Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 5-31-20*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a US&S mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a US&S mechanical bell, an Invensys Rail gate mechanism, an NEG LED gate light, and RECO LED gate lights.

On May 31st, I got on up bright and early to railfan the CSX Mainline Sub on my way back down to Huntsville. I had heard CSX Q573 usually left Osborn Yard between 6 and 7 in the morning, so I got out here right about sunrise to try and catch him, though, unknown to me at the time, he was running a few hours behind. While I was waiting, I heard a northbound train, W048, calling some signals near me, and passing a defect detector to my south, so I got my camera rolling. What soon came was this northbound work train with a single SD40-3 hauling it north towards Louisville! I can honestly say this was a great catch, especially with the fact that the SD40-3 was the second one to be rebuilt by CSX! An just listen to that horn echoing off of the surrounding landscape!

This crossing is also quite a nice one, featuring the only surviving early-SBD install on the mainline sub! Both of the original US&S mechanical bells are also still here, which is quite nice to see, though they're also sounding rather rough (which isn't too unexpected, I suppose).
It appears that this crossing remained largely original up until the late-1990s, when all of the US&S 12x20 inch lights and the US&S Model 75 gate mech on the far side were replaced. The crossing then remained unchanged for a good while longer until the early 2010s, when the remaining US&S Model 75 gate mech on the closer side was also replaced. Hopefully both of the US&S mechanical bells here remain for a while longer, and are given some TLC rather than being replaced.