Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 2-25-22*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights, a dead WRRS mechanical bell, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of WRRS 8 inch lights, a WRRS mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After seeing Q400 meeting Q401 from the wrong side of the meet, I decided to set-up here and wait for whatever train came next, as I wanted to get a recording of the crossing from this side. Q401 wound-up getting held for I032, with I032 waiting on Amtrak 89 first. Eventually, Amtrak 89 came south through Moncks Corner with the typical P42DC for power. I will say, it did certainly sound nice going across the jointed rail that makes-up the siding track here.
After this, I got myself some supper and went on back to the hotel for my last night in Manning. There was also a young railfan here with his father (IIRC), who also filmed this train from the depot.

This crossing is a very nice one, featuring another nice pair of RACO cantilevers installed by the SCL back in the 1960s. It appears that these were largely original up until the mid-1990s, when CSX replaced both of the original gate mechs here with the current Safetran ones. It appears that around this time, CSX added a short extension to the far signal's gate mast, though the closer one didn't get a similar extension on it. Then, sometime between 2015 and when I first came here in December of 2021, CSX replaced both gate masts, but re-used the old WRRS bases and Safetran gate mechs onto the new ones. Finally, sometime between December of 2021 and February of 2022, CSX installed a new NEG e-bell onto the far signal to replace the WRRS mechanical bell on top of it, which I suspect had died.
It appears that the NEG e-bell's connection isn't the best, given that it cuts-out a couple of times while ringing. When I returned here the following morning, it also cut-out while ringing, though I think it only did it once.
Either way though, this is a very nice crossing, and I'm glad to see that both classic RACO cantilevers still retain all of their original WRRS 8 inch lights, and that the closer one also still features a working WRRS mechanical bell. Hopefully these signals remain unchanged for many more years to come, but either way, I'm glad I got to film them when I did.
Right next to this crossing, on the south side of Main Street, is where the preserved Moncks Corner depot stands.

And here's the daytime video of this crossing (take on the other side) from 2-26-22: