*originally recorded on 6-5-22*
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with WCH Clear LEDs, 2 pairs of WCH 12x20 inch lights with WCH Clear LEDs, a WCH Type 2 electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with WCH Clear LEDs, 2 pairs of WCH 12x20 inch lights with WCH Clear LEDs, a WCH Type 2 electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Pedestrian signal on the far left: a WCH gate mechanism.
Pedestrian signal on the near left: a WCH gate mechanism.
Pedestrian signal on the far right: a WCH gate mechanism.
Pedestrian signal on the near right: a WCH gate mechanism.
This crossing is in a quiet zone.
On the morning of June 5th, there weren't really any panels I really wanted to go see at Whinny City (at least until the charity auction and the closing ceremonies in the afternoon), so I decided to hop down to the UP Geneva Sub for a few hours. Decided to start out in Wheaton, since there were a few crossings there I wanted to film, with this one being the first. A westbound intermodal actually came rolling through as I arrived here, but I still set on up anyways and waited. Thankfully didn't have to wait too long, as shortly after, this second westbound intermodal came crawling through behind the first on the same track with an ES44AH pulling and an SD70ACe as the mid-train DPU.
This crossing is a rather nice one, and, IMHO, it should be pretty easy to see why I wanted to start off with it. The signals here appear to have originally been a 1980s C&NW install, but sometime between 1992 and 1994 or so, the C&NW replaced the bell here with an ASC e-bell. Then, in about 2001/2002, UP replaced all of the overhead lights with the current WCH 12x20s with Clear LEDs in them, followed by the mast lights being replaced with the current WCH 12x24s with Clear LEDs in them. I strongly suspect the mast lights go re-used from elsewhere. It appears that around the same time as the light upgrades, all of the gate mechs here (and most of the masts they were mounted on) were replaced with WCH gate mechs. Finally, sometime between 2012 and 2016, the most recent major changes occurred here when UP replaced the ASC e-bell here with the current WCH e-bell pair and the near left and far right pedestrian signals were replaced entirely. Since then, thankfully, no further major changes appear to have occurred here.
Easily my favorite thing about this crossing is that it still retains a pair of these older Safetran cantilevers, both of which also have a full set of clear LEDs on them. I always do enjoy seeing clear LEDs like this, as they're almost non-existent in the southeast. Older Safetran cantilevers like this are always nice to find as well, IMHO, so I'm glad I was able to record another pair of them.
Hopefully these signals get to remain in service for a good while longer. Admittedly, with the upgrades to the Geneva Sub that UP's doing, that ain't a guarantee, but those upgrades don't always seem to be moving super quick.
http://www.rxrsignals.com/Illinois/R-Z/Wheaton/Main/
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