Dolphin Road, Haleyville, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-18-20*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO gate light, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching NS 320 just south of Phil Campbell, I finished documenting that crossing and then chased it back down to this crossing in Haleyville. Not entirely sure why I picked this crossing, but I think it was because there are some old SOU intermediates not too far from it. The crossing itself is pretty decent, being a pretty typical 2000s NS install. However, at some point between 2014 and 2019, the bell on the far side died and was replaced with the current Safetran Type 3 e-bell, which makes for a nice combo here. Like with the previous crossing, the most of the gate lights here were upgraded to LED as well, though the ones on the closer signal also appear to have been mis-wired. The closer signal seems it could also use some attention in general, as one of the lights appears to be a bit crooked and both gate arms seem to be trying to lose their reflective striping.

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 7-27-23*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a dead General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and a RECO gate light.

This was the fourth crossing I caught NS 320 at, which has had a couple of changes since I was last here. It appears that at some point since my previous video here, NS replaced the main lights on the far signal with a set of Safetran 12x24s, which I suspect had come from one of the long-since replaced 80s installs along this line. However, at some point more recently, the front pair of lights were struck and broken off by something, no idea if these have since been replaced. Unfortunately, the GS Type 2 e-bell on the closer signal has also gone dead, which is a shame to see.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/H ... e/Dolphin/

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-26-24*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a dead General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and a RECO gate light.

After I caught 320 in Bear Creek, I chased them on down to this crossing in Haleyville to get an updated shot of it as well. Here we see 320 once again, still on their journey southeast towards Birmingham.

Since I last filmed this crossing, the main lights on the other signal were replaced with some newer Safetran 12x20 inch lights. Nothing else seems to have changed since I last recorded these signals, however, aside from the front-left light on the closer signal now being twisted a bit. I guess we'll see if NS ever fixes it, given that the twisted rear light at a crossing in Jasper is still there all these years later...

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/H ... e/Dolphin/

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 2-28-26*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell with Safetran Type 3 internals, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and a RECO gate light.

After catching NS 320 in Bear Creek, I continued chasing them on down to Haleyville since I needed to get another video of this crossing. Here we see this train at the sixth crossing I caught it at on this day.

Since I last recorded this crossing in 2023, NS has done a few upgrades here. The far signal was replaced entirely, I suspect due to being hit by another car again, with the new signal having LED lights but incandescent gate lights, strangely. At about the same time, it appears, NS upgraded the lights on the closer signal to LED. I didn't entirely notice this at the time, but, strangely, rather than replacing the dead GS Type 2 e-bell here entirely, NS chose to repair it using the guts of a Safetran Type 3 e-bell. I suspect these were pulled from the Safetran Type 3 e-bell that used to be on the previous far signal here. In fact, you can see the new speaker sticking down into the projection holes on the bell, which I'd first thought was just simply the old speaker of the bell hanging-down. Definitely the first time I'd seen NS do this with an e-bell, though I'm aware UP's done it quite a bit over the years with e-bells on their crossings.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/ ... e/Dolphin/