Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 10-17-18*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a GE electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

This crossing was a high priority for me, despite having pretty modern signals. The reason is entirely for the bell, as this crossing features the only GE E-bell in the state of Alabama! As far as I know, CSX is the only Class I railroad here in the US to have ever used these bells, and they didn't use them for very long, though there's still a few scattered across the country on the lines CSX owns. A few other railroads and light rail lines probably used these as well, though the only one I'm aware of is a light rail line up in New Jersey. According to the FRA, these signals here were installed in about 2011, and replaced a pair of crossbucks. Just east of here is where a spur breaks off of the siding track and heads into a quarry. The spur crosses AL 14 (seen in the background) at a crossing with a pair of gated signals, though I didn't get a change to record them, as I didn't see any trains heading through it.