Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 11-29-17*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 2 pairs of Harmon 12x24 inch lights, a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 Modern Industries 12x20 inch light, 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light, 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

This is another great crossing right here. The right-hand signal is another older extendable WCH cantilever signal with almost all of the original equipment on it, though the overhead lights were upgraded to LED some years ago by CSX and one of the mast lights was replaced, along with the gate arm and gate lights. The other signal probably used to be another WCH cantilever with Modern Industries 12x20s, but it was probably knocked-down in the early 2000s and replaced with the cantilever that's there currently, though I don't mind too much as this crossing now has a General Signals Type 1 as a result. One of the WCH 2nd Gen LEDs facing the camera has also had the LED board come out of the lens so it's leaning forwards in the LED. Just south of this crossing is the abandoned Clanton depot.

*originally recorded on 6-26-22*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 2 pairs of Harmon 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light, 1 Modern Industries 12x20 inch light, 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching M521 in Calera, we chased it on south back to Clanton for one final video. I was kinda hoping we could get it here while it was still relatively light out, but, unfortunately, it wound-up coming a bit after sunset and after a fair amount of clouds had built-up from nearby storms. Thankfully, it didn't rain on us while we were here, but it was raining pretty well at the rest area on I-65 just north of Clanton. Either way, after filming this video, I headed on back home, dropping Zac off at his house along the way.

As you can see, there has been a notable change to this crossing since I last filmed it. Unfortunately, CSX replaced the GS Type 1 here relatively recently with the current NEG e-bell, I suspect due to the old bell dying. Thankfully, the old L&N cantilever here still survives and appears to still be going strong, which I'm glad to see. Hopefully it remains in service for a very long time.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Clanton/2/

Got a daytime video of the crossing on 4-23-23:

*originally recorded on 11-5-25*

Signal on the left: 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light, 1 Modern Industries 12x20 inch light, 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a GRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 2 pairs of Harmon 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a GRS gate mechanism, a RECO LED gate light, and NEG LED gate lights.

Yesterday morning, I got on up at 3 AM and hit the road for Millbrook, AL, picking-up CentralALSirens on the way in Birmingham for a day of siren tests. As we had plenty of time to make it there, we were following US 31 down to see if anything had changed to the CSX S&NA South Subdivision when we made a quick stop in downtown Clanton due to my scanner running low on battery. Unfortunately, when I tried to restart my car, it just refused to start. While waiting here for a tow truck to arrive to try and get it started, I was able to catch my lone train of the day: CSX M524 heading north through downtown Clanton with a pair of ES44AHs for power. Admittedly, nothing super interesting, but it was still nice to catch at least one train on this day. The horn's echo also sounded pretty nice when they were blowing for Pipe Street, which is why I chose to leave that in when editing this video.
After this, we were able to get my car started and I went on back home to Huntsville.

It appears that, sometime after I last recorded this crossing back in 2023, CSX replaced two of the gate lights on the closer signal with the current NEG LED gate lights. Thankfully, nothing else appears to have changed here since then, which is great to see. I'm glad to see that the classic L&N-era cantilever (with its original overhead light heads, even if they are now LED) on the far side is still around, and it's nice to see that both GRS Type D gate mechs are still here as well. I will admit, it'd been a hot minute since I last filmed some GRS Type Ds, so I'm glad I was able to get this pair rerecorded at least.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Clanton/2/