Tipton Road, Atoka, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 4-8-26*

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

After catching the southbound mixed freight with that pair of IC SD70s for the fourth and final time in Millington, I hopped-up to this crossing in Atoka for a bit (after catching their twice-weekly siren test on my way up to it) to see if anything else was running. After briefly meeting-up with a local railfan here and taking a break to snag some lunch in Millington, I heard a northbound passing through the detector just south of that city so I raced on back up to this crossing, where I got to meet-up with that local railfan again and another local railfan friend of his here. Here we get to see my third train of the day: a northbound empty CN coal train with an AC44C6M pulling by itself on the head-end and an ES44AC working as the train's DPU as it rolled into the siding to eventually meet a southbound of some variety. After this, I raced on down to Memphis to catch their weekly siren test.

This crossing is a pretty decent one, and I'm glad I got to record it. The signals here were originally installed by the ICG back in the late-1970s, but, in the mid-90s, the IC replaced all of the lights here with the current Safetran 12x24 inch ones. Then, in the 2000s, CN replaced the bell here with the current GS Type 2 e-bell. Finally, sometime between 2007 and 2012, CN upgraded this crossing to LED. Thankfully, since then, nothing too major has changed here, which is nice to see. NGL, I do quite like the way these modernized late-1970s ICG signals look, and I'm quite glad I got to record it when I did. The backgrounds on the lights here are certainly pretty decently faded.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A-F/Atoka/Tipton/