Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 4-8-26*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran-branded Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Far median signal: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Safetran-branded Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Near median signal: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Safetran-branded Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with GE Uniform Look LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Safetran-branded Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the mixed freight in Covington, I got back on US 51 and chased it down to this crossing in Millington for one more video of it. I decided to head to this crossing, even if it wasn't the most interesting one out there, as I thought it would make for a nice angle for this southbound and I hadn't filmed it yet either. Anyways, here we see this great pair of SD70s on this southbound mixed freight for the fourth and final time on this day.

This crossing is a pretty decent one, even if it's definitely not the most interesting one in Millington. It appears that, originally, there was a mid-1970s ICG install here with a pair of Walpar cantilevers at it, including a decently large one on the closer side. In the mid-1990s, the IC upgraded the lights here to all Safetran 12x24 inch lights. Possibly around this time, or sometime in the 2000s, the closer cantilever had its gate mech replaced with a newer Safetran one. Either way, in the 2000s it appears, CN upgraded the overhead lights to LED. After that, this crossing remained entirely unchanged for a few years, even after the City of Millington realigned Raleigh-Millington Road away from this crossing (as it used to intersect Church Street right at this crossing) with the closer cantilever even still retaining a pair of side lights facing the now-gone road here. As a side note: part of the double yellow striping for the end of that road can still be seen in the right-hand lane here! Anyways, in about 2018 or possibly 2019, CN replaced the signals here entirely with the current ones. Interestingly, the original mid-1970s ICG relay case was retained in this upgrade. Thankfully, since then, pretty much nothing has changed to this crossing since that upgrade, outside of one of the gate lights on the right-hand signal here being replaced with a newer RECO LED at some point.
It appears that, thanks to the old relay case still being used here, this crossing still uses an old and much more basic detection circuit that's very much timed for the Amtrak City of New Orleans. Even though the mixed freight was moving at a decent clip through this crossing, the signals here activated a good 45-ish seconds before the train reached the crossing rather than the 25-30 seconds that most Class I railroads aim for. This early activation is especially true of northbounds as well, as it seems the signals here activate when a northbound train is blowing the horn for Big Creek Church Road about a mile south of here, and it seems like it's about a good minute and a half from activation to the northbound train reaching the crossing per @EthantheRailfanner's video here. My advice for filming northbounds here is to use a scanner and listen-out for the MP 376.6 defect detector south of here giving its entry read-out to know when to start recording.
I will admit, while this crossing is far from the most interesting one on the Fulton Sub, much less in the City of Millington itself, I do honestly quite like the way this one looks. Admittedly, I do have a bit of a soft spot for crossings with median signals at them, especially if they're gated like this one, and I do think CN's installs from the 2010s do at least look decent compared to some other Class I installs from the same timeframe. NGL, I am glad I got to record this crossing, TBQH.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/G- ... on/Church/