Byhalia Road (TN 175), Collierville, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 4-12-25*

Signal on the left: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran mechanical bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 6 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, NEG LED gate lights, and a RECO gate light.

After documenting the trio of bell replacements in downtown Collierville, vtgrxrman and I hopped on over to this crossing just west of downtown Collierville to wait for our next train. Thankfully, after a bit of waiting, we were able to catch our third train of the day: NS 73Z with a pair of BNSF SD70ACes pulling on the head-end and another pair of BNSF SD70ACes working as the train's DPUs! Definitely a bit nice to catch another solid ACe lash-up on one of these coal trains.

This crossing is another great crossing that I've had my eye on for a while, and I'm glad I was finally able to get it recorded as well. The signals here were installed by the late-SOU back in the early-1980s, with Safetran 8 inch lights on the closer signal's mast, Harmon 8 inch lights on the far signal's mast, and all Harmon 12 inch overhead lights on both signals, with the pairs at the ends of the arms being 12x20s while the pairs in the middle were 12x24s, strangely.
Sometime between 2012 and 2014, NS replaced the front pair of mast lights on the closer signal with the current pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights. Then, sometime between 2014 and 2015, a few more pairs of lights here were replaced, with the rear mast lights of the closer signal and the two 12x24 inch pairs of overhead lights on both signals were replaced with some more Safetran 12x20 inch lights, which appear to still be in use on this crossing. Strangely, at about the same time, NS replaced at least the backgrounds on the rear pair of overhead lights on the closer signal with 24 inch ones. After that, sometime between 2015 and 2016, NS replaced the closer signal's gate mast (and the gate mech at the same time) with the current one, and remounted the rear mast lights onto it. Finally, sometime between 2016 and 2018, this crossing had its largest upgrade yet. At about this time, the far signal had its gate mast (and gate mech) replaced with the current one, the closer signal (which was originally bell-less) had its Safetran Type 3 e-bell installed, and all of the remaining 8 inch and Harmon 12 inch lights here were replaced by the current Safetran 12x20s.
Thankfully, since then, no further major changes appear to have occurred to this crossing. Amazingly, despite all of these changes, the far signal still retains its original Safetran mechanical bell, which is great to see. This Safetran mechanical bell is now the last surviving mechanical bell in Collierville. Sadly, it sounds like the bell skips a beat when the gates begin to lower, though it still sounds fairly healthy otherwise, which is good to see. The bell also rings when the gates are lowered, unlike the Safetran Type 3 which shuts-off when the gates lower, though I suspect it's supposed to act like the Type 3 here given that it briefly pauses when the gates lower. However, the far signal's gate arm amusingly strikes the ground when it lowers, causing the arm to bounce back up slightly, which allows the bell to turn back on. Speaking of that gate, the wind-guard on that signal is strangely mounted on a short extension off of the mast, due to the fact the gate arm can't be raised all the way vertically due to the overhead power lines on that side of the crossing.
All in all, this is a great crossing, and I'm still quite glad I was finally able to get it recorded. Hopefully it remains unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, with this video, I have finally recorded all of the remaining mechanical bells on the NS Memphis District West End!

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A-F ... e/Byhalia/