Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 6-26-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a dead WCH mechanical bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1.5 pairs of WCH 8 inch lights, 1 RACO 8 inch light, a dying WCH mechanical bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

On June 26th, Ethan and I went out to the CSX Columbia and Charleston Subdivisions to try and film some older crossing equipment. This was the first train we caught (and only train I filmed) on the Columbia Sub: a short southbound mixed freight with an ES44AH leading an AC44CW.

This crossing's a rather nice one, featuring a nice old pair of WCH signals put-up by the SCL back in the 70s. It appears that at some point, the front-right light on the closer signal was replaced with a RACO 8 inch light for some reason, but the crossing was pretty much still entirely original up through at least 2019. However, sometime after that the far signal was given an LED upgrade and both of the original gate mechs here were unfortunately replaced, but thankfully the closer signal still retains its 8 inch lights. Also unfortunate to see here is the condition of the bells, with the far one being entirely dead and the closer one starting to sound like it's beginning to die too. Hopefully CSX fixes them and they're able to stay around for a good while longer, but I guess we'll just have to see.
Either way though, this is still a nice little crossing and I'm glad I was able to film it.