Franklin Street (US 301 Business) Railroad Crossing, Rocky Mount, NC

*originally recorded on 7-31-24*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Harmon 12x24 inch lights with Harmon Dotted LEDs, 1 pair of Harmon 12x20 inch lights with Harmon Dotted LEDs, a Safetran mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Harmon 12x20 inch lights with Harmon Dotted LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG gate lights.

After I caught the Amtrak Silver Star, I'd gone over to another crossing in Rocky Mount on the CSX North End Sub to wait for my next train. While waiting, I started hearing a horn to my west, that I suspected was coming from the local shortline, the Carolina Coastal Railway. As such, I grabbed my camera, hopped into my car, and raced over to this crossing since I knew it had a Safetran mechanical bell. Thankfully, I managed to get here and get my camera thrown down with about a minute to spare, before this Carolina Coastal train heading to interchange with CSX came rolling through with a GP38-2 for power, still wearing the patched Gulf & Ohio scheme from its previous owner, the Nash County Railroad. Definitely a nice catch to get for my third train of the day.

This crossing is another nice one, featuring a pair of signals the NCYR originally installed back in the late-90s or 2000s. Originally, there was a pair of WCH e-bells here, but sometime between 2008 and 2012, the one on the left-hand signal was replaced by the current Safetran mechanical bell. Then, sometime between 2016 and 2019, the one on the right-hand signal was replaced by the current WCH mechanical bell. Thankfully, since then, this crossing has remained largely unchanged. I believe this crossing has always been LED, given that this entire CLNA line is LED, and most of the shortlines across North Carolina are fully LED these days. Thankfully, both of the mechanical bells here do still sound rather nice, and it's always nice to see another crossing where the bells are set to ring when the gates rise. It's also nice to see that the left-hand signal here still retains a diagonally striped gate arm.

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[TheBCRailfan]

Great crossing! Love that bell combo, and the Dash 8 bell on that Geep!

[kcmorailfan]

Nice catch! Bell combo here sounds like what Sterling Ave in my area would've likely had before UP did their LED upgrade and bell replacement in 2011.

[HunterWilliams-lebk]

Those crossing gates seem to rise pretty fast.

[csxtrainfan]

I thought Rocky Mount Has a quiet zone, or is this outside city limits