Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 5-31-25*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, an Invensys Rail gate mechanism, an NEG LED gate light, and RECO LED gate lights.

Shortly after catching (what I believe was) M532 at St. Elmo Road, I heard the dispatcher talking to an I126 over the scanner. Assuming that train was still approaching, I decided to hop on back over to this crossing to see about getting a proper recording of it. Thankfully, after no more than half an hour to an hour or so of waiting, I was able to get my third, and final, train of the day: CSX I126 with an ES44AH leading a pair of ES40DCs for power. After this, I got myself some supper and hit the road on back home for Huntsville.

This crossing is honestly a pretty nice one, though sadly the equipment that made it especially interesting was replaced within the past couple of years. It appears there was originally a gated 1970s L&N install here, though, in the 1980s, the SBD replaced this crossing with the current pair of gated cantilever signals. Strangely, it appears that the SBD chose to reuse the GRS/WRRS Type D gate mech and Modern Industries mechanical bell from the L&N install that'd previously been here onto their newer signals, though the rest of the equipment was presumably fairly standard for gated cantilever US&S SBD installs, with the closer signal featuring a US&S Model 75 gate mech and a US&S mechanical bell. Then, in the mid-90s it appears, CSX decided to replace the original rear mast light pairs here (which I assume had been US&S 12x20s) with the current pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights. I assume around this time was also when the rear-half of the far signal's gate mast's base was replaced as well. The crossing remained largely unchanged for close to two decades when, sometime between 2012 and 2014, CSX replaced the MI bell on the far signal with an NEG e-bell, alongside the US&S Model 75 gate mechanism on the closer signal here with the current Invensys Rail one. The crossing then remained unchanged for about another decade or so, up until sometime after 2023, when CSX would sadly replace both bells here with the current pair of NEG e-bells, along with replacing the GRS/WRRS gate mech on the far signal with the current Siemens one. Thankfully, nothing else too major has changed to this crossing and it, at least, still remains fully incandescent. I will admit, it's nice getting to record another pair of older MI cantilevers like these which still have all of their original incandescent MI 12x24 inch lights, even if someone slapped a sticker to the front-left mast light on the closer signal (and one of the overhead lights on the far signal's come a bit loose). Hopefully these signals here remain unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I got to record them when I did.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A-F/Bartlett/Yale/