Railroad Crossing | Mark/Church St, Hillsboro, TX

🗓 Date: 1/2/24
🛤 Line: UP Fort Worth Subdivision
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After catching the northbound mixed freight in West, I chased them north to Hillsboro. I soon realized that they were meeting another train in town, being MFWBD (Fort Worth to Bellmead), the only regularly-scheduled southbound on this line. Due to some good dispatching (the northbound being held back off crossings for some time), neither train had to stop and block this crossing for more than a couple of minutes. MFWBD had an ET44AH and AC4400CW in the lead. Thankfully, MFWBD also cleared the crossing circuit by mere feet, allowing me to continue my chase of the northbound without delay.

This crossing is quite a neat one. It features a set of 1980s US&S gated masts, albeit with their original US&S gate motors being replaced. The masts do retain their original US&S light heads, however. New Western Cullen Hayes gate motors as well as a replacement gateless auxiliary mast, along with two Western Cullen Hayes electronic bells, have been swapped onto the crossing. Throughout all the changes, though, one of the original US&S mechanical bells still remains at this crossing, being the only one on the Fort Worth Sub and one of the only left on the UP in Texas. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound too hot to trot in this video, so I would suspect that it will be replaced soon (if it hasn't been already.) I am definitely glad to have recorded this crossing when I did.
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Signal activation
0:23 - Train 1
1:54 - Train 2
6:48 - Signal deactivation
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