Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Harmon 12x20 inch lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Harmon 12x20 inch lights and a WCH mechanical bell.
This crossing has one of the last four mechanical bells left along the BNSF Birmingham Sub here in Alabama, along with the last WCH mechanical bell along this line (the rest are Safetran mechanical bells). The bell doesn't sound too good though.
Re: CR 132, Gu-Win, AL
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:15 am
by freebrickproductions
*originally recorded on 1-6-21*
Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Harmon 12x20 inch lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Harmon 12x20 inch lights and a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell.
After catching the northbound intermodal train, I came down to this crossing next to wait on the southbound. Said southbound almost snuck-up on me, but thankfully I was able to get my camera started in time to get a good video of the crossing. The southbound train also turned-out to be a short H-MEMBIR with a shiny ES44C4 leading an SD70ACe.
This was another crossing that had an upgrade between my two visits in 2017 and 2019, and, like with US 278, the bell here was also replaced. A bit of a shame that it was, as the crossing had been a "pure" 1980s BN install up until then, but at least I was able to get a recording of it with its original WCH mechanical bell. I'm also not too surprised the bell here got replaced, as it was sounding a bit rough when I last recorded this crossing.
Even with the new e-bell here though, it's still a nice crossing and I'm glad I was able to record it.
Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs and a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs and a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell.
After chasing the coal train to Kansas, we let it go and returned to Gu-Win and got set-up at this crossing to wait for something. After over an hour of waiting, I packed-up my tripod again and went down to Winfield to see if anything was lined, only to find-out that there was a northbound lined. As such, we quickly returned back to this crossing, and, as soon as we got here, we saw the approaching northbound just down the tracks. Thankfully, I was able to get set back-up with a couple of minutes to spare, and this northbound unit train of empty flatbeds came through with an ES44C4 leading a Dash-9 for power and a friendly crew aboard. I have no idea what this unit train could be for, doesn't seem to be an empty military train due to none of the cars having DODX reporting marks. Ain't windmill parts either, as the cars are the wrong design. Anyone have any idea what this would've carried loaded?
As a side note, per rrpicturearchives.net, the Dash-9 on this train was apparently going to be sent back to GE, though it seems BNSF has decided to hold onto it for the time being, as it very much looks to still be on BNSF's roster.
As you can see, this crossing also had an upgrade done to it since my last video here. In fact, just a few months after my last video here, BNSF replaced the relay case at this crossing. At the same time, they rewired the cantilevers, replaced the lights on them with the current set of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, and added another GS Type 3 e-bell to the far cantilever. Since then, no further changes have occurred to this crossing, and I'm glad to see the old 80s BN cantilevers here continue to live on. I believe this was the oldest pair of signals I recorded on this day, lol.