Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

No major changes here as of 11-27-23, though the Safetran mechanical bell has been given another tune-up:

They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

Still the same as of 12-31-23, the Safetran mechanical bell here is still sounding strong over a month later as well.
They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

And here's the crossing as of 3-10-24:
They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

And here's another video of this crossing from 3-11-24, this time with a heritage unit leading:


It doesn't seem like the gate arm on the far side quite lowered all the way though.
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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

No major changes here as of 7-7-24, though the Safetran mechanical bell here is now completely dead:
They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

The Safetran mechanical bell here works again as of 11-6-24:
They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

The Safetran still works as of 12-31-24:
They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »

No changes as of 2-1-25:
They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

Post by freebrickproductions »




*originally recorded on 4-8-25*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1 Safetran 12x20 inch light with a Leotek EV Series LED, a dying Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
This crossing is located in a quiet zone. Trains do not blow their horns at this crossing.

After catching A43 in downtown Madison, I hopped on over to this crossing in downtown Decatur as I'd seen a change while I was out here the night before. After a little while of waiting, a CSX Y101 pulled-up to the signals here for the junction here and waited, causing the crossing here to time-out in the process. For anyone curious, the train had an SD40-3 for power, though I never filmed it.

After catching this crossing timing-out, I hung around here and waited for something to move, fully expecting to see Y101 pull through the crossing to start working the interchange yard behind me. However, during this wait, A43 had finished-up dropping-off its autoracks at Greenbrier, and was on the move west to Decatur. As such, I was eventually able to get NS A43 here once again, though now without the autoracks on the rear of it.

Since I was last here, it appears that NS replaced the gate arm on the closer signal. As a result, the gate lights on the closer signal are now all RECO LEDs, bringing this crossing slightly closer to becoming fully LED. Thankfully, nothing else here has changed, and the dying Safetran mechanical bell at this crossing's managing to hang-on still.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Decatur/Vine1/
They/Them for me, please.

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Re: Vine Street #1, Decatur, AL

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*originally recorded on 6-16-25*

Eastbound signal: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1 Safetran 12x20 inch light with a Leotek EV Series LED, a dying/dead Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Westbound signal: 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
This crossing is in a quiet zone, trains do not blow their horns at this crossing.

On June 16th, I went out to the CSX S&NA North Subdivision to do some railfanning. First though, I stopped by Vine Street #1 on the NS Memphis East to see about getting this crossing rerecorded due to a recent upgrade at it. Shortly after I got here, I was able to catch my first train of the day: CSX L849 with a lone ES44AH for power.
While L849 was passing, A04 pulled-up to Vine Street to await their turn to cross the Tennessee River. As such, once L849 passed, I hopped on over to the west side of the crossing to record it. A couple of minutes later, I was able to catch my second train of the day: NS A04 heading for Greenbrier with a lone SD40-2 for power.

Sometime after I last recorded this crossing, NS upgraded the gate lights on the cantilever here to LED, finally making this crossing fully LED for the first time since the 12 inch lights here were upgraded to LED back in 2018! No idea why the incandescent gate lights here lasted seven years longer, TBH.
During the first video, the Safetran mechanical bell here sounded like it was still working (if only just). However, in the next video I recorded of this crossing (literally right after the first one) on the other side of the crossing, the Safetran mechanical bell here didn't work at all.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Decatur/Vine1/
They/Them for me, please.

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