Pine Knoll Drive, Wade Hampton, SC

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-23-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a dying WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO gate lights.

Over in Greenville, NS 153 wound-up meeting NS 154 just west of Pate Road, so I hopped back over to this crossing to get it. Here we see my third catch of the day: NS 154 with an AC44C6M leading an ES44DC, an SD70ACe, a GP40-2, and an RP-E4C road slug.

This crossing is a fairly nice one, featuring what appears to have been (a bit unusually) a late-70s SOU double-mast install. I say "a bit unusually" because it seems that when the SOU did do these installs, it seems that they were mostly in the early to mid-70s. Also a bit on the weirder side, it appears that the first gen WCH mechanical bell here is possibly original to the crossing, though if it isn't, it almost certainly would date back to the 80s with the late-SOU/early-NS.
In the 1980s, however, NS replaced all of the lights here with Safetran 12x24s. Then, at some point in the 2000s I believe, NS added extensions onto the gate masts to be able to add the wind-guards. Next, sometime between 2008 and 2012, the closer signal had the front-left light become a Safetran 12x20. Then, sometime between 2012 and 2016, the closer signal had the light mast replaced, it appears, with one re-used from elsewhere I believe, though the light-heads and old SOU DOT tag were re-used onto it. At about the same time, two more of the lights on the closer signal also became 12x20s, though by 2017 they were back to being all 12x24s. Since then, however, no major changes appear to have occurred to this crossing, thankfully.
The WCH mechanical bell here is sadly sounding like it's starting to die, given how it clicks a few times as it starts. The gong doesn't sound the best either, but I personally suspect it may just be sounding like that due to a chunk of rust resting in the bottom of the gong or the gong being a bit loose, as it seems like something rattles every time the hammer strikes it. Double mast installs like this are always a bit neat though, IMHO, so I'm glad I was able to film this one. Maybe I should do a compilation of them at some point?