Gum Flat Road, near Halls, 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, RECO LED gate lights, and a RECO gate light.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

While waiting to catch that northbound grain train with the IC SD70 pair just outside of Fowlkes, I heard a southbound passing through Dyersburg. As such, after I caught that great northbound, I decided to hop back south to this crossing just outside of Halls since I thought it'd make for a neat one to record. After a bit of waiting, I was able to catch my seventh and final train on this day: a southbound CN grain train with an ES44AC leading an SD75I for power. After this, I snagged a few photos I needed to get at a crossing in Ripley before making the four hour drive back home to Huntsville once again.

This crossing is another pretty neat one, featuring another nice stack of lights on one of the signals at it. The signals here appear to have originally been installed by the ICG in the late-1970s, but, in the 1980s, the IC replaced the closer signal with the current one and upgraded the lights on the far signal to the current Safetran 12x24s at the same time. Then, sometime in the late-2000s/early-2010s (and certainly before 2012), CN upgraded the lights here to LED. After that, sometime between 2012 and 2016, CN replaced the Safetran mechanical bell here with a WCH mechanical bell! The crossing then remained largely unchanged for several years after, but, unfortunately, sometime after 2023, the bell here was replaced once again, this time with the current Safetran Type 3 e-bell.
Thankfully, despite the various upgrades here, both signals here still retain their original gate mechs, which is nice to see. The bell here is also set to ring while the gates are down, which is pretty nice to see and I suspect is part of why the WCH mechanical bell here got replaced within the past few years. As I mentioned earlier, the closer signal also has a neat stack of lights on it due to the side lights being mounted separately from each other. It seems the ICG kinda liked to do this in the 80s and 90s, from what I've observed, especially at crossings like this not directly next to an intersection but still near one. Amazingly, the far signal even still retains an older RECO incandescent gate light on it, which is great to see! Definitely a pretty decent one to have ended this day off with, NGL.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/G- ... /Gum_Flat/