Alabama Street Railroad Crossing, Odenville, AL
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- Опубліковано 3 кві 2019
- originally recorded on 4-3-19
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of US&S 8 inch lights, 1 pair of WABCO 8 inch lights, a US&S Teardrop Bell, a WRRS gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Yesterday, I went out to the ATN again to try and get more crossings. Since I knew ahead of time they were running a train out of Ragland, I went on down to Odenville to start my chase. The train left Ragland just before 7:30, and almost 2 hours later, Z390 rolled on through Odenville with the SD40R/SD40-2 pair hauling 56 cars to Birmingham.
This crossing is one of my favorites along the ATN, and one I had been trying to get for literal years (well, since 2016, at least). For a long time, the ATN had only been running at night (for the most part) on this section of their line, making it practically impossible for me to get, though my want to record this crossing should be pretty obvious. The left-hand signal isn't the most interesting signal out there, as it's a standard early to mid-2000s CSX signal, though the GS Type 2 on it is pretty faded. It also appears to be a knock-down replacement, given how unusually short it is.
However, the star of the show is easily the signal on the right, with it being an almost entirely original SAL signal! The signal itself appears to have been originally installed in the 1950s at the latest, and, aside from the crossbuck, gate arm, gate lights, and rear pair of lights, is pretty much unchanged from when the SAL first installed it.
The signal itself is pretty unique, with the mast splitting in two right above the gate mechanism. This was spec'd by the SAL to accommodate for the wooden "wishbone" gate arms these signals would've originally had. (Other railroads found varying ways to get around this as well, with the L&N, most notably, having the gate mechanism mounted on a seperate mast from the lights while Transport Products Corp. made special extensions that the junction boxes between the lights could be mounted on.) However, with the transition to thinner aluminum and fiberglass gate arms, the lights didn't need to be spread as far apart, so railroads and equipment manufacturers cut costs and moved to having everything on just one mast. As such, signals of this style have become quite rare with the various upgrades done to the SAL's crossings over the years. In fact, I believe this may be the only signal of this style left in Alabama.
And the mast isn't just the only thing about the signal that's great. Most of the equipment on the signal hasn't been changed since it was installed. The front lights are still the original US&S 8 inch lights, though the rear lights were replaced with WABCO 8 inch lights, and it appears to have been done so by the SCL or SBD. The crossing also features an aging WRRS gate mechanism, which is a bit slow to start lowering and then appears to struggle to raise the gate arm while deactivating.
However, the most notable thing about this signal is easily the bell: which is the last working US&S Teardrop bell in the state of Alabama! The bell is a 3rd Generation Teardrop bell, and still sounds extremely healthy. In fact, IMHO, I kinda like that the WRRS gate mech is a bit slow to lower, as it let me hear the Teardrop for a while longer. Mobile also has a Teardrop bell down at the state docks, but unfortunately, the bell doesn't work due to the crossing having been downgraded from active protection years ago. The lights here also start about a second before the bells do, which is a bit interesting.
I also met a young railfan while I was out here, whose mom had taken him out here to watch the train pass after it had passed by their house. It was certainly nice meeting him, and I hope he enjoys this hobby as much as I have.
www.rxrsignals.com/Alabama/G-Q... - Наука та технологія
Nice video! It’s great the teardrop still sounds nice after all these years and still survives!
Thanks!
i really love that signal with the US&S Teardrop bell love it keep up the good work
Thanks!
@@freebrickproductions your welcome
I love the teardrop Bell is one of my favorite mechanical Bell’s
My favorite crossing because of the teardrop bell
Great video and catch! Congratulations on recording this nice crossing in action, the teardrop bell sounds awesome :)
Thanks!
Awesome job David, that’s an excellent catch, couldn’t be any prouder, also fouled Nathan P5
Thanks! It's actually a fouled P3.
Awesome video! Loving that Teardrop there!
Thanks!
Awesome video and crossing!
Love that you met a young railfan!
Thanks!
You are welcome! Also, my WCH E-Bell came today!
Nice catch. Love the Teardrop bell.
Thanks!
Awesome catch and crossing!
Thanks!
Great video & find!
Thanks!
Awesome catch David!
Thanks!
Nice catch.
Thanks!
freebrickproductions Your welcome.
Awesome Crossing!
Thanks!
Nice video and crossing! Those US&S lights look like Mckenzie and Holland lights here in Australia. US&S also made a style of crossing lights where Mck&h again used the same design, but Mck&h used them for an amber signal that would have been placed below 2 searchlight signal heads. It would have been a low speed signal.
Thanks! We have a few of that style of light here in the US as well on searchlight signals. It appears the Mck&H used the molds from US&S to make their equipment.
Nice! Love the teardrop, surprised is still here! Weird how it’s mounted on the mast instead on the top of the signal
Thanks! It's actually on the top of the signal, but on the mast on the rear. It's how the SAL mounted the bells on signals of this style.
It makes sense. Would be much easier to get up to this way.
AWESOME!!!
Thanks!
Nice catch David, I do not see any teardrop bells in my area in the midwest
Thanks!
Nice Teardrop bell there.
Thanks!
A TEARDROP YAY!
Nice! If you have a chance to go to the west coast go to oregon they have nice trains in Portland, Hillsboro, Beaverton
Thanks!
Why do the bells turn off when the gates hit the ground like are down
Because that's the way they were set.
Nice counterweight
IIRC, it's literally a 45 pound weight from a bench press set.
Great video! Strange placing for the teardrop.
Thanks! It was how the SAL liked to do it back in the day.
@@freebrickproductions Seems like it'd be easier to maintain the bell that way. I wonder if that's why they did it like that?
Not entirely sure, looks probably? The split mast was done to keep the lights out of the way of the gate arm (back when railroads used the wooden gate arms), but I'm not entirely sure about the bell placement. Might've figured they could have the rear mast be slightly shorter since it didn't have a crossbuck, which could have the bell a bit lower (and thus, a bit easier to hear for pedestrians), and plus, they'd be able to fit a pinnacle on the top of the front mast and slightly obscure the bell with the front half of the signal.
AWESOME!! I love that bell. How many of those teardrop bells are in Alabama?
Thanks! Only two, and this is the only one that works.
Technically there were 3, now there is 2. None work.
Why does the gate on the near signal have such a delay?
It was something with the relays or gate mech, for some reason.
Seems to be a slight delay when the bells activate.
There is, as I noted in the description.
Cool
Thanks!
And now that signals gone