Brooks Street, Kingstree, SC

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-20-21*

Signal on the left: 3 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights, 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a dying WRRS mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 3 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights, 2 pairs of RACO 12x20 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a dead WRRS mechanical bell, a nearly-dead WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching Amtrak 90, I went down to this crossing to get the I038 that was following closely behind. Here we see it coming north with an ES44AH leading an ET44AH for power.

This crossing is certainly an interesting one. It appears that these signals were installed by the SCL back in the late-60s or very early 70s. A bit unusually, the SCL wasn't too consistent on their overhead lights here apparently, as the far signal originally had all 8 inch lights while the closer one features a set of RACO 12x20s that seem to be original. Not entirely sure why they did this, TBH. Also, as a quick side note, the "rear" mast lights on the far signal were originally aimed at a now-removed side street on the far right corner of the crossing, the stop sign for which still stands (and is apparently still maintained).
In the 1980s, the closer signal had its gate mast replaced with the current one by CSX, and I believe the WRRS mechanical bell on the cantilever got disconnected as a result. Then, in the 1990s, the remaining WRRS(?) gate mech on the far signal was replaced with the current Safetran one. The crossing then remained largely unchanged until sometime between 2008 and 2012, when the far signal had the now-useless pair of WRRS 8 inch lights re-aimed to be rear lights on it. Then, sometime between 2016 and 2019, CSX replaced the far signal's overhead lights and upgraded the RACO 12x20s here to LED. Since then, no major changes have occurred here, but I suspect some might be coming soon.
The bells here are obviously not in good shape, and it almost certainly wasn't helped by just how cold it was here at the time either. The far WRRS is sounding rather rough and seems to struggle a bit at times, while the closer WCH bell doesn't ring at all. I do know that the WCH here is supposed to work, as @Bigmindcreator TS recorded it the day before and it was working then. However, Elliot did tell me that the WCH here sounded pretty bad, and I personally suspect that the bitterly cold weather is what caused it to not sound at all when I came here for a video.