St. Elmo Road, Bartlett, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-31-25*

Signal on the left: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Far median signal: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Near median signal: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a sick(?) Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After getting the siren test here in Bartlett filmed, I went off and got myself some lunch, sadly missing a southbound mixed freight in the process, and made my way over to the Oak Road crossing to wait for a train. After a few hours of waiting, however, I decided to move over to this crossing right next to it instead, as I wasn't too happy with the angle I had at that crossing (partially due to my back-up tripod being a lot shorter and lighter weight than my primary tripod), and the lighting there wasn't getting any better as the day went on. As such, I decided to hop on over to this crossing and wait for the northbound that I heard apparently typically leaves Memphis in the mid-afternoon over here instead. Thankfully, after only a little bit more waiting, I was able to catch my second train of the day here: (what I believe was) CSX M532 with an ES40DC leading an ET44AH for power.

This crossing is honestly a rather nice one, featuring a mid-2000s CSX install that's literally almost entirely original still! In fact, this crossing is so original that three of the four signals here even still retain their original diagonally-striped fiberglass gate arms, which is great to see! Literally the only noticeable changes here since these signals were installed was the replacement of the original white ENS signage with the modern blue ones at some point, and the fact that the gate arm and gate lights on the far median signal sometime after street view last passed through here back in 2023. Sadly, it sounds like the closer cantilever's Safetran Type 3 e-bell might be starting to get sick, as it sounds like it skips a few times while it's on. Regardless though, this is honestly a nice crossing, and I'm glad I was able to film it while it was pretty much still fully original. Mid-2000s CSX installs like this are honestly my favorite of CSX's "modern" (or at least LED) installs, as they honestly just look rather nice IMO. Hopefully it continues to remain (almost) fully original for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I was able to record this crossing when I did.
As you can probably also tell, someone has managed to climb-up onto the closer cantilever here and vandalize the backgrounds on one of the overhead pairs of lights here. I imagine CSX may eventually get that pair repainted, but I guess we'll see.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A- ... t/St_Elmo/