Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 3-29-21*

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

After catching the hi-rail truck, I went to the Cambridge Drive crossing to wait on something (hopefully a south-bound), but after a little while of waiting, I heard something set-off the detector on the north side of Winfield. However, as nothing came for a while after that, I travelled back towards downtown Winfield to look at the siding there and see what was going on. There, I saw the Sperry Rail truck that can be seen on the far side of the crossing, with a northbound lined through South Winfield, so I set-up at this crossing and waited. After a little while of waiting, this northbound intermodal train came through with an ES44C4 pair leading an ES44DC, a Dash-9 (still in H2), and another ES44C4 for power.

This crossing is a pretty nice one, featuring a pair of late-80s/early-90s Safetran signals installed by the BN. Interestingly enough, the previous bell here was a WCH mechanical bell, though I'm not entirely sure if it was original to these signals or BNSF replaced an original Safetran mechanical bell that would've been here in the mid-90s prior to adopting e-bells in the late-90s. Either way though, between 2008 and 2014, the WCH mechanical bell here was replaced with the current GS Type 2 e-bell, with no other major changes to the signals here since.
However, that being said, it does appear that BNSF plans to upgrade this crossing rather soon, as a new relay case has gone in next to the old one here, so I'm certainly quite glad I was able to get this one filmed when I did!

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Winfield/Midway/

*originally recorded on 5-11-24*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

On May 11th, I picked-up my friend Zac and we went out to the BNSF Birmingham Sub to get the newer/upgraded signals along the line that I needed to film shot. I was originally going to head for a crossing in Kansas, but, as we saw a northbound was lined through Carbon Hill, I continued on west to this crossing in Winfield instead. After a little while of waiting, the signals at South Winfield lit-up, initially for a northbound but then changing to clear for a southbound, and we got set-up. After a bit more waiting, this southbound grain(?) train came rolling through with an ES44C4 leading an ES44AC on the head-end, and another ES44C4 and a pair of more ES44ACs working as the DPUs.

In 2021, less than two months after I recorded my last video of this crossing, BNSF had replaced the old BN signals here with the ones that currently stand here. Since then, no major changes have occurred to this crossing, which probably isn't too surprising seeing as these signals are probably only around 3 years old now. Nothing too much else to say about them, they're a pretty typical modern BNSF install.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Winfield/Midway/

No changes here as of 12-13-24: