Duke Street, Durham, NC

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 12-22-21*

Signal on the far left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights.
Signal on the far right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights.
Signal on the near left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, a Safetran Type 3 electronic bell, a US&S Model 95 gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the near right: 3 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a US&S Model 95 gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

While I was out in Durham, I noticed an Amtrak Piedmont would be arriving soon, so I decided to take a break from documenting the abandoned NS Duke Branch Line and went over to this crossing on the NS Danville District to get it. Not too long after I got here, I heard a horn to my west and then this Piedmont came through with an F59PHI leading and a standard F59PH on the rear! First time catching one of these F59PHIs leading as well.
I will admit, I was kind of amused by this, as @Bigmindcreator TS had been trying for a while over multiple trips, IIRC, to get one of these leading (and so far had been unsuccessful), but I wound-up getting one leading on the second Piedmont train I caught, and I hadn't even been originally planning on railfanning around here on this day! (Had I not been having hard drive issues at the time, I would've gone over to Rocky Mount on the A Line to shoot some stuff out that way.) And don't worry, Elliot had been set-up further east down the line and was able to get this train too.

This crossing is another pretty nice one, also featuring what was originally a 1970s SOU install. In the early to mid-90s, it appears that NS replaced the mast lights on at least the cantilever signals with Safetran 12x24 inch lights. Then, in the mid-2000s, NS did a large upgrade to this crossing, replacing both gate masts and gate mechs with the current ones that have US&S Model 95s, replacing almost all of the mast lights here (leaving only the 12x24 inch side lights on the right-hand cantilever), and replacing the bell here with the current Safetran Type 3 electronic bell. It appears that at this same time, NS also replaced the relay case here with a newer one.
Since then, however, no major changes appear to have occurred here and the cantilever signals still retain their original overhead lights, which is quite nice to see. What's also pretty nice to see is how, due to the fact that this is a one-way street, the SOU installed a pair of gateless mast signals on the far side for pedestrians coming the other way. I do like seeing set-ups like this, so I'm glad I got to record this one.
Just one block to the west of this crossing was the infamous 11 foot 8 (now 12 foot 4 inches) "can-opener" bridge, of which there are plenty of videos online of it catching many a truck and other similarly large vehicles that thought they were a bit smaller than they actually were.