2nd Street Railroad Crossing, Pembroke, NC

originally recorded on 7-29-24

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a General Signals Type 2 electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights, a dying Modern Industries mechanical bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

On the morning of July 29th, I decided to get on up and head down to this crossing in Pembroke for my first crossing of the day, located just south of the diamond with the CSX Wilmington Subdivision. After nearly 2 hours of waiting (during which the rain moved in), I got my first train of the day: AMTK 90 with an ALC-42 for power.

This crossing is another nice one, featuring what was originally an early to mid-70s (it seems) install by the SCL. Originally, there were two nearly identical MI signals here with WABCO Model 75 gate mechs and MI bells. At some point, the far signal had either had the background on the left-rear light replaced with a 24 inch one, or the entire light was replaced with a 12x24 of some kind. Either way, sometime between 2007 and 2013, the far signal was replaced entirely with the current one. The crossing remained largely unchanged until sometime between 2018 (or at least 2015 for the lights) and 2022, when the closer signal was upgraded to LED and its original WABCO Model 75 was replaced with the current Siemens gate mechanism.
Thankfully, this crossing hasn't really changed since, and, despite the upgrades, the closer signal still retains all of its original MI light heads and MI mechanical bell. The lights on the closer signal are also mounted rather neat, as you don't typically see sidelights split among multiple mounting arms like this. Sadly, the MI bell here is definitely on the way out, given how much it clicks when it starts, though it seems to ring pretty decently once it gets going. Hopefully CSX gives it some TLC, but, either way, I'm glad I was able to get this one filmed as well.

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