MLK Jr Street, Rockmart, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 8-15-23*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of WABCO 8 inch lights, 1 pair of US&S 8 inch lights, and an NEG electronic bell.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of WABCO 8 inch lights and 1 pair of US&S 8 inch lights.

After hearing from Elliot the day before that CSX L810 was tying down near the Teardrop bell in Rockmart, GA, for the evening, and was going to go to Cedartown the following morning, I quickly made plans to go out and shoot it, partially hoping that they'd be working the Teardrop bell crossing. On August 15th, I got on up and got on out to beat the crew to L810, where, upon them getting there a little bit after I arrived, I found-out that they (sadly) weren't gonna work the Teardrop crossing (apparently that customer is worked about once a month or so), but they still had a run to Cedartown to do, so I hopped on up to this crossing. After a bit of waiting, CSX L810 got going with the vandalized GP40-2 leading a GP38-2 for power, running lite.

This crossing is a rather nice one, featuring an old pair of gateless signals from the SAL that've seen some upgrades over the years. It appears that, in the 1970s, the SCL replaced the base on the far signal and most of the lights here with the current ones, and the original US&S Teardrop bell here was replaced with a WRRS mechanical bell. The crossing seems to have remained largely unchanged for many more years after, but, sometime within the past couple of years, CSX replaced the WRRS mechanical bell here with the current NEG e-bell. Thankfully, nothing else here has changed and the crossing is still fully 8 inch. The backgrounds on the lights have also gotten nicely faded over the years as well.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Georgia/R-Z/Rockmart/MLK_Jr/