Coots Lake Road, Rockmart, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-21-23*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a dead Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.

After catching 26E, I went and got some lunch and DeeDeeTeeArts went back home as he had other commitments to get to. Was nice getting to hang-out with him and shoot some trains.
Either way, after lunch, I decided to go over to this crossing as it still had a mechanical bell, only to find NS 733 was already passing through it. After it passed, however, I set-up and waited for the next train. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long, as I soon heard the horn of an approaching train and was able to get the eighth train of the day, which was easily one of the strangest trains I've ever seen. The train was apparently NS 188, and it had an ES44DC on the head-end pulling five (5) whole empty autoracks and an AC44C6M working as the train's DPU. Think having a DPU on this train is a bit overkill if you ask me, but I ain't NS's management so...
I seem to recall hearing the dispatcher a bit confused by this train's consist a bit later as well, and I certainly don't blame 'em. Definitely gotta take the title for the strangest train of the day, at least. Based on the symbol, I'm fairly certain this is typically supposed to be a mixed freight as well, not entirely sure why they didn't have any other freight to carry on this day...

This crossing is another nice one, featuring some nice older equipment at it. It appears that this was originally an early to mid-70s SOU install, but, sometime later in the 70s, the far signal got replaced entirely with the current one. The signals seem to have remained largely unchanged after for the next several years, but, at some point in the 90s or 2000s, it seems that the rear overhead lights on the cantilever had at least their backgrounds replaced with 20 inch ones, assuming the heads weren't replaced entirely with Safetran 12x20s. Then, also in the 2000s, NS replaced the bell on the far signal with the current GS Type 2. Finally, sometime between 2008 and 2018, all of the original 8 inch lights on the masts here were replaced with the current Safetran 12x24s (which appear to have been re-used from somewhere). It appears that around this time, the gate mech on the far signal was also replaced, assuming it wasn't earlier in the 2000s or late-90s. Since then, thankfully, no further upgrades appear to have occurred to the signals here, at least for the time being.
As mentioned above, the main reason I decided to head over to this crossing is because it still retains a 1st Gen Safetran mechanical bell. Unfortunately, as I discovered, said Safetran bell is sadly dead, so I wouldn't be too surprised if NS eventually replaces it. Still a pretty neat little crossing though, and I'm glad I got to film it.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Georgia/R-Z/R ... oots_Lake/