Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 12-21-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a dead General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WABCO 8 inch lights, a US&S Teardrop bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After catching the two mixed freights in Mars Bluff, I went on back up to this crossing in Dillon to get it, as I038 would be coming soon and takes the Andrews Sub from Dillon to Charlotte, and I wanted to get a couple of crossings along it. After just a little bit of waiting, I038 came rolling through with an ES44AH on the head-end and another ES44AH working as the mid-DPU.

This crossing is a very nice one, and it's easy to see why. It appears that this crossing originally had signals at it installed back in the 1940s (maybe early 1950s) by the SAL, but in the 1970s or early 80s, the SCL replaced the lights on at least the closer signal with the current WABCO 8 inch lights. Then, in the 1990s, the gate mech on the closer signal was also replaced by CSX with the current Safetran gate mech. Then, in the early 2000s, the far signal was replaced entirely by CSX, with no major changes to the crossing since then.
Of course, the best thing about this crossing is that it still retains its original 2nd Generation US&S Teardrop bell! This bell still sounds pretty decently healthy as well, so I'm glad to see that it's still around. When Elliot recorded this crossing about a year prior, the GS Type 2 here still worked but sounded noticeably quiet and scratchy, so I suppose it isn't too big of a surprise. This did let me get some decent cleaner audio of a 2nd Gen Teardrop by itself though, so I'm glad I was able to do that.
All in all, I'm glad I was able to record this crossing. Hopefully the closer signal remains untouched for many more years to come, but I wouldn't be too surprised to find that the far signal now has an NEG e-bell on it.

*originally recorded on 7-28-24*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WABCO 8 inch lights, a dying US&S Teardrop bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After refilming the Teardrop pair in Latta, I was heading north towards Dillon when I saw that I038 was stopping to work the intermodal terminal on the south side of the city. As such, I decided to head back over to this crossing on the CSX Andrews Subdivision for another video. After about an hour of waiting, I was able to get CSX I038 here once again, though I let it go after this.

Sometime between my previous video of this crossing in December of 2021 and when street view came through here next in February of 2022, CSX replaced the dead GS Type 2 e-bell here with a new NEG e-bell. Thankfully, nothing else has changed to this crossing, and the far signal still retains its classic SAL install with its original Teardrop bell! Sadly, said Teardrop definitely sounds much worse than when I last recorded it, with it clicking more than ringing.
Admittedly, I probably could've gone for one of the other crossings on the Andrews Sub (including one of the ones in McColl, SC), but I thought it'd be nice to refilm this one, especially since it got a new bell since I filmed it last. Either way, this was the last crossing in SC that I filmed in action on this trip.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/South_Carolin ... /Calhoun2/