Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 5-16-24*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 1 WCH 12x24 inch light, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After I chased M646 to Verbena, I decided to head back south to this crossing to see about trying to shoot it again. After a little while of waiting, this southbound mixed freight came rolling through with an ES44AH leading a CM44AC, another ES44AH, and an AC44CW for power.

This crossing is another nice one, featuring a pair of relatively modernized L&N signals at it. It appears that in the mid-90s to late-90s, the lights here were all replaced with the current Safetran 12x24 inch lights. Then, in the late-90s or early-2000s, the bell here was replaced by a General Signals e-bell, along with at least the gate mechanism on the far side being replaced by the current one. At about this same time as well, the front-left light on the closer signal was replaced by the current WCH 12x24 inch light, presumably due to the older head being struck. The crossing then remained unchanged for several more years, until sometime between about 2016 and 2019, when CSX replaced the bell here once again, this time with the current NEG e-bell. Thankfully, since then, no further changes appear to have occurred to this crossing.
Very unusually, at least for a former L&N line, the closer signal features an older Safetran gate mech of the late-70s design. I ain't entirely sure if this was installed by the L&N or not, as @EthantheRailfanner found another pair of late-70s Safetran gate mechs over on the W&A Sub in Georgia. However, as both of the known ex-L&N crossings with these are on trackage near ex-SCL trackage, it's possible they were reused from some of the ex-SCL lines (or even the ex-WofA for this one). That being said, older Safetran equipment has cropped-up on ex-L&N trackage occasionally. Usually this seems to have been installed by the SBD or is on trackage near/directly connected ex-SCL/WofA trackage. However, there are at least two crossings with older Safetran equipment that were once owned by the L&N with no easy explanation for how they got there, so I suppose it ain't impossible that the L&N trialed a bit of Safetran equipment on occasion in the 70s. Either way, it's definitely neat seeing this older gate mech still in use.
Speaking of gates, the far signal also still retains an older diagonally-striped gate arm, which is rather nice to see. Some of the signals for N.E. Deatsville can also be seen on the right-side of the frame.
As a side note, this is also apparently the 1,500th railroad crossing I've ever recorded in action! Definitely a neat one to hit such a milestone with. Don't expect me to hit 2,000 anytime soon, given that I've shot the vast majority of the crossings near me in north Alabama and, since this video was taken, I've quite literally only recorded six more crossings that I hadn't filmed in action before.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/Deatsville/CR85/