Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 12-10-20*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

This was the third crossing I chased NS 320 to. Like with the first one, this crossing also features a pair of gated signals installed by NS in the mid-1990s. However, unlike the first one, this crossing managed to retain both of its original Safetran mechanical bells up until at least 2016. However, by 2018, both had died and were replaced with the current GS e-bells. Interestingly enough, however, is the bell cycles here. For whatever reason, the GS Type 2 is set to ring from start-up to when the gates lower, and then once again when the gates rise (typical for NS installs of this age and older, it seems), but the GS Type 3 is set to start ringing when the gates begin to descend, and then it rings until the signals have shut off.
Not sure why it was set this way, but it's certainly an unusual set-up, IMHO. Kinda reminds me of an Australian crossing, in a way.
And yes, this town does use a person's first and last names as the town name. This town is also home to an annual "Phil Campbell convention", hosted by a writer with the name of Phil Campbell, for anyone and everyone with the name "Phil Campbell" or some variation thereof, though it apparently fizzled out after a few years. In 2011, after an EF5 tornado in the April 27th tornado outbreak just about wiped this town off the map, said Phil Campbell organized an "I'm With Phil" campaign to help the town recover, with a total of 30-50 people with the name of Phil Campbell from around the world converging here to help clean up and rebuild after the tornado.
Apparently, so many Phil Campbells were staying at the closest hotel to the town (a Best Western in Russellville) that they had to start including middle initials and hometowns on the reservation sheet to keep everyone straight.
For those interested, a pair of articles about the "I'm With Phil" campaign can be found here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/18alabama.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-gl ... t-13601553

No major changes here as of 7-27-23, though the GS Type 3 on the far side has since died:


http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/P ... uscaloosa/

*originally recorded on 2-28-26*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

After catching 320 in Spruce Pine, I noticed I was just barely ahead of him going into Phil Campbell, so I decided to pull off of the highway and see if I could get set-up here in time. Thankfully, I was just barely able to do so, and here we see NS 320 for the fourth time on this day.

I will admit, I'm definitely glad I was able to get another video of this crossing, as I found-out that NS had replaced both bells here with a pair of new GS Type 3s! I'm guessing the closer bell here must've also died sometime after I last filmed it in 2023. Thankfully, nothing else has changed to this mid-90s NS install, and even its unusual bell sequence still remains, though admittedly it's a bit harder to tell until the closer one shuts-off due to the bells being the same now. I might see about getting another, better, video here on a future chase of 320 but for now this one will suffice.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q/ ... uscaloosa/