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Melrose Road Railroad Crossing, near Covington, TN

*originally recorded on 4-1-26* Signal on the left: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light with a GE Uniform Look LED, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light. Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light. After catching the northbound potash train in Millington, @vtgrxrman and I decided to chase it north to see about getting some more shots of this "deathstar" SD70 leading it. We were able to chase it up to this crossing just south of Covington, and beat it here with plenty of time to spare. After a bit of waiting, we were able to catch this northbound empty potash train for the second time on this day. This crossing is a pretty decent one, featuring a mid-90s IC install at it that's been modernized. In the 2000s, it appears, CN upgraded the lights here to Dialight Ball LEDs and replaced the bell with the current GS Type 2 e-bell. The crossing remained largely unchanged afterwards, though it appears that sometime between 2014 and 2016 CN replaced the backgrounds here were replaced with 20 inch ones. Then, sometime between @EthantheRailfanner's first visit here in 2020 and 2021, CN replaced the backgrounds here again with 24 inch ones. Finally, sometime between 2021 and 2023, CN replaced the left-rear light on the far signal with a newer Safetran 12x24 inch light with a GE Uniform Look LED in it, I suspect due to that signal being damaged by an EF3 tornado that struck this area on March 31st, 2023. Thankfully, nothing else too major has changed here since then, which is nice to see. This crossing is in a decently rural area, though it's not as peaceful as the rural views around this crossing might suggest due to how busy US 51 is and how close that highway is. Still not a bad spot to shoot a northbound train at though. https://www.rxrsignals.com/Tennessee/A-F/Covington/Melrose/ If you like my videos, feel free to leave me a tip on Ko-Fi! Any tips you give will be used to help cover the cost of gas on my trips. https://ko-fi.com/freebrickproductions