17th Street, Birmingham, AL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-19-26*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, an Invensys Rail gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a dead Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, an Invensys Rail gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

After catching the southbound Amtrak Crescent at 41st Street, I decided to hop across downtown Birmingham to this crossing to see about filming it again. After a bit of waiting I was able to catch AMTK 19 once again, this time with vtgrxrman onboard.

This crossing features a pair of signals that NS installed sometime between 2011 and 2014, completely replacing an older pair of gated signals, which thankfully haven't really majorly changed since they were installed. Unfortunately, the closer signal's bell has gone dead, which is a bit of a shame to see, but probably not too surprising either. The closer signal's gate arm also looks like it could use a little work as well. For whatever reason, the signals remained active for about a minute after the train passed, not entirely sure why they did though. I guess we'll see if NS ever replaces the dead bell here, but, either way, I'm quite glad I finally got this one filmed.
As a side note: these signals replaced a pair of signals installed by NS back in the mid-90s. In the mid-2000s, NS replaced the lone bell here with a Safetran Type 3 e-bell. Then, sometime between 2009 and 2011, NS moved the Safetran Type 3 e-bell to the signal that originally lacked a bell (on the near-side) and installed a GS e-bell on the far signal. At about the same time, it appears, or at least in 2009, NS replaced the relay case here with the current one.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/A-F/ ... ham/17_St/