CR 59, Verbena, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 11-29-17*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1.5 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, and 1 Modern Industries 12x20 inch light with a WCH 2nd Generation LED.
Signal on the right: 1 Modern Industries 12x24 inch light, 1 WCH 12x24 inch light, 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, and a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell.

This is another really nice crossing along the line. It features a pair of older gateless WCH extendable cantilever signals at it, with the original overhead lights on them (though upgraded to LED years ago). The MI mast lights are replacements for the original mast lights (likely MI 12x20 inch lights), though one of them was later replaced with a newer WCH 12x24 inch light (likely after getting hit by a car). The crossing also used to feature a WCH mechanical bell, but when I looked at this crossing on Google Maps back around 2014-ish, I had noticed it was replaced with a General Signals electronic bell, likely a GS Type 2. However, when the crossing activated, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the new e-bell was actually a General Signals Type 1! The left-hand signal also used to have all WCH 2nd Generation LEDs in the overhead lights, but it appears that sometime recently CSX decided to replace most of them with Dialight Ball LEDs. The road used to be called "Depot Street", but it appears that sometime within the past few years, Chilton County dropped the street names from their roads that had county route numbers (read: pretty much all of them that they maintained, and even some that they don't), with the relay case having the street name on it updated to reflect this change. Also, Verbena, AL, is the only town here in the US with the name of "Verbena".

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Verbena/CR59/

[freebrickproductions]

No major changes here as of 4-23-23:


The overhead lights have had some of the LEDs fall into the lenses since my last video though, and the remaining WCH 2nd Gen on the far signal appears to have had a bunch of dirt or something build-up in the lens as well.

[freebrickproductions]

No changes here as of 5-16-24:

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 4-1-26*

Signal on the left: 1 Modern Industries 12x24 inch light, 1 WCH 12x24 inch light, 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, and an NEG electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1.5 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, and 1 Modern Industries 12x20 inch light with a Leotek EV Series LED.

On April 1st, vtgrxrman and I went down to the Montgomery area to try and get Elmore County's siren test, but, unfortunately, they cancelled the monthly test on this day. As such, we decided to head up to the CSX S&NA South Subdivision to see if we could get anything. As we were approaching this crossing, we heard something pass the defect detector just south of Marbury so we decided to set-up here and wait for it. When we got here, however, we found a CSX maintainer, who soon got out of his hi-rail truck and tested the crossing some. For whatever reason at least one of the overhead lights on the closer signal wasn't working, though it seems the issue was in the relay case as it was fixed during the second activation.
After the signal maintainer finished his work, he got in his truck and left. A few minutes later, we were able to catch our first train of the day: CSX M212 with an ET44AH leading a CM44AC for power.

Since I was last here in 2024, CSX did a couple of upgrades to this crossing. The most obvious one is that CSX sadly replaced the GS Type 1 e-bell here with an NEG e-bell. A bit less obvious from this angle is the other upgrade here, as CSX replaced the failing WCH 2nd Gen LED on the rear overhead lights of the closer signal with a new Leotek EV Series LED. Thankfully, nothing else has changed to this crossing, and these classic gateless L&N cantilevers from late-70s are still going strong! I'm glad I also finally got to film this side of the crossing as well.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Verbena/CR59/