Elm Street, Rome, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 5-21-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights and 2 pairs of RACO 8 inch lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of RACO 8 inch lights and a WRRS mechanical bell.

After catching G55 here, I followed them over to the yard and watched them pull in. After I confirmed which track they'd use to get back out onto the branch (the one that connects directly to the yard, so sadly not the one with a signalized crossing), I returned back to this crossing and waited. After a couple hours of waiting (which gave the sun enough time to just barely get onto the better side of the crossing), NS G55 finally came back through, this time with a GP33ECO leading its mated RP-M4C road slug and the ex-N&W SD40-2 that I saw earlier. I must say though, the paint scheme on these GP33ECOs and their mated road slugs is certainly quite nice. This was also my first time catching one of these GP33ECOs, so certainly quite the spot to do it at!

This crossing was easily the best crossing I recorded all day, IMHO. It has a very nice pair of classic (I believe) SOU cantilevers, which are still almost entirely original! In fact, the only change here is that at some point in the early 2000s, the mast lights on the far signal were all replaced with a set of Safetran 12x20 inch lights by NS, but that's literally been the only change to these classic signals. Easily the best feature about them, IMHO, is the WRRS bell, which is mounted on the side of the mast between the two parts of the cantilever arm, something you rarely see on the east coast (and especially here in the southeast)! Cantilevers with the bell mounted like this seem to be much more common out west, and at least a few have seen use up in the midwest, but none of the cantilevers of this style that I filmed out west had their bells mounted like this, sadly. As such, this is the first crossing I've filmed where the bell is mounted like it is, so I'm glad to have finally gotten one like this recorded. Hopefully these signals remain unchanged for years to come.