Hotwater Road, Soddy-Daisy, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 2-22-25*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 8 inch lights, 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching 224 just south of Graysville, I decided to head back south to Soddy-Daisy for lunch. As I was parking at the Subway I was gonna eat at, I heard a northbound approaching over my scanner, so I decided to race on back up to this crossing to catch it. Thankfully, I was able to beat it here with several minutes to spare, and I was able to catch my fifth train of the day: NS 174 with an SD70ACe leading an AC44C6M for power. Interestingly, the ACe leading this train is the second-to-last ACe NS bought.

This crossing is a rather nice one, and easily one of my higher priorities to get on the CNO&TP South. The signals here were installed by the Southern Railway back in the 1970s, though, in the 2000s, NS replaced the far signal entirely with the current gated mast signal, and the cantilever here had its gate mast replaced with the current one. At about the same time, I believe, NS also replaced the side lights on the cantilever's mast with the current Safetran 12x20s. I'm not entirely sure why the front mast lights weren't replaced, though I'm guessing NS figured that the overhead lights already being 12 inch was good enough. Strangely, sometime between 2007 and 2013, NS replaced the General Signals e-bell here with a reused Safetran mechanical bell. Said Safetran sadly didn't last too long, however, as sometime between 2014 and 2016, NS replaced the bell here again, this time with the current GS Type 2 e-bell.
Thankfully, since then, nothing else too major appears to have changed here, which is great to see. I'm especially glad to see that the classic 70s SOU cantilever here has remained almost entirely unchanged, and even still has all of its original overhead lights. However, I'm especially glad that the pair of 8 inch front mast lights on the cantilever here have managed to survive, as that means this crossing is one of the last two crossings on the CNO&TP South District to still retain 8 inch lights! Hopefully this crossing remains unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I was able to record this crossing when I did.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/R-Z ... /Hotwater/