Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Signal on the left: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, and a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, and a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell.

This crossing is a bit of a weird one. As you can see, it has two gateless cantilever signals, that I believe were installed by the Southern Railroad back in the 1970s (which gives a clue about when the current AL 20 bypass of Courtland was built), however, it appears that sometime in the late 1970s/early 1980s, the Southern Railroad upgraded most of the original lights to Safetran 12x24s, leaving the original Safetran 12x20s on the ends of the cantilever arms alone, however no gates have ever been installed for some reason (though that's likely due to how little train traffic this branch sees), nor have any rear lights ever been installed. One of the 12x24s on the mast of the left-hand signal was later knocked off and replaced with a Safetran 12x20 inch light. As a result, not only do you have a pair of gateless cantilevers protecting a crossing on a 4-lane divided highway (where the speed limit's 65 MPH, IIRC), you also have all of the three pairs lights on each signal facing in one direction (though with both signals facing opposite directions), and an odd-looking light pair on one of the masts as well. The right-hand cantilever's mast lights also used to face straight forwards, but for some reason, NS turned them towards the road a bit more. Either way though, I've now recorded each crossing in Lawrence County, AL at least once! Though I now just need to re-record Jefferson Street in Courtland as it's had its 8 inch lights replaced since I last recorded it. Also, the crossing had a tail-ring malfunction occur after I had stopped recording. It is also the northernmost signalized crossing on the NS Champion Paper Branch, though it's not much of a claim to fame due to the fact that there are only two signalized crossings along the line, with the other one being the next crossing to the south: Jefferson Street.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/Court ... US72_AL20/

Got another video of the crossing from the other side yesterday, including showing the tail-ring malfunction that the crossing tends to do on trains heading towards the main line.

Recorded both sides of the crossing today:

*originally recorded on 2-9-26*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights and a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, and a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell.

After catching 733 at AL 33, I decided to chase them on west to Leighton. On my way over there, I saw 733 meeting a 362 at Forrest, though I didn't think too much of it. I got set-up at Main Street in Leighton and saw 733 pull-up to the end of the passing siding there and wait. And wait. And wait. At first, I thought they were going to be meeting another eastbound leaving Sheffield, but the signals never lined for anything. Eventually, I realized they were being held out from Sheffield at Leighton, so I decided to go back east to see if I could catch 362. I was actually about to catch-up with them at Roberson when I saw them meeting an A10, which was pulling their power off the train to work the Champion Paper Branch out here in Courtland, so I decided to swing back around to get them as I'd been wanting to rerecord this crossing for literal years. After a little while of waiting here, I was finally able to catch my fourth train of the day: NS A10 shoving up the NS Champion Paper Branch to work the last remaining customer on this branch line with a lone SD40-2 for power!

As you can see, since I last recorded this crossing back in 2017, NS has changed some stuff here. A few years back, I suspect as a result of a car wiping-out the old signal, the left-hand signal here was replaced with a brand new one. Originally, this replacement signal had a Safetran Type 3 e-bell, but, at some point since it was installed (can't entirely recall, seems I lost my original photos of this after I noticed it?), NS replaced the bell on the newer signal here with another GS Type 2 e-bell. Not sure if it's NOS or reused, but I suspect the former given the condition of it. At some point before or around the time of the far cantilever being replaced as well, NS also replaced one of the 1970s Safetran 12x20s on the right-hand signal here with a newer Safetran 12x20 inch light. No other changes have occurred to the right-hand signal here, however, and I'm glad I was able to refilm this crossing for the first time in over eight years.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/ ... US72_AL20/