of the day: NS 286 with a pair of AC44C6Ms for power.

It appears that sometime within the past few months, NS upgraded this crossing to LED. I suspect this would've occurred around the same time Brownsboro Road got its LEDs, though either way I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this either. In fact, the only reason I even knew about this upgrade was because of a video alabamadistrictrailfan posted earlier in the month showing this crossing was LED. At about the same time, it appears, the bell here was replaced with the current GS Type 3 electronic bell. I suppose it's possible that the Safetran Type 3 here had just simply died, but it seems like this happened as a result of the LED upgrade (as it seems Alabama is spec'ing bell replacements alongside most LED upgrades on this line as of late), so if that was the case it'd be a bit strange given that this crossing already had an e-bell. It appears that the tip gate light on the closer signal's gate arm was upgraded to a RECO LED gate light at some point as well, though the other two gate lights on that gate arm thankfully remain incandescent (for the time being, anyways).

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/ ... oro/Brock/