Jones Street, Villa Rica, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 3-27-25*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Siemens gate mechanism, a RECO LED gate light, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After catching the A25, I went across Villa Rica to this crossing for my next train of the day. On my way, I saw something was lined through Villa Rica, so I knew I shouldn't have to wait too long. After a bit of waiting, I was able to get my second train of the day: NS 156 with an ES44AC pulling and another ES44AC working as the mid-train DPU. There were also quite a few military flat-cars on this train, though all were empty.

This crossing is a pretty decent one. The current signals here were installed sometime between 2014 and 2016, replacing a pair of older Southern Railway signals from the late-70s or early-80s (with the lights being upgraded to 12x20s by NS sometime between 2008 and 2012). Originally, the bell on the current signals here was a GS e-bell, which I assume was a Type 2. It appears that this bell died young, however, and it wound-up getting replaced by the current Safetran Type 3 e-bell sometime between 2016 and 2018. Thankfully, since then, nothing else appears to have changed to this crossing. Honestly not sure why NS chose to install such tall masts here when upgrading the crossing, as the length of the gate arms doesn't seem to warrant it here like it does at other crossings.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Georgia/R-Z/Villa_Rica/Jones/