Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 8-5-20*

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

After catching NS 329, I went back down to downtown Jasper to catch NS 320 one final time. I would've preferred to set-up at a gateless crossing a bit south of this one, but sadly, there wasn't any ambient light there. However, this one managed to have a street lamp located right above the crossing on this side, so I just set-up here instead.

This crossing is a pretty alright one, featuring a pair of modern NS signals. Previously, this crossing had a pair of gated signals installed by NS in the 1980s, which remained almost completely unchanged up through the 2000s. Then, sometime between 2008 and 2014, the original Safetran mechanical bell here was replaced with a General Signals e-bell (most likely a Type 2). However, that GS Type 2 didn't last nearly as long, as sometime around 2014/2015, NS replaced both signals here, and the crossing hasn't changed since.

No changes as of 11-12-20:

Found no changes to this crossing when I returned here almost three years later on 11-7-23:

*originally recorded on 2-28-26*

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

After catching the two BNSF trains at the diamond, I finally saw that BNSF had NS 319 lined north across the diamond, so I hopped on up to this crossing to catch it. After a bit of waiting, I was able to catch my ninth and final train of the day: NS 319 with an AC44C6M leading an ET44AC on the head-end with another ET44AC as the mid-train DPU, all working to move this 10,900-foot train with 172 cars and 12,800 pounds of freight!

Since I last recorded this crossing in 2023, NS replaced the gate lights on the closer signal with a set of RECO LED gate lights. I'd say that was the only change to this crossing since then, but, in that same timeframe, it appears that both bells here had died! It seems the one on the far signal went first, with the closer one finally failing sometime after I chased 320 through here back in November last year. Definitely a bit unexpected, I will admit. That being said, I haven't observed any other changes here either since I last recorded this crossing in action, though I suspect it'll be getting a new pair of e-bells before too much longer (which it has, since I recorded this video).

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/Jasper/19/