Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 7-16-22*

CSX crossing:
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 8 inch lights, a Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran Model 85 gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 8 inch lights.
NS crossing:
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

After catching the southbound CSX mixed freight in Marion, Train2589 and I went over to Lewis Center, OH, to see if we could get anything on the NS Sandusky District where it parallels the CSX Columbus Line (not to be confused with the CSX Columbus Sub which runs to the west of here). We went to this crossing, and after a little bit of waiting here, this northbound mixed freight came-up the Sandusky District with an ES44DC leading an ET44AC for power. After this, we went back down to TrotCon.

This crossing is a rather nice one, and is one I had really wanted to (and was quite glad I was able to) get on my trip up here. All of the signals here appear to have originally been installed back in the 80s, with the far signals being an 80s Conrail install and the closer ones being an 80s NS install. Both crossings remained largely unchanged for several years, but sometime between 2018 and 2019, the bell on NS's crossing was replaced with an NEG electronic bell, unusually enough. Then, sometime after 2019, NS replaced their gated signal entirely with the current one, but nothing else has changed at this crossing since, thankfully.
The main reason why I went for this crossing was that it, thankfully, still has a Safetran Model 85 gate mechanism on CSX's side, and I wanted to be able to finally film one in action. Unfortunately, the lighting here wasn't favorable for filming on that side at the time, so I had to film on what I feel is the less interesting side for this video. I was able to get another video here the following morning though, which was filmed on what I feel is the better side.
NS's bell here also rings as the gates rise still, which is rather nice to see. All in all, this is still a fairly neat crossing, and I'm glad I was able to film it in action. Hopefully it remains unchanged for many more years to come.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Ohio/L-Q/Lewi ... /Shanahan/

Got another video of this crossing on 7-17-22 from the side with the Model 85 gate mech:

Interesting... from the first video, the lights work correctly on the CSX signals, and are not displayed on the back of the gated and front on the gateless when the train is on the NS Track. However, from the 2nd video, the back lights on the CSX gateless signal are on, even though the train isn't on that track.

SirKrunch wrote: Sun Oct 16, 2022 8:42 pm Interesting... from the first video, the lights work correctly on the CSX signals, and are not displayed on the back of the gated and front on the gateless when the train is on the NS Track. However, from the 2nd video, the back lights on the CSX gateless signal are on, even though the train isn't on that track.

Looking closely, it doesn't look like any of the lights facing NS's tracks are on, similar to how most double/multi-crossings I've seen operate (like the ones up in Wyandotte, MI).