Friendfield Road, Coward, SC

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-20-21*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of WRRS 8 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a WRRS gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the northbound mixed freight, I continued to try chasing it north, but decided to stop when I saw this crossing. Instead, I chose to set-up here and wait for something, and after about 2.5 hours of waiting, something did indeed finally come through. Here we see a southbound mixed freight slowly going through the crossing with a YN3b ES44AH leading a YN2 AC44CW and a YN3b CM44AC and a YN3 ES44AH working as the mid-train DPU. Was still a pretty nice catch, as the YN2 AC44 was also CSX's Spirit of Magnolia unit!

This crossing is also a rather nice one. Like with the crossing I recorded down in Lake City, this one also appears to have originally been a 1940s ACL install, though the original US&S lights and Teardrop bells were replaced with WRRS equipment in the 1960s by the SCL. The signals appear to have then remained largely unchanged until sometime between 2008 and 2012, when CSX replaced the main lights on the closer signal with the current Safetran 12x24 inch lights. Then, sometime between 2014 and 2016, the far signal had its original WRRS gate mech replaced with the current Siemens gate mechanism. Then, sometime between 2016 and 2019, the closer signal's WRRS bell was replaced with the current NEG e-bell. Finally, sometime between 2019 and 2021, the far signal's WRRS bell was also replaced with the current NEG e-bell.
Thankfully, despite these various upgrades, the closer signal still retains a WRRS gate mechanism! No idea how this one's managed to survive, but it rather clearly has. Believe this is the last WRRS gate mech on the entire A Line as well, unless one happens to be hiding out in Florida or Virginia somewhere. Either way though, I always enjoy getting to see and record these, so I'm glad I was able to do so here. Hopefully it remains around for many more years to come, but either way, I'm glad I was able to get it.