Price Road, Mars Bluff, SC

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-21-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 8 inch lights, a Safetran Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 8 inch lights, 1 WABCO 8 inch light, 1 Federal Signal 8 inch light, a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, NEG LED gate lights, and a RECO gate light.

After catching the mixed freight in Latta, I tried to get the one right behind it at the other 8 inch crossing there, but wound-up missing it. As such, I decided to chase it south. On my way south, I wound-up passing the first mixed freight, and was successfully able to beat it to this crossing in Mars Bluff, a small unincorporated town just outside of Florence that's mainly notable for accidentally having an atomic bomb dropped on it back in the late-1950s by the US Air Force. Thankfully, the bomb was only being transported so it wasn't armed (and the nuclear fission material stored elsewhere in the plane), but the bomb's high-impact explosive device did activate upon hitting the ground and cause damage & injuries (but no deaths, thankfully), including making an impact crater which is a bit of a local landmark now, apparently.

This crossing is rather nice, featuring a late-70s SCL Safetran install that still has a decent bit of original equipment at it. I'm not sure if the side lights are original or not or if they were replaced later, but either way, the FS 8 inch light here on the closer signal was almost certainly re-used from elsewhere. In the late-90s, however, CSX replaced the bell on the closer signal (which I believe would've been the original Safetran mechanical?) with the current GS Type 1. Then, sometime between 2008 and 2012, the remaining Safetran mechanical bell on the far signal was replaced with the current Safetran Type 2, with no major changes to these signals since, thankfully.
Funnily enough, these are probably now some of the oldest gate mechs on the South End Sub in South Carolina, as CSX went through sometime within the past couple of years and replaced pretty much all non-Safetran gate mechs along at least this part of the line. Either way though, I'm glad I got this nice older crossing recorded, and hopefully at least the 8 inch lights and GS Type 1 (which was very nice to see here) remain around for a good while longer. The tip gate light on the closer signal is also still a RECO incandescent, which was nice to see as well.