Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 5-12-20*

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

After Amtrak 19 came through, I went back over to Vance and set-up at this crossing. After a bit of waiting, the empty autorack train I had seen earlier in Woodstock came through with an ES44DC leading an AC44C6M.

This crossing is a bit of an interesting one. Previously, there were a pair of 1990s gated NS signals here, though one of the lights on the far signal had been replaced with a Safetran 12x24 (or at least had the background replaced with a 24 inch one) by 2007. Then, sometime between 2007 and 2013, the road here was widened and a new cantilever signal was installed, with the original 90s mast signal on this side lost its bell and was moved slightly to be re-used as the gate mast for the new cantilever (but kept the front pair of lights, strangely enough). At around this same time, the far signal had its lights replaced and the bell also became a Safetran Type 3. The crossing then remained mostly unchanged until sometime between 2016 and 2018, when the far signal was replaced entirely, though the bell was re-used. Most recently, however, the Safetran Type 3 on the far side died and was replaced with the current GS Type 3. However, despite these changes, the remaining 90s signal (now the cantilever's gate mast) has pretty much remained entirely unchanged, save for the loss of the bell.
Also a bit unusually, the GS Type 2 on the closer signal has NS's typical bell operation (shutting off when the gates lower), while the GS Type 3 on the far side remains on until the gates rise. Not entirely sure why that happens.
US 11 and a 2001-SRN siren can also be seen on the far side of the crossing.