Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 5-21-24*

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

After I caught Q-ATGLAC in Kansas, I continued chasing it north to this crossing in Winfield. Here we see BNSF Q-ATGLAC for the third and final time on this day, as I let it go after this.

This crossing is a pretty decent one, if fairly modern. These signals were installed by BNSF in 2014, per the FRA's inventory report for this crossing, replacing a pair of crossbucks. Since then, they haven't really changed, though the plastic backgrounds on the rear lights of the closer signal have been damaged relatively recently, with the left-rear one even missing a piece of it. This damage had also occurred sometime within the 10 days prior to this video, as I have photos of this signal from May 11th showing the backgrounds weren't damaged at the time.
The gate mechs are a bit interesting, as this crossing is one of the last two crossings on the BNSF Birmingham Sub to feature Safetran-branded gate mechanisms at it. I suspect these were new old stock gate mechs, though, interestingly, they feature the same brown (rusted?) tint to the covers that the Safetran-branded Siemens gate mechs the Class Is were using in 2017/2018 had, which I believe TommyBNSF and EthantheRailfanner tend to call "refurbished Safetran" gate mechs. Not sure if these are actually Safetran-branded Siemens/Invensys Rail, or even actual refurbished Safetran gate mechs, so, until I can confirm otherwise, I'm going to call these just Safetran gate mechs. With this crossing, however, I have now filmed every signalized crossing in Winfield. I believe I have now also gotten every signalized crossing in Marion County, AL, as well. Of course, there are only like 15 signalized crossings within Marion County, but still.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/R-Z/Winfield/CR69/