*originally recorded on 3-6-22*
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
After seeing NS 109 pass through Fort Payne, I got back into my car and drove up to Valley Head to continue chasing NS 61C north towards Chattanooga. After a bit of waiting, 61C continued its journey north, and we see it passing through this crossing and the old Southern Railway wayside signals right next to it.
Unfortunately, while I was getting action shots of the crossing, I slipped and fell into the (thankfully) dry drainage ditch and broke my Canon camera's lens mechanism. I've since gotten it replaced, but it was still rather unfortunate. Unfortunately as well, 61C drowned-out my fall on this camera, so you don't even get to enjoy that either.
This crossing is another fairly decent one, even though the signals are a bit boring and fairly typical for this line. The signals here were installed back in the early to mid-2000s like most other ones along the AGS North, and haven't really seen any major changes since. Both gate arms here are still the original diagonally striped ones as well, but NS did restripe them at some point. A bit of the old diagonal striping does stick-out towards the base on each of them though, so you might be able to spot it if you look closely.
Of course, my favorite thing about this crossing is easily the old pair of SOU wayside signals it's located right next to. These are some old RACO signals that I'm guessing the SOU installed back in the 1960s or very early 70s. Amazingly enough, despite this line receiving a full PTC upgrade back in the early 2010s or so, NS just replaced the case controlling them here and installed a PTC antenna, but left these guys alone. Kinda wish NS had done the same on the Memphis East, but oh well. Certainly makes for a rather nice sight on what's an otherwise fairly boring line.
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