Morris Street Railroad Crossing, Dalton, GA

originally recorded on 7-1-23
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, an Invensys Rail gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a dead WRRS mechanical bell, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
After catching the northbound NS mixed freight at Emery Street, I continued on up to this crossing, located just south of the diamonds in Dalton. After about another half an hour of waiting here, this southbound NS mixed freight came through with a UP AC44CW leading an NS Dash-9 on the head-end, and a UP AC45CCTE working as the train's DPU.
This crossing is another rather nice one, featuring another pair of 70s installs from the L&N and SOU. It appears that, in the 1980s, NS replaced their main mast lights on their signal with the current Safetran 12x24s, while either the SBD or CSX replaced all of the lights on their signal with the current WCH 12x24s (though originally incandescent as well, of course). The crossing seems to have remained largely unchanged until the 2000s, when NS replaced the side lights on their signal with the current Safetran 12x20s, and CSX replaced their gate mechanism with the current Safetran one. Later on in the 2000s or in the early-2010s, CSX then upgraded their overhead lights to LED. Also, sometime between 2011 and 2013, NS decided to do a few upgrades to their signal as well, as they were replacing relay case here. NS replaced their gate mast, replacing the original Safetran gate mech with the current Invensys Rail one in the process, and also added the current Safetran Type 3 e-bell to the signal. Interestingly, this e-bell didn't replace anything, as the SOU signal here was originally bell-less. Next, sometime between 2013 and 2016, the original WRRS mechanical bell here (which I believe had been dead for a while) was left abandoned in place on top of the cantilever, as CSX replaced it with the current side-mounted NEG e-bell. Finally, in early-2022, CSX upgraded their mast lights here to LED, with the NEG e-bell here being replaced with a newer one at about the same time it appears, and thankfully no major changes to this crossing since.
Despite all of the various upgrades to this crossing, I'm glad to see that both of the original cantilever signals here still remain, with NS's signal also still retaining its original overhead lights. Interestingly, NS's bell here rings until the gates rise, which I suspect is due to the fact that signal didn't originally have a bell to begin with. All in all though, this is still a rather neat crossing, and I hope it remains largely the same for many more years to come.
www.rxrsignals....
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