Roberts Avenue, Dyersburg, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 4-8-26*

Signal on the far left: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Harmon Fading LEDs, 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light with a Dialight Ball LED, a dying WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanical bell, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the near left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Harmon Fading LEDs and 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Harmon Fading LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the southbound intermodal on the east side of Dyersburg, I knew the southbound mixed freight that I'd seen the tail-end of would likely be following it south. I'd gotten over here and seen that the TennKen Railroad was working in Dyersburg, and I thought I'd try to get them, but they were just switching the entire time I was here. When I heard the southbound hit the detector on the east side of town, I hopped on back over to this crossing and got set-up. I'm certainly glad I did, however, as, for my second train of the day I got what was easily one of my best catches on this day: a southbound CN mixed freight with a pair of IC "deathstar" SD70s for power! This was my first time catching a pair of IC-painted locomotives for power, which admittedly wasn't something I thought that I'd ever get to see in person!

This crossing is another pretty nice one, featuring a neat trio of signals at it. It appears that the signals here were originally installed by the ICG in the late-1970s, though, in the 1980s, the gated signals here were replaced by the current ones by the IC. Interestingly, the original gate mech got reused onto the closer gated signal, for some reason. At about the same time, it appears, that at least the lights on the auxiliary gateless signal here were replaced with the current Safetran 12x24 inch lights, though I'm not sure if the mast was replaced or not (but certainly not the base, it seems). Either way, in the 1990s, the IC replaced the bell here with a Safetran Hybrid bell. After that, sometime in the 2000s, it appears, all of the lights here got upgraded to Harmon Fading LEDs. Then, sometime between 2012 and when EthantheRailfanner visited this crossing in 2020, a few changes occurred here. On the far gated signal, the Safetran Hybrid bell was replaced by the current WCH mechanical bell, and the rear-right light had its LED replaced with a Dialight Ball LED. On the gateless signal, the rear lights had their LEDs replaced with GE Uniform Look LEDs. Thankfully, since then, absolutely nothing else has changed to this crossing, which is great to see.
Unfortunately, the WCH mechanical bell here is sadly pretty worn-out sounding, which is a shame to see. I suspect it's at least partially because the bell here rings while the gates are down, which is a bit neat to see admittedly. Either way, this is the only other remaining WCH mechanical bell on the CN Fulton Subdivision, so hopefully CN gives it some TLC. Either way, at least this crossing has a bit of a neat three signal set-up at it still, so it at least has that going for it I suppose. Admittedly, this isn't the only crossing on the CN Fulton Sub to have three signals at it either.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A- ... g/Roberts/