Buffalo Bluff Road, Satsuma, FL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-22-25*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, a sick General Signals (Type 1?) electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

After I caught Amtrak 98, I went back up to this crossing to get the Auto Train, which wasn't too far behind the Silver Meteor. After about half an hour of waiting here, I was able to catch my fifth train of the day: the Amtrak Auto Train heading north for Virginia with a P42DC leading an ALC-42 for power!

This crossing's a rather nice one, featuring another pair of old RACO cantilevers at it still! The signals here appear to have been installed by the SCL back in the late-1960s, though in the late-70s, the SCL replaced the gate mech on the closer signal with the current WCH one. Then, in the latter half of the 1980s, CSX replaced all of the lights here with the current MI 12x24s. After that, in the late-90s (or possibly very early 2000s), it appears, CSX replaced the gate mast on the far side with the current one, replacing that signal's gate mech and bell with the current ones as well in the process. At about the same time, it appears that CSX also replaced the bell on the closer signal with another GS e-bell. The crossing then remained unchanged for a while longer, but, sometime between the mid-2010s and 2023, CSX replaced the bell on the closer signal again with the current NEG e-bell. Finally, sometime between 2023 and 2025, CSX upgraded the mast lights here to LED.
Thankfully, despite all of those changes and upgrades, the crossing still retains its old pair of RACO cantilevers, which are always nice to see. The overhead lights are also still incandescent, and the closer signal also still retains another older WCH gate mech, which are pretty cool as well. The far signal still features a GS e-bell on it, though sadly it's very noticeably sick, which is a bit of a shame to see. I suspect it might be a Type 1 as well, as it sounds a lot like that sick GS e-bell I recorded in Anderson, TN, a few years back. I suspect that it'll be another NEG e-bell before too long, TBH.