Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 9-20-19*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights and a Safetran mechanical bell.

After catching the military train in Guin, I tried to chase it on over here to Winfield. Got a bit lucky as he had to stop and meet a westbound autorack train at the siding in Winfield, which I saw the end of rolling through downtown Winfield. As such, I only had to wait a few minutes before the military train showed itself again once I got here.

This crossing was probably my highest-priority one to get on this trip. As you can see, the signals here are a pair of gateless Safetran signals installed by the BN in the late-80s/early-90s, and pretty much haven't seen any changes since they were installed! This crossing also retains the last mechanical bell along the BNSF Birmingham Sub between Birmingham and the Mississippi state line as BNSF has sadly replaced the WCH mechanical bell out in Gu-Win. Either way, I'm quite glad to have been able to record this crossing, as it appears that BNSF is in the process of replacing/upgrading the older gateless signals (along with replacing the signals with WCH gate mechs) along the line with newer ones, working their way up from Birmingham for the most part. As such, I have no idea how much longer this classic Safetran mechanical bell will be here, but I'm quite glad to have been able to record it!

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/W ... /Highland/

*originally recorded on 3-29-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights and a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights.

On March 29th, I went back down to the BNSF Birmingham Sub to get a few more upgrades documented and record what crossings I could. I set-up at this crossing to wait for my first train, but instead, this hi-rail truck came through after a little while of waiting. Thankfully, it activated the crossing so I was able to get my camera started in time and get a proper video of this crossing, even if it's just for a hi-rail truck and not an actual train.

As you can see, since I last recorded this crossing in 2019, BNSF has sadly since replaced the Safetran mechanical bell that was here, so this is sadly no longer a "pure" late-80s/early-90s BN install. Thankfully though, no other changes have occured here yet, last I saw, and hopefully none will be occurring for a while.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/W ... /Highland/

No changes here as of 5-21-24, thankfully: