The Norfolk Southern Memphis District West End is NS's mainline from Sheffield Yard in Muscle Shoals, AL, to Memphis, TN, and was originally built as part of the Memphis & Charleston's mainline from Memphis, TN, to Chattanooga, TN. However, it's worth noting that this original line, utilizing trackage built by the Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad, originally ran directly from Tuscumbia to Muscle Shoals (or at least what's now Muscle Shoals), but did not go through Sheffield. The City of Sheffield actually paid the railroad to build a line through their city, so the Southern Railway did, forming what was originally the very northern end of what's now the NA District, and the original, shorter, route across the shoals was abandoned and torn out. As a result now though, this means that while most of the line is mileposted starting in the low 400s, the section from about downtown Tuscumbia to Sheffield Yard uses single-digit mileposts.

The line's been pretty well modernized overall by NS over the years, though there is at least a decent amount of older equipment, including SOU equipment, in both Alabama and Tennessee along the line. In fact, the Tennessee section of the line still features the last four crossings with 8 inch lights along the line, along with some Modern Industries, Harmon, and older Safetran 12 inch lights. There are also six crossings left on this section with mechanical bells, but at least a few of them are sadly starting to sound rather rough, and there are two that I haven't filmed yet. I was able to film the only remaining WCH mechanical bell along the line though. There are also a few gateless installs along this part of the line, though I've only filmed one of them over there so far. There are also a few LED crossings along this part of the line, although I haven't recorded any of them yet.
In Mississippi, the state did a corridor upgrade to this portion of the line in the early 2000s, and as a result, it's easily the most boring section of the line. While you can find the occasional 80s NS install or older along the line in the other two parts, the oldest signals left along this section of the line date back to the early to mid 90s. One of these is gated and the other is gateless, but neither retain their original bells, sadly. The gateless install, although it is located on a branch, is also the only one along this section of the line. There are also a pair of GS Type 1s along the line in Corinth just east of the KCS diamond, along with a pair of Safetran WT/F cantilevers, so those are at least nice to see. However, unlike the other two parts of this line, this section is still pretty much entirely incandescent.
The final section, the one the video starts in, is in Alabama, and it's still pretty decent. Not as interesting as the Tennessee section, as all of the remaining 8 inch lights were upgraded a few years ago. However, it does still retain a few older Safetran and Harmon 12 inch lights, along with some old (although largely modernized) SOU signals too, which are at least somewhat nice to see. There is also only one gateless crossing left here, but it's still a rather nice little crossing. However, there still remains three mechanical bells along this part of the line (making for a grand total of nine along the entire line), with two Safetran mechanical bells and one RACO mechanical bell. Believe it or not, the RACO bell was put-up to replace a dead Safetran Type 3 a few years back, so that's quite nice to see. There are also still two more working GS Type 1 e-bells along this part of the line. There'd been another working one near Tuscumbia, but it and the dead GS Type 1 on the other side got upgraded just recently to GS Type 3s, sadly. This section of the line also features several more crossings with LEDs, though most still remain incandescent for the time being.