Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 1-8-20*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Harmon 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2.5 pairs of Harmon 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the northbound CSX autorack train, I continued working my way south, documenting crossings along the line. While documenting this crossing, I thought I heard a train horn to my north, so I decided to go ahead and set-up my camera and hit record. Turns out I was correct, as a few minutes later, the crossing activated and I caught my second & best train of the day: a southbound CSX autorack train with a YN2 AC44CW leading an ES40DC (which has a weird font for the numbers on the cab)!

This crossing is another pretty nice one, being a late-1990s CSX install that hasn't seen too many changes done to it yet. The signals were still entirely original up until sometime between 2013 and 2016 (likely closer to 2013) when the lights were upgraded to LED. Then, sometime between 2016 and today, CSX replaced both gate arms here, along with 2.5 pairs of the Harmon lights on the overhead, for some reason (though the LEDs were re-used, it seems). Thankfully, both of the GS Type 1s are still here and sound quite nice together, so hopefully they'll be around for years to come. All in all, I'm glad to have been able to record this crossing.

*originally recorded on 2-13-23*

Signal on the left: 2.5 pairs of Harmon 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a dead General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Harmon 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.

After I029 snuck-up on me here, I reset-up on the other side of the crossing (as the lighting had moved over there) and waited for the next train to come. Eventually, this M647 came through with an ET44AH leading an AC44CW for power.

As you can see, since I was last here, a couple of changes have happened. Most notably, the bell on the closer signal has unfortunately been replaced with an NEG electronic bell, while the bell on the far signal has also unfortunately since died. No doubt that'll eventually be replaced with another NEG e-bell. The closer signal now also has an NEG LED gate light mixed in on it, no doubt replacing a dead RECO LED. Otherwise though, these late-90s CSX cantilevers are still largely the same as since I last recorded them, though a few of the LEDs here have had their arrays fall into their lenses, it appears.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/M ... _Majestic/