Mitchell Street (TN 105), Trimble, TN

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 4-8-26*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 8 inch lights with Safetran Fading LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 8 inch lights with Safetran Fading LEDs, a Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

On the morning of April 8th, I got on up at 2:30 AM and got out the door about an hour later to make the four hour drive to northwest Tennessee to do some railfanning. When I got up to Trimble, a southbound mixed freight was pulling into the siding here. As such, I figured there was a northbound on the way it was going to meet, so, as such, once it cleared this crossing, I went ahead and got set-up for whatever they were meeting. However, much to my surprise, the signals at the north end of the siding wound-up lining for another southbound to come through on the main and pass the mixed freight! After a bit of waiting, I was able to catch my first train of the day here: a southbound intermodal train with an ET44AC leading an ES44DC for power.

This crossing is a great one, featuring an early-1980s IC install that's still almost entirely original! The only major change here occurred sometime between 2008 and 2012 when CN upgraded the lights here to LED, but thankfully didn't replace the 8 inch Safetran heads there. Thankfully, since then, absolutely nothing too major has changed here! Interestingly, the mechanical bell here is set to ring while the gates are down, which is pretty neat to see. Sadly, it's definitely sounding rather clicky as it rings like something's rattling around in the mechanism that shouldn't be. Thankfully, despite that clicking, it still sounds rather healthy, so hopefully it remains here for many more years to come. Either way, I'm glad I was able to film this crossing in action when I did.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/R- ... /Mitchell/