Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 7-30-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of US&S 12x20 inch lights, 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of WCH 12x20 inch lights, a General Signals Type 3 electronic bell, a US&S Model 75 gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1 US&S 12x20 inch light, 1 Safetran 12x20 inch light, a WABCO mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

On July 30th, I got on up and out once again to see about catching the SOFR before we'd head west to Cordele for a couple of nights. Decided to set-up at this crossing as it was the last of the highest-priority crossings for me to get on this line. After about half an hour of waiting, the SOFR took their trip south to CSX and I was able to get them going through this crossing with the typical GP40-2LW pair.

This crossing is a rather nice one, featuring a nice early SBD install that still retains much of its original equipment, with a nice overall mix of equipment as well. It appears that at some point, likely somewhat early on, the closer signal had one of the rear mast lights replaced with the current Safetan 12x20. Then, later-on in the 80s, the original Modern Industries front mast lights on the far signal were removed, and were replaced with the current WCH 12x24s on the gate mast (I'm guessing the older ones kept getting clipped by cars turning at the intersection next to this crossing). The crossing seems to have remained largely unchanged until the 2000s, when the signal on the left also had its original bell (I'm guessing a WABCO bell) replaced with a General Signals e-bell, before it was replaced again with the current GS Type 3 in 2016 (it appears), with the front mast lights being turned to face the side street around this time. Then, in 2017, the original US&S Model 75 gate mech on the closer signal was replaced with the current WCH one. Finally, in 2019, the far cantilever lost one of the original rear overhead lights. As a result, it appears that the SOFR chose to replace that cantilever entirely (likely due to the fact that it was also leaning), and included a new pair of WCH 12x20s on the rear overhead, but the original front overhead lights were re-used.
Thankfully though, the one remaining WABCO mechanical bell here still works, which is quite nice to see. There's another one over at the 37th Street crossing, but when I heard that one activate from Price Street, it sounded like that WABCO bell was sadly dead, so I'm glad to see this one at least still works. This crossing also retains the last Model 75 gate mech on the SOFR as well, so I'm glad to have gotten that filmed too.
All in all, this is a great crossing and I'm glad I was able to get it. Wouldn't've minded getting more on the SOFR, but I was able to get the ones that I wanted to film the most, so I'm happy.