Washington Street, Palatka, FL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-26-25*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights, 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After catching the southbound Floridian in Pierson, we hopped back onto US 17 and made our way up to this crossing in Palatka to wait for the northbound Silver Meteor at. After a little while of waiting, the Silver Meteor finally arrived at the station at Palatka. A little bit after that, the train departed and we were able to catch our third train of the day: Amtrak 98 with a pair of P42DCs for power.

This crossing is another rather nice one, featuring a pair of SBD WCH signals at it from the mid-1980s that are still decently original! It appears that the signals here remained largely unchanged for a couple of decades, but then, sometime in the early-2000s, CSX replaced the right-hand pair of lights on the closer signal with the current Safetran 12x24s. At about the same time, CSX also replaced the front-left light on the far signal with another Safetran 12x24. The signals here remained largely unchanged for about/at least a decade after that, the front pair of lights on the far signal were replaced with the current (reused) MI 12x24s. Thankfully, since then, nothing else appears to have changed to this crossing. Both signals here still retain both of their original 1st Gen WCH mechanical bells, which is nice to see. Sadly, both are sounding a bit worn-out, though they do still sound fairly healthy otherwise. It's also nice to see that both of the original WCH gate mechs and about half of the original lights here are still around as well. Admittedly, the WCH light facing the camera on the closer signal here could definitely use some work, seeing as it's quite dim. I imagine that the reflector just needs a good cleaning, though I can't say that for certain admittedly. Hopefully these signals remain largely unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm glad I got to record these when I did.