Thompson Street #2, Cedartown, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 8-15-23*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an almost-dead Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After I caught CSX L810 at the 4-way crossing, they went and worked the customer in Cedartown while I chose which crossing I wanted to go to next, being either Main Street or this one. Both had, relatively recently, lost their 8 inch lights, unfortunately, which made choosing a bit harder. Ultimately, despite Main Street still having incandescent early FS 12x20s at it, I decided on this one, given that it still, at least at the time, retained the last Safetran mechanical bell on the Cartersville Sub and would be more guaranteed to have better lighting for photos of the train. Anyways, after a bit of waiting, CSX L810 began their journey back down the Cartersville Sub to Cartersville, now with a pair of tank cars in tow.

This crossing is another pretty decent one, which retains a bit of an unusual late-70s SCL install, with single-sided Safetran gate mechs and WCH bases. It appears that not too long after these signals were installed, the SCL or SBD replaced the lights on the far signal with some WABCO 8 inch lights, and a RACO 8 inch light that I believe may have been re-used onto that signal a bit later (and possibly from the 4-way crossing). The crossing then remained relatively unchanged, up until sometime between 2013 and 2021 when the bell on the far signal was replaced with the current NEG e-bell. Since then, as mentioned above, sometime within the past two years, CSX replaced the 8 inch lights here with the current 12x24 inch LED lights, and no other major changes have occurred here.
Thankfully, the closer signal still retained its original Safetran mechanical bell, the last one on this line as mentioned above. Unfortunately, as you can easily hear, the bell doesn't really work anymore, only clicking while it's on instead of ringing. Hopefully CSX gives it some TLC and gets it going again, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it's gone already. Either way, I'm quite glad I got to film this crossing when I did, even if I probably should've gone for the FS 12x20s instead, lol.

https://rxrsignals.com/Georgia/A-F/Cedartown/Thompson2/