Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 3-23-18*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a WRRS mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

This crossing is easily one of my favorites along the line, as it still features a WRRS mechanical bell that likely dates all the way back to the ACL! The bell also sounds rather healthy, though it also does sound a bit clanky, though that could be due to the fact that it leans backwards a bit. All of the other ACL equipment along the Lineville Sub in Alabama are just a few old WRRS masts that are still in service. It appears that the right-hand signal was installed in the 1990s to replace the original ACL signal, though fortunately CSX re-used the bell onto the new signal. The far signal was likely replaced around the same time, but appears to have been replaced again with the current signal by 2013. However, the counterweight arms on that signal were originally normal, but were replaced with the current ones between 2013 and 2014 for some unknown reason. Said signal also used to lack a bell originally, but CSX added the current one sometime after 2016 for some reason. It also sounds like the e-bell has a bit of trouble starting. And when the gates rise, the gate on the right-hand side didn't lock into place so the hold clear activated to lift it back up before it lowered in front of traffic.

*originally recorded on 6-18-22*

Southbound signal: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, NEG LED gate lights, and a RECO LED gate light.
Northbound signal: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a WRRS mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the southbound intermodal, I started going over to CR 11, only to see a southbound grain train already going through the crossing. As such, I turned-around and went over to this crossing to try and get it, only to wind-up beating the intermodal train I'd caught earlier over to this crossing. Here we see said intermodal once more.

After seeing a much better lash-up on the southbound grain train than I was expecting in Chelsea, I immediately chased it on over to this crossing, thankfully beating it here. And it should be easy to see why I chased the train over here, as this was easily my best catch of the day:
The southbound grain train had an SD70MAC leading an AC44CW! Glad to have been able to shoot another CSX SD70MAC leading, TBH.

As you can see, very little has changed to this crossing since I last recorded it. The southbound signal did have two of its gate lights replaced with NEG LED ones, but otherwise, the signals are still entirely the same as they were in 2018. Thankfully, the northbound signal still retains its classic WRRS bell, especially since it's the last one on the CSX Lineville Sub. It still sounds fairly healthy too, sounding about as it did back in 2018. Said signal also still retains a diagonally-striped gate arm, which is nice to see as well.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Westover/CR55/