Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 6-28-19*

Note: the description below is mostly written from the perspective of the first video.

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

After catching the mixed freight with KCS power at Antwerp Avenue, I decided I'd go back to 32nd Street to see if anything would head down the "passenger main". However, on my way over there, I saw a signal maintainer at this crossing who was finishing up his work here. While I was chatting with him (and helping him close one of the beat-up doors on the relay case), I heard a train horn to my north. So I went up to the next crossing north of this one, and saw a CSX local freight that was heading south to get to Irondale. However, they stopped before that crossing as they had to wait on permission from NS to get to Irondale, so I set-up at this crossing. After a little while of waiting, the signal at the junction changed and the CSX local came on through on its way to Irondale with a CSX C40-8W pulling the train, running long-hood forwards with a rather nice sounding K5H.

This crossing is another cool one. Due to the crossing being on a 4-lane road, the Southern Railway (whom originally had installed the signals here) decided to install some overhead lights here. However, for some reason, rather than using a pair of standard crossing cantilevers, the SOU opted to use some mast-arms mounted onto wooden utility poles, similar to how some older traffic lights would be mounted, giving the crossing a unique look. Interestingly enough, the bell here is set to ring when the gates begin to lower, and then it stops ringing when the gate on the signal it's on raises all the way. I can't confirm if it stops ringing when both gates are down, however, for reasons I'll explain below.
It appears that, aside from the "cantilevers" and closer gate mast themselves, NS upgraded the crossing in the early 1990s to have all Safetran 12x24 inch lights and Safetran gate mechs, replacing the entire gate mast on the far side in the process. The crossing remained relatively unchanged after this, aside from whatever the previous mechanical bell was (likely a Safetran mechanical bell) getting replaced with a WCH mechanical bell, well into the 2000s.
According to Google Street View, between 2008 and 2012, the WCH mechanical bell here was replaced with the current Safetran Type 3 e-bell. Then, between 2012 and 2015, NS replaced the mast lights on the closer signal with a pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights. The most recent change is to the gate arm on the near signal, which appears to have been replaced between 2015 and 2016.

As you can see, the crossing here is in pretty poor shape. The wooden poles holding up the overhead lights are quite possibly the original ones to the crossing, having never been replaced despite needing it as both poles sag quite a bit. This is especially apparent with the far signal, who's pole looks like it's about ready to fall over at any minute! The gates also needs some work as well. The near gate arm is a bit limp, causing it to sag when lowered, while the far signal's gate arm is bent about half-way up, which causes it to easily get stuck on the overhead lights. It appears that this tends to be an issue with the gate arms here if they happen to lean towards the overheads, as Google Street View shows the far signal's gate arm having lowered without issue, but the near signal's gate arm is the one stuck on the overhead lights. In fact, in the second video, the gate arm managed to get stuck in between the lights, causing the gate mech to start drawing so much current that it caused the Safetran Type 3 to start sounding rather scratchy before cutting out entirely before the gate arm was able to free itself. And, of course, there was also a tail-ring malfunction that happened shortly after the train passed. Either way, it's quite clear that this crossing needs to TLC badly, though according to the signal maintainer I chatted with, NS probably won't do anything major here unless ALDOT provides the funds for them to do so.

The line this crossing is on is also a bit interesting. According to the FRA, the line is called the NS Woodlawn-Bessemer Branch and appears to have essentially been a belt-line around the north side of downtown Birmingham, with diamonds and a connection to the L&N, serving various industries along the way as well as providing a bypass for any rail traffic heading to or from the NS West End District. However, due to changes in rail traffic in the area, this part of the line fell out of use for the most part, and eventually the diamonds and connection at the CSX line were removed between 1981 and 1997 (according to Historic Aerials), leading to practically no trains using this part of the line from then on. Then, sometime within the past few years, CSX, likely wanting a more direct interchange with NS, rebuilt their connection on the western end of this part of the line and now the line primarily just sees this CSX local freight running from the CSX Boyles Yard in Birmingham to the NS Norris Yard in Irondale and back, usually heading to in about the mid-afternoon.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Birmingham/1/

So is it too expensive for the maintainer to fix the gate from hitting the lights??? Also, WHY ON EARTH IS THE CROSSING NOT FLAGGED?!

ZachL wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:08 pm So is it too expensive for the maintainer to fix the gate from hitting the lights??? Also, WHY ON EARTH IS THE CROSSING NOT FLAGGED?!

In all honesty, I wouldn't be too surprised if NS is hoping some kind of accident happens here so that they can force ALDOT to fork over the funds to upgrade the crossing. Or, at the very least, for one of the "cantilevers" to fall over.

As for the gate hitting the lights, it appears that they do occasionally at least try to make an effort of fixing that, given that when street view caught this crossing in action, the gate that was caught on the lights was on the opposite side of the crossing.

Caught this crossing malfunctioning on 10-10-21, as the one gate arm got stuck on the overhead crossbuck for the signal there.

Got some videos of the crossing malfunctioning on 11-19-21, due to a broken bond at a rail join just south of it, along with a gate mech that was stuck in the raised position:



Also a bit later that same day I caught CSX Y130 going through the crossing, more info below:


Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

While I was hanging out here, CSX Y130 wound-up approaching and eventually getting clearance onto the NS main to head to Irondale to interchange with NS. A little bit after the maintainer got here, the NS dispatch gave them clearance and they came through on their way to Irondale with a pair of SD40-2s for power, which was quite nice to see.

As you can see, since I last filmed this crossing (properly, anyways), NS has replaced the overhead lights on the closer signal with a pair of Safetran 12x20s. Other than that though, nothing too major has changed to these old and admittedly worn-out signals. The far signal's gate arm is bent again, but this time, it's bent away from the crossing so it probably isn't as likely to get stuck on the overhead lights as a result.
The crossing when I filmed this had a broken bond at a rail joint just south of the crossing, so it was technically malfunctioning. As such, the maintainer here had to manually activate and deactivate the signals for the train. Other than that though, I think this was the first time I've been able to record this crossing operating more or less without issue for a train, lol.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Birmingham/1/