Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 3-27-19*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights and a WCH mechanical bell.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights.

This crossing is pretty nice. It's an old 1980s SBD install that hasn't seen any changes since it was installed, aside from the emergency information. This is especially nice, since there aren't many "pure" 1980s SBD installs left in Alabama, especially gateless ones. The relay cases also seem to be a bit older and date back to either the SAL or SCL, so these signals likely replaced some old SAL stuff back in the 80s. The primary relay case here is also unusually large, with a much smaller one standing next to it, hooked in with the first one, makes me think there was originally a pair of old SAL block signals here that were later removed once the line lost enough traffic. Wouldn't be surprised if this occurred in the 1980s around the same time these signals were installed.

No changes here as of 6-28-19:

*originally recorded on 5-19-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs and a WCH Type 4 electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, 1 WCH 12x24 inch light with an Electro-tech LED, and 1 WCH 12x24 inch light with a Leotek EV Series LED.

Yesterday, I went back down to the Birmingham metro area to railfan, since I knew a few had been upgraded and I wanted to check-up on some others. As I was getting down there about mid-morning, I decided to start-out on the ATN Birmingham Sub, as I knew Z390 would be getting close. And I was correct, as not long after getting here and getting set-up, I heard the horn in the distance and just a few minutes later, the ATN's SD40-2 pair came through with the ex-HLCX unit leading.

As you can see, sometime since I last filmed this crossing, the ATN has done a few upgrades to it. First off, the original WCH mechanical bell here was replaced with a WCH Type 4 e-bell, I'm guessing due to the previous bell here dying. The lights here were also all upgraded to LED, with a small mixture of LEDs being used here, I'm just guessing it's what they had on hand at the time.
I actually found-out about this upgrade because I stumbled across a video from about a month back that showed a clip taken at this crossing, and you could see that the far signal was now LED with a WCH e-bell. I ain't entirely certain as to when this happened, though I suspect it was sometime relatively recently. Also, before anyone asks, I did check the other crossings on the ATN in Birmingham and Irondale, and none of those have had any upgrades since I last filmed/visited them, thankfully.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/I ... Commerce1/