Burnt Hickory Road, Douglasville, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 3-14-25*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Dotted LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Dotted LEDs, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching 28J, I went back west and saw another eastbound was lined through Douglasville, so I decided to return back to this crossing and wait. After a little bit of waiting, I was able to catch my fourth train of the day: NS 26A with an AC44C6M leading an ES44AC and another AC44C6M for power.

This crossing is a bit of a neat one, mainly due to the cantilever on the far side here having originally been installed without mast lights. The signals here were originally installed by the Southern Railway in the early to mid-1970s, though in the 1980s, NS replaced the lights on the mast signal here. The crossing remained largely unchanged for a couple decades after, but, sometime between 2008 and 2011, both masts here were replaced with the current ones, with the lights being incandescent. Due to the cantilever here lacking mast lights, it seems NS decided to install some new mast lights on that signal. Rather than running some new wiring to mount the front pair on the cantilever mast, however, NS just decided to stick them on the new gate mast, which definitely looks rather unusual.
Either way, in 2015/2016, NS upgraded the lights here to GE Uniform Look LEDs, and replaced the original 70s Safetran 12x20 inch light heads on the overhead of the cantilever with the current Safetran 12x20s as well. Strangely, sometime between 2018 and 2019, NS went back through and replaced all of the LEDs here with the current GE Dotted LEDs. Again, not entirely sure why this was done here as well, seems like a waste of money to replace a set of LEDs that are only four or so years old at most. Still, definitely a neat crossing with the set-up on the far side here. It's also nice to see another pair of diagonally-striped gate arms in use here as well, hopefully they remain here for many more years to come. Either way, I'm glad to have been able to record this crossing when I did.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Georgia/A-F/D ... t_Hickory/