Railroad Crossings of the CSX Bruceton Subdivision

Описание: The CSX Bruceton Subdivision is the former NC&StL mainline that ran west out of Nashville, TN, to Bruceton, TN, where the NC&StL split with one line running up to Paducah, KY, another running to Hickman, KY, and the third line continuing southwest to Memphis, TN. Probably a bit unsurprisingly, none of these lines fully intact. The main to Memphis was almost entirely ripped-out years ago, with only a little bit in Memphis and a small section in Jackson, TN, (the CSX Jackson Branch) remaining. The line to Hickman is still used as part of the CSX Memphis Subdivision from Bruceton to McKenzie, TN, where it then continues as part of the KWT Railway to Dresden, TN, with the line ripped-out between Dresden and Hickman. The line to to Paducah's still decently intact, with the KWT owning the line from Bruceton to a bit north of Murray, KY, though north of there to Paducah is ripped-out as well.
A bit amusingly, the Bruceton Sub doesn't even reach its namesake town, as the western end of the line is in the unmarked, unincorporated community of Lipe, TN, just west of the Saw Mill Road crossing. From there, the line continues west through Bruceton as part of the Memphis Subdivision. Neither this line nor the Memphis Sub are super busy, seemingly seeing around a half-dozen or so trains a day usually.

The CSX Bruceton Subdivision is fairly decently modernized, though also still retains a lot of nice older crossing equipment as well. There's barely anything from the NC&StL left, it seems, as I've only noticed a single US&S base along the line (that being at Davidson Road in Nashville, the easternmost crossing along the line). However, there's still a fair bit of L&N equipment left, some of which is modernized though much of it seems to still be fairly original, though it doesn't appear that any L&N-era cantilevers remain along this line. There's also at least one crossing that has/had SBD signals along the line, and a mix of older and newer CSX installs. In fact, there are at least five 1980s CSX installs left along the line, it appears, though most of them are fairly modernized (nor have I recorded most of them, lol). There are only two 90s CSX installs left, both of which are now fully LED. The rest of the CSX installs are from the 2000s or newer, though most of these are LED now as well. Amazingly enough, there are a few older installs along this line that appear to still be almost fully original, four of which are from the L&N and at least one of which is a 1980s CSX install in New Johnsonville. I might try to return at some point to film the more interesting modern/modern-ish CSX installs along the line.

The lights are largely 12x24 inch, with most of them having been upgraded to LED over the years. Between Waverly and New Johnsonville there are several CSX installs from the 80s, late-90s (it appears), and early-2000s that are still incandescent, though the rest of the 12 inch lights elsewhere along the line are all LED now. The 12 inch lights along this line are mostly Safetran, though some older and newer WCH 12 inch lights can still be found, along with some Harmon and Modern Industries lights mixed in as well. The LEDs in use along this line are mostly Leotek EV Series LEDs with at least a few WCH 2nd Gen LEDs and Dialight Ball LEDs mixed in, though I believe all of the LEDs I filmed along this line were Leoteks. The line does still retain 9 crossings along it with 8 inch lights, however, which is quite nice to see. These are a mix of WRRS, Federal Signal, Modern Industries, and WCH, pretty much all ones that the L&N had used. Most of the 8 inch crossings have e-bells these days, though four do still retain their original mechanical bells, amazingly enough.
As far as bells go, the line has mostly electronic bells, with them largely being NEG e-bells and a good few General Signals e-bells as well, along with at least a few Safetran Type 3 e-bells mixed in. Most of the General Signals e-bells are GS Type 2s, it seems, though ‪@EthantheRailfanner‬ has found at least one GS Type 1 e-bell along the line in Dickson, though I haven't recorded it personally. There are still a good few mechanical bells left though. Most of these are from WCH, though four of the remaining 8 inch L&N installs still retain their original WRRS mechanical bells. There's also a lone Modern Industries bell along the line in Waverly, but that one's sadly dying it sounds like.
As far as gate mechanisms go, they appear to mostly be modern ones from CSX, largely being Safetran gate mechs from the 1990s and 2000s, along with a few Invensys Rail and plenty of newer Siemens ones mixed in. Three crossings do still retain classic GRS gate mechs from the L&N though, and another pair of crossings also have at least one WCH gate mech at them (the pure 1980s CSX install has two).

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