Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Recorded on 3-12-22. Final catch of the day., why not end the day at a crossing I've been wanting to film at since 2020. After catching both the grain train and MKCVN in Grain Valley, I had a quick decision to make. Either continue east and chase the eastbound MKCVN over to Odessa, or head out west back to Independence to catch the westbound grain train. I ended up heading back to Independence for the grain train. Reason was because I wanted to catch it over at 39th St since it was the last crossing I needed to film at in Independence on the Mexico Sub. Shortly after I got set up, I heard the train blow its horn for Valley View Rd in Blue Springs, as well as the crossbuck crossing by Menards. Unfortunately the wch mechanical bell on the far signal has since died. No idea when it exactly died. It was working just fine a year or two ago when Myles filmed here. I suspect a gs type 3 to be in its place. The Safetran type 2 on the closest signal sounds a bit sick, but it does in fact work, but its quiet. Crossing itself is an interesting one. These signals were installed sometime either in the late 90s or the early 2000s. This crossing is one of two wch gate mechs on the Mexico Sub since KCS mostly used Safetran gate mechs up until Safetran became Invensys (later Siemens). There used to be a gate stabilizer on the closest signal's gate, but it got removed at some point (I assume broke off or got stolen). The far signal still has its gate stabilizer though. The lights here are some more Harmon 12x24 lights with Harmon Dotted leds while the front mast lights on the cantilever are wch 12x20 with what I assume are wch 1st gen leds. Overall, I'm glad I finally filmed this crossing in action since I have officially filmed all of the crossings on the Mexico Sub in Independence. I still have more crossings to film such as the ones in Blue Springs, Grain Valley, etc. There was another crossing in Independence that unfortunately got closed up for the extension of Little Blue Parkway (which is the intersection you see in the distance). That crossing was the former Selsa Rd railroad crossing which was gateless with older Gateway Western era signals. It's a real shame that crossing is long gone since it was one I would've loved to see in action.