CR 42, Stewart, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-4-25*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

On June 4th, vtgrxrman and I had gone down to this part of Alabama to try and get both Livingston's and Tuscaloosa's siren tests. After filming Tuscaloosa's siren test and snagging ourselves lunch, we had a good few hours to kill still before Livingston was potentially going to try to test their sirens again, so we decided to do some railfanning on the NS AGS South District. We made our way down to this crossing in the community of Stewart, AL, got set-up, and waited. After about an hour or so of waiting, Harris and I were finally able to catch our first train of the day: Amtrak 19 with a pair of ALC-42s for power.
Also, before anyone asks about the green Jeep on the other side of the crossing: my Mazda CX-9 was in the shop getting repairs to the bodywork done at the time. As such, I borrowed Harris's car for this trip.

This crossing is a pretty nice one, featuring a pair of cantilever signals installed by the late-Southern Railway back in the early-1980s. In the 2000s, it appears, NS replaced the relay case here with the current one, and also replaced the original bell here with the current GS Type 2 e-bell at about the same time. Thankfully, since then, nothing else has changed to this late-SOU install which is nice to see. I'm especially glad to see that both cantilevers still retain all of their original light heads and both of their original Safetran gate mechs. Hopefully this crossing remains largely unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I got to film it when I did.
Also, not sure why this crossing activated for over a full minute before the train reached it.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Stewart/42/