Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 10-3-25*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 pair of WRRS 8 inch lights, a Siemens gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 pair of WRRS 8 inch lights, a WRRS mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After attempting Providence, MusicCitySirens went on back to the Nashville area while DSRX100, vtgrxrman, and I went and snagged ourselves lunch. After lunch, Brandon went on back home to Indiana while Harris and I hit the road back over to the CSX Henderson Sub to try and catch some more trains. We decided to head for this crossing in Earlington, KY, where, after a bit of waiting, we were finally able to catch our second train of the day: CSX I128 with a CM44AC leading an ES44AH for power.

This crossing is a great one, and easily one of the best ones on the Henderson Subdivision. The signals here were installed in the late-60s/early-70s by the L&N, and it seems to have remained largely original for many years. Then, in the late-90s or 2000s, CSX replaced the gate mechanism with the current Safetran one. At about the same time, it appears that CSX also replaced the base on the gate mast with the current one. Next, sometime between 2008 and 2014, CSX replaced the mast lights on the closer signal with the current Safetran 12x24s, though they were originally incandescent. After that, sometime between 2014 and 2019, CSX replaced the far gate mast entirely with the current one. Finally, sometime between 2021 and 2022, CSX upgraded the mast lights here to LED, replacing the WRRS 8 inch lights on the far signal's mast with the current 12x24 inch heads.
Thankfully, despite these changes, these old Federal Signal cantilevers here still remain in service, and even still have their original WRRS mechanical bell! Amazingly, both signals still feature their original WRRS 8 inch overhead lights, which is great to see as well! I would've thought CSX would've replaced them by now, as I thought CSX had completely upgraded the lights on this line to LED, though it seems the LED upgrade only involved the mast lights for the most part. Both signals also still only have front lights (and a lone pair of side lights on the far side), which is pretty nice to see as well. Kinda reminds me of the signals that Cowan, TN, used to have. Hopefully these classic signals remain unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm quite glad I got to record then when I did.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Kentucky/A-K ... gton/Main/