Raywood Road, Woodstock, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-12-20*

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

I continued documenting crossings after catching the intermodal train, and when I got to this crossing in Woodstock, I found an autorack train dropping off some cars on the branch line here. Seeing as they were going west to Vance, I decided to head on back over to Vance and set-up, only to find-out they were going to have to wait on Amtrak 19. As such, I went back over to this crossing and set-up, and after a bit of waiting, Amtrak 19 came through with a P42DC leading a P40DC!

This crossing is a pretty nice one, featuring a pair of 1990s NS signals that haven't had any major changes since they were installed! Certainly quite nice to see another pair of these on the AGS South District, especially the mechanical bell.
This crossing also features four tracks at it. I'm willing to bet that originally, this had been a small yard that the Alabama Great Southern Railroad used to interchange with the Woodstock & Blocton Railway, the latter of which was a shortline that was built by the L&N's Alabama Mineral Railway between the two namesake towns. In the early 1900s, the L&N's interest in the Woodstock & Blocton Railway was sold to the AGS, leading to the line eventually being rolled into Norfolk Southern's system. Over time, the Woodstock & Blocton's line lost traffic, likely leading to this yard being mostly gotten rid of (one of the tracks is now a siding track, while the one closest to the camera is the north end of the line). Today, what's left of the former Woodstock & Blocton Railway is now just used by NS to store cars on it when needed.

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-12-26*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a dying Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

After catching the NS local freight, PlyingKibbles89 and I decided to hop on I-20/I-59 and head southwest to McCalla to see about catching Tannehill Parkway, only to find-out that the GRS Lex-Cs there had been replaced (apparently just two weeks prior to our visit according to the friendly signal maintainer we chatted with while waiting here), unfortunately. As such, I made the executive decision for us to go on over to this crossing as I figured we could still beat the southbound Amtrak Crescent here. Thankfully, we were able to get here with plenty of time to spare, and here we got to see our fifth train of the day: AMTK 19 with an Amtrak Semiquincentennial locomotive leading a P42DC for power!
Apologies for this video being stuck at an angle, BTW.

Since I was last here back in 2020, the only notable change to this crossing appears to be that NS replaced all of the NEG gate lights here with the current incandescent RECO ones. Thankfully, nothing else too major appears to have changed to this mid-90s NS install since then, which is great to see. Sadly, the Safetran mechanical bell here is now definitely on its way out as it noticeably struggles now as the gates lower. Hopefully it gets some TLC, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it gets replaced eventually.
Unfortunately, a large bush/tree at the abandoned property next to this crossing has grown-up quite a bit in the six years since my last visit here, completely blocking the closer signal from the right-hand side of the road here. Still a pretty neat view across the small valley on the other side of this crossing though, IMHO.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/ ... k/Raywood/