Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 12-2-19*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 2 pairs of Federal Signal 12x20 inch lights with Dialight Low Wattage LEDs, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 2 pairs of Federal Signal 12x20 inch lights with Dialight Low Wattage LEDs, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the light engine move, I decided to head on over to this crossing to catch whatever my next train would be. Turns out I didn't have to wait long as within a few minutes of me getting here, I heard a second train approaching from the west. This train turned out to be an eastbound intermodal train with a YN3b AC44CW leading a YN3 ES40DC and a YN2 AC44CW! This was easily one of my better catches of the day.

This crossing is a pretty decent one, featuring some nice older Federal Signal-branded Walpar cantilever signals from the SCL at it. It appears that these signals were installed in the early 1970s, but later on in the 70s, the mast lights were all replaced, with the original front lights being replaced by Safetran 8 inch lights, while the rear lights were replaced with what appears to have been WCH 8 inch lights. The crossing remained unchanged for a while longer, AFAIK, until the early 2000s, when both of the mechanical bells here (likely the original Safetrans) were replaced with the current GS Type 2s. The crossing would then go without any more major changes until 2015, when CSX upgraded this crossing to LED, replacing the 8 inch mast lights in the process. No major changes have occured since then though, it appears.
Also, for whatever reason, when the closer gate lowers (at least as much as it can), the gate seems to bounce a bit causing the bell on this side to ring again briefly.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Talladega/West1/

No noticable changes here as of 10-14-23, other than the issue with the one bell being fixed: