Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights, a WRRS/GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
The bell is mounted on the relay case under a small shield and I believe it's a Simplex mechanical school bell, but there weren't any labels on it that I could read.

This crossing has to be the weirdest crossing I've ever recorded. Not only does it have a re-used school bell hidden under a cover on the relay case, but it just has a weird activation sequence. When the crossing activates, only the lights come on. A few seconds after, the gates begin to lower and the bell starts ringing. The lights continue to flash until a few seconds before the gates rise. The gates then begin to rise and the bell shuts off.

I have no idea why the L&N used a mechanical school bell here, but based on Google Street View of a lot of crossings on an L&N line in Louisville, KY, I'm willing to bet that this may have been something the L&N did for a short amount of time, probably to save money.

Also, the GRS gate mechanism on the far signal takes a really long time to rise. I smell a replacement in the near future. Also, some of you eagle-eyed viewers may notice that the wind-guard on that signal is broken.

cabman701 wrote:

That was pretty much my reaction as well.

*originally recorded on 12-4-23*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Pedestrian signal on the right: 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After I caught CSX I141, I went up to Portland to get the Main Street crossing refilmed. After about 5 or so hours of waiting, I was finally able to get this CSX M209 flying north through downtown Portland with a pair of ES44AHs for power.

Admittedly, I'd been wanting to return to this crossing and get another video of the classic L&N signals that had been here, but, unfortunately, never really ever took the chance to do so. Then, this past summer, it was discovered that CSX was upgrading all three crossings in downtown Portland with new signals, which basically meant I now had to rerecord this crossing either way, and the unusual school bell here was no more. According to a signal maintainer I later got to chat with, apparently the bell here was powered via AC power rather than the typical DC power.
Admittedly, I ain't entirely sure why there's a gated pedestrian signal here now, as there isn't a sidewalk and I didn't see any signs of one soon to be going in. Either Portland/Tennessee wants there to be one at some point, or it was installed to avoid having the rear lights on the closer signal foul the tracks any. It does feature a full set of gate lights on it as well though, which is a bit odd looking.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/G-Q/Portland/Main/