Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 1-21-20*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights.
Signal on the far right: 4 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights.
Signal on the near right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights and a WRRS mechanical bell.

After catching the NS local freight (and talking with the NS signal maintainer), I saw that CSX M730 had pulled-up to 16th Street and was waiting to continue on. After almost 2 hours of waiting, M730 got permission to continue on, and I was able to catch him at this crossing with a single AC44CW for power!

This crossing is a very, very nice one and one that I had had as a high-priority for me to get on the Mineral Sub. It appears that originally, there was three WRRS signals from the L&N here, which probably remained largely unchanged after being installed back in the 1960s. Then, in the 1990s, the left-hand signal was replaced (for some reason) and the right-hand signal had its lights upgraded by CSX, with no major changes to this crossing since then, thankfully. In fact, I believe this is the last crossing with both 8 inch lights and a WRRS mechanical bell along the Mineral Sub, as all of the other ones have long-since been replaced, it appears. Thankfully, the WRRS bell still sounds quite good, outside of a few clicks when the bell starts.
Not entirely sure why the L&N installed a short WRRS cantilever on the far side there, but it was almost certainly for visibility reasons. Maybe perhaps, once upon a time, this road had a reversible lane? Either way, it doesn't seem to be entirely necessary anymore, especially considering the fact that CSX has never upgraded the lights on it. However, for that I'm grateful, as it's quite nice to get some more 8 inch lights in action, and the cantilever being a third auxiliary signal makes this crossing look quite neat, IMHO.

(And yes, I know this crossing's number on the site is wrong. I'll be fixing it the next time I update Birmingham.)
http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Birmingham/24_1/