Williams Road, Buckley, IL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 11-20-25*

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

After catching the northbound mixed freight north of Tuscola, I continued on up to the CN Chicago Subdivision to record this crossing on the south side of Buckley. After a while of waiting, I was able to catch the northbound mixed freight again, though I will admit I wasn't entirely expecting to see this train again. It appears that this train had done some work in Champaign and picked-up a third "Death Star" SD70 in the process, which is probably why I was able to beat it here with plenty of time to spare. Either way, I was able to record this northbound mixed freight again, this time flying by with the IC SD70 sisters leading the CN-painted GTW GP38-2 and a third IC SD70 for power!

This crossing is another great one, and I'm glad I was able to record it on this day as well. The signals here are a mid-90s IC install that's still almost entirely original, and the only major change here occurred sometime between 2009 and when TommyBNSF documented this crossing back in 2017 when CN upgraded the signals here to LED. Thankfully, since then, this crossing has pretty much remained entirely unchanged, which is great to see. I'm especially glad to see that the original Safetran Hybrid bell is still here and going strong, as it's now the last Hybrid left on the entire Chicago Sub. It's also set to ring until the gates rise as well, which is nice to see too.
Interestingly, this crossing got 12x20s rather than the 12x24s was primarily using at the time, though some later IC installs on the CN Yazoo Sub also got 12x20s it appears as well. Interestingly, it appears that CN swapped-out a bunch of 24 inch backgrounds on the Fulton Sub with 20 inch ones, and I can't entirely say for certain why they would've done that. Either way, hopefully this Hybrid bell remains here for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm quite glad I got to record it when I did. I'm also glad I got to film the classic IC SD70s on this train flying through another pair of old IC signals as well.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Illinois/A-K ... /Williams/