*originally recorded on 2-28-22*
Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, RECO gate lights, and a RECO LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
While F785 was running around their train at Ora, I went back down to this crossing to get them one more time. I'd thought about chasing them back down to an 8 inch crossing in Laurens as well (which on a more trip here by @Ethan the Railfanner, he found to feature a Federal Signal bell), but ultimately decided not try for it. After a little bit of waiting, I was able to film CSX F785 one last time as they began their journey back to Greenwood, SC. After this, I went up to Woodruff, SC, to document some crossings with older equipment in their downtown area for the site (one of which features a RACO gate mech), and had an excellent steak for dinner at a local restaurant there. As nothing else seemed to be in the area (apparently the two daily local freights on this line run rather inconsistently, leaving only when there's crews available for them, making them rather hard to catch), I decided to go ahead and put some gas in my car and make my way back to Huntsville. This was certainly a rather nice train to end this trip off on, and I'm glad I was able to get it.
This crossing is another great one, featuring a nice "pure" 1980s CSX install. IMHO, it's made even better by the fact that there's only one bell here, as I hadn't been able to record a "pure" 1980s CSX install with one bell yet. While a bell pair does generally sound nicer, I do quite like the look of 80s CSX installs that just have one bell like this.
Speaking of the bell, it still sounds pretty decent, if noticeably rough. Hopefully CSX gives it a bit of a tune-up, but either way, I'm certainly glad it's still here and works. The far signal also still features a pair of incandescent gate lights on it, which is great to see as well.
Hopefully CSX leaves this nice 80s install unchanged for many more years to come, but either way, I'm glad I was able to record it when I did. While an FS bell might've been fun to end off on, this is still a great little crossing that was also nice to finish-out my second trip to South Carolina with.
If you like my videos, feel free to leave me a tip on Ko-Fi! As YouTube has demonetized my channel, this is currently the only way I can make money to be able to go places.
https://ko-fi.com/freebrickproductions