Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 3-27-25*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After I shot 395 in Muscadine, I chased them on west over to this crossing in Choccolocco since I figured it'd make for a neat shot. After a bit of waiting, I was able to catch NS 395 for the fourth and final time on this day, with the friendly engineer giving a horn salute to another railfan over by the church just down the tracks next to the Erickton Drive crossing and a wave to me as he passed.

This crossing is a pretty nice one, featuring a bit of an odd-ball NS install. It appears that the signals here must've been installed in the mid to late-90s when the NS Alabama Division was in the process of changing from Safetran mechanical bells to GS Type 1 e-bells for new installs, as street view from 2008 shows that the bell on the far signal was originally a Safetran mechanical bell. That, or this is a mid-90s install where the closer signal had its bell die very early and it was quickly replaced with the current GS Type 1 not too long after it was installed as a result. Either way, sometime between 2008 and 2012 (per a video from nvyoung), NS replaced the Safetran mechanical bell on the far signal with the current GS Type 2 e-bell. Thankfully, since then, nothing else too major appears to have changed to this crossing, which is great to see. Definitely glad to have gotten another GS Type 1 e-bell along this line filmed, especially since it means that there's at least four surviving GS Type 1s on the East End District.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/C ... ccolocco1/