Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 2-1-20*

Signal on the left: 6 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the light engine move at 27th Street, they had to wait on the NS local freight I caught earlier to clear the diamonds on the NS Ensley Branch, so I went on over here and set-up. After a while, the power move came through on their way into CSX Boyles Yard.

This is another pretty neat crossing, as, as far as I'm aware, this is the only crossing in Alabama (that's not a double crossing) where two different railroads each maintain a signal at the crossing. On the far side, NS's signal is from the 1980s, and has had a few upgrades over the years. First off, it appears that in the 2000s, NS replaced both the original Safetran gate mech and mechanical bell with a newer Safetran gate mech and the current Safetran Type 3 e-bell. Then, sometime within the past year, NS added an extra pair of side lights to the gate mast and realigned one of the overhead pairs of lights to face the same driveway.
On the closer side, you have a BN signal from the 1990s. Like the NS signal, it's had a few upgrades over the years. First off, the original Safetran mechanical bell was replaced with the current GS Type 2 e-bell in the early 2000s. Then, sometime around 2014-2017 (it appears), the Safetran gate mech was replaced with the current Siemens gate mechanism.
Either way, this is quite a neat crossing and I'm glad I recorded it. As each railroad maintains their own signal, each one has their own relay case. And as a result, both bells operate differently, with NS's bell shutting off once the gate has lowered and BNSF's ringing until the gates rise.