Martin Street, Folkston, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-27-21*

Signal on the left: 6 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a dying WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, a RECO gate light, a RECO LED gate light, and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.

After catching the southbound intermodal train in Bolougne, we came up here for our next train. After a little while of waiting, a southbound mixed freight pulled up near the crossing and stopped to cut-off a car and take it north on the Nahunta Subdivision, which caused the crossing to time-out four times as they did so.
After a little while of waiting though, the mixed freight came north with the one car for the Nahunta Sub with probably my favorite lash-up I caught on the CSX this entire trip: a Dash-8 leading an ES44AH, an SD40-3, and a GP40-2! Glad to see another CSX Dash-8 leading, as it's been a few years since I saw the previous one leading, I want to say.

This crossing's a pretty nice one, featuring a nice pair of CSX signals installed back in the 1980s. It appears that the first change to these signals was in the 2000s, when the original WCH gate mech on the far signal got replaced with the current Safetran one. Then, in the early 2010s, CSX replaced all of the lights here with the current Safetran 12x24s with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs. Then finally, sometime prior to 2018, the WCH mechanical bell on the closer signal died and got replaced with the current NEG e-bell. Amazingly enough though, the WCH mechanical bell on the far signal is still just barely managing to hang-on, even though it's sounding quite rough these days and has for the past few years, I want to say. Hopefully CSX gets it the TLC it's in need of, but I wouldn't be surprised if the last mechanical bell in Folkston gets replaced sometime within the next few years.

http://www.rxrsignals.com/Georgia/Folkston/Martin/

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-21-25*

Signal on the left: 4 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 6 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with WCH 2nd Generation LEDs, a dying WCH mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, NEG LED gate lights, and a RECO LED gate light.

After catching B202, we continued on down to Callahan, FL, to try and get another crossing or two when we heard that there was an I026 coming north. As such, we decided to turn back around and went back up to Folkston to get this crossing rerecorded. After a little bit of waiting, we were able to catch our third train of the day: CSX I026 with a CM44AC leading an ES44AH and an ET44AH for power.

Since I last recorded this crossing back in 2021, a few changes have occurred here. Most notably, the NEG e-bell on the far signal must've died at some point within the past year or so, and was replaced by a newer NEG e-bell as a result, though this barely affects the equipment list here. About half of the gate lights here were replaced with NEG LED gate lights as well, including the remaining RECO incandescent gate light on the closer signal. Amusingly, the NEG LED that replaced the remaining RECO incandescent has itself already died.
Somehow, the worn-out WCH mechanical bell here is still hanging-on, and it sounds pretty terrible now, though at least part of how rough it sounds is likely thanks to the fact that the gong on it is noticeably cracked. TBQH, I'm kinda surprised that CSX ain't put the thing out of its misery yet, though I will admit I'm still a bit glad to see that Folkston's last mechanical bell ain't gone yet.

https://www.rxrsignals.com/Georgia/A-F/Folkston/Martin/