Chamberlain Avenue, Chattanooga, TN
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2023 2:45 pm
*originally recorded on 9-16-23*
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Harmon 8 inch lights, 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, and a dying Safetran mechanical bell.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 8 inch lights.
This was the seventeenth and final crossing I recorded the Summerville Steam Special at, and it's certainly a great one to end off on. The signals here were installed by the Southern Railway back in the 1970s, and have basically remained unchanged since. Sadly, the Safetran mechanical bell here sounds like it's starting to die, as it takes a second or two to start once the crossing's activated, but it's definitely nice finally getting to record another fully original SOU install for the first time in years. Hopefully the bell is given a tune-up at some point. Chattanooga also has a good few other fully original SOU installs around the city as well, thanks to all of the various industrial branches and spurs across the city, though I don't know when any of those are worked.
Strangely, it seems this crossing replaced a grade-separated one. As you can see on the far side of the crossing, there are a pair of bridge abutments on either side of the road, and the track here actually deviates to the north a bit to go through this crossing.
As a side note, @EthantheRailfanner accidentally missed this crossing when getting the ones in Chattanooga documented a few years back, so it ain't on the site yet as a result. However, I have since gone through and gotten it, along with a few other undocumented crossings, in Chattanooga documented for the site, and will put them up in a future update, hopefully before the end of the year.