US 231/AL 10, Troy, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 7-24-19*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with General Signals LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, an Energy Absorption Systems StopGate barrier, and Alstom LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 6 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with General Signals LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, an Energy Absorption Systems StopGate barrier, and Alstom LED gate lights.

The crossing itself was a pretty high priority for me, and was one of the things I was pretty glad to be able to get on my trip. The crossing features some late-2000s signals installed by either the railroad, it's then-owner (Gulf & Ohio), or under contract from the G&W, as the equipment used is quite similar to many of the installs on the BAYL, especially in Florida. According to the shipping date of September 17th, 2008 on both gate mechs, and the fact that Street View shows these signals in service when they went through in June of 2009, that tells us about when these things were installed. However, unlike most crossings, it was opted for the crossing to use some StopGate barrier arms from a company called Energy Absorption Systems. These barrier arms appear to have been made by a company called B&B ARMR Corp. (now B&B RSS), who likely allowed Energy Absorption Systems to sell them under their own brand name. While the latter company no longer sells any barrier arms like this, it appears that B&B RSS sells a newer, updated version primarily marketed towards being used on drawbridges and other movable bridges, though it does mention on the sale page for it that it could be used for railway crossings:
https://www.bbrss.com/product/vt-6802hdtr/
These gate arms are also rather unique in the fact that they're designed to stop an up to 5,000 pound vehicle moving at about 44 MPH, which is rather impressive given how flimsy most gate arms over here are compared to other countries!
However, I do find it doubtful that any railroads would likely install any of these any time soon. The only other known installations of these (as far as I'm aware, anyways) were at three crossings on the Wisconsin & Southern in southern Wisconsin (go figure). However, a few years back, the railroad had successfully petitioned the state of Wisconsin to have their three sets removed, citing such things as the fact the equipment is highly nonstandard for a crossing, and, despite how strong these barriers are, the fact that the FRA does not legally consider these "barrier-arm devices" to be actual crossing gates, and, as such, has no standards in place to ensure proper operation of these. Also, this is combined with the fact that the gate arms are really only useful on divided highways like this one, as the gate arms are required to lower into some holders on both sides of the roadway that it's protecting (and it sounds like the closest one to the camera makes an awful screeching sound when the gate arm lowers into it), means that there probably won't be any more installations of these at any crossings here in the US as far as I can tell. As such, this is likely the last pair of any gates of this style in the country, so I'm quite glad to have recorded it.
Also, interestingly enough, the bells here ring until the gates rise, though it appears the gate mechs take a minute to actually begin to rise after the bells shut-off. A few of the Alstom LED gate lights are also dead or dying as well.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Troy/US231/