*originally recorded on 3-30-22*
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Dotted LEDs, a Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and Dialight gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Dotted LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and Dialight gate lights.
This was the fifth and final crossing I caught the AN at on this day. I had to absolutely fly down to this crossing from Flat Creek Road, as it seems that the AN goes a bit faster going south than they do going north. Thankfully, I was still able to get here and get set-up with a little bit of time to spare (certainly not much more than a minute though).
After this, I tried to chase them down to Telogia Creek Road for one more video, but as I mentioned in my video of them in Hardaway, I got there just after the crossing had activated with no time to set-up. I still did snap a few pictures there though.
That being said, if any of y'all were to come to the AN to shoot it in the future, I'd probably recommend not doing the crossings in the order I did. Instead, I'd probably recommend getting Telogia Creek, Selman Street (this crossing), and Hardaway Highway on the northbound trip, and then get Flat Creek Road and Bristol Highway on the southbound trip (or vice-versa), mainly to give y'all a bit of extra time to get between crossings on the southbound trip. Alternatively, doing them in the order of Telogia Creek Road, Bristol Highway, and Flat Creek Road for the northbound trip and the other two for the southbound trip (or, again, vice-versa) could also potentially work. I honestly only saved this crossing and Flat Creek Road for the southbound trip, just in case it happened to occur in the afternoon when the sun would be on the side of the tracks with the bells at both crossings.
This crossing is a very nice one, and is probably my favorite crossing of the currently five active signalized crossings left on the AN. The signals here appear to have been installed in the early 1980s by the AN, it appears possibly replacing some older signals of a similar set-up, and are still largely original. The only major change here was that in the mid-2010s, the lights here were all upgraded to LED. After that, in the fall of 2018 when Hurricane Michael hit this part of Florida, both of the original Safetran gate arms here (which still retained a full set of the original Safetran gate lights each) were destroyed by the storm, so the AN replaced them with the current ones. Interestingly enough, the gate arms here each now feature a set of incandescent Dialight gate lights, meaning that the NEG LEDs at FL 12 are the only LED gate lights on the AN still.
This crossing is also currently the only remaining active crossing on the AN with a Safetran mechanical bell. Thankfully, this bell still sounds fairly healthy (though it does get a bit weak when the gates begin to lower), so hopefully it'll be around here for many more years to come. This crossing also has the only double-mast install along the AN, which makes it fairly unique as well. As I've mentioned before, I do always enjoy recording double-mast installs like this, so I'm glad I've been able to check this one off of my list. As y'all've probably noticed, this is also the only active signalized crossing on the line with all 12x20 inch lights. All of these things combined as well, and y'all can probably see why this is my favorite of the five active signalized crossings along the line.
And with this video as well, I've been able to film all five currently active signalized crossings along the AN, for which I'm rather glad. I'd probably also saved the best one of them for last, lol, given that this was the last one I needed to get to complete the line.
This crossing is also located next to the Greensboro depot, which I believe is the only surviving depot along the AN. Said depot has been preserved and is staffed by volunteers when it's open on Saturdays (IIRC). I will also note here real fast that said depot also features a pair of US&S Teardrop bells inside of it, which, IIRC, can be operated by visitors to it. Sadly, I did not get the chance to visit the depot on this trip, but maybe I'll be able to return here at some point in the future.
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