Carroll Street (GA 61), Villa Rica, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 7-26-24*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Dotted LEDs, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, NEG LED gate lights, and a RECO LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with GE Dotted LEDs, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching Amtrak, I hung around here to wait for my next train, so I could get a better video of this crossing. Not too long after, the signal at CP Villa Rica upgraded for another westbound, and, not too long after that, this short westbound autorack train came rolling through with a lone ES44DC for power.

This crossing is a very nice one, and still features a rather large RACO-branded (though technically early Safetran) cantilever at it. The signals here were installed by the Southern Railway back in the early-1970s, though, in the late-90s, NS replaced the bell here with a GS Type 1 e-bell. Interestingly, that bell was mounted on the arm for the side lights on the original mast signal here, though I'm not sure if the original/previous bell(s) here would've been mounted in the same spot. Either way, at about the same time or a bit after in the 2000s, the gate mechanisms were replaced by a pair of Safetran ones. Then, sometime between 2010 and 2012, the 8 inch mast lights here were all replaced with Safetran 12x20 inch lights, which were incandescent at the time, with the cantilever retaining its original overhead lights for the time being. In the mid-2010s, NS upgraded the lights here to LED, replacing the original Safetran 12x20 inch overhead lights with the current ones in the process. Strangely, in 2019, the gate mech on the mast signal was replaced by an Invensys Rail one.
It wouldn't last long, however, as in 2020, a truck going south on GA 61 attempted to run the signals and make a right turn onto US 78 westbound to continue following GA 61 southbound, only to get the trailer stuck on the crossing. As a result, it was hit by an eastbound NS freight, destroying the mast signal here in the process, though, thankfully, no-one was injured. As a result, however, NS replaced the far signal with the current one, which originally had a GS Type 3 e-bell, though it appears the LEDs from the old signal were reused. Interestingly, based on the condition of the new signal's gate mech in 2021 when EthantheRailfanner documented this crossing, the signal seems to have either been reused from elsewhere, or was a spare that NS has had for a while. Either way, the crossing remained unchanged for a bit longer, until sometime within the two months prior to this video, when NS replaced the GS Type 3 e-bell here with a reused Safetran Type 3.
Thankfully, despite the various upgrades here, this crossing still retains its classic, and rather large, RACO cantilever. I believe this one is about the same size as the one at Broad Street in Scottsboro, AL, so I'm glad I finally got to film a large one like this. I believe this is also the last RACO cantilever on the NS East End District. Hopefully it remains here for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I was able to film this crossing when I did.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Georgia/R-Z/V ... a/Carroll/