Hickory Valley Road #1, Chattanooga, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-9-26*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, 1 pair 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 with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the eastbound hotshot at Jersey Pike, I decided to hop on over to this crossing to see if I could get anything here before it got too dark as well. Thankfully, just after sunset, I was able to catch my fifth and final train of the day: an eastbound NS grain train with an AC44C6M leading an SD70ACe and an ES44AC for power.

This crossing is a pretty decent one, featuring a 1980s NS install that's pretty well modernized. The bell here was replaced in the late-90s or early-2000s, it appears, with the closer signal also having its lights replaced with newer Safetran 12x24s for some reason. Then, sometime between 2007 and 2011, NS replaced the bell here with the current Safetran Type 3 e-bell. At about the same time, the relay case here was replaced with the current one. After that, sometime between 2014 and 2016, NS replaced the lights on the closer signal with the current Safetran 12x20s (which were originally incandescent) and swapped-out the backgrounds on the far one with the current 20 inch ones as well. Finally, sometime between 2019 and 2022, NS mostly upgraded this crossing to LED, but strangely they left the rear pair of lights on the far signal incandescent.
Thankfully, since then, nothing else too major has changed to this crossing. Nice to see that both signals still retain their original 1980s Safetran gate mechs at least, along with the far signal still retaining a pair of incandescent lights. Still seems pretty weird to me that NS didn't bother upgrading that pair to LED like the rest of the lights here, as it honestly just looks rather strange as a result. Hopefully the signals here remain unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I was finally able to record this crossing, especially since I'd first documented it for the site all the way back in 2013!

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A- ... y_Valley1/