Tracy Road, Bolougne, FL

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-27-21*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a US&S Model 75 gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Modern Industries 12x20 inch lights, 1 US&S 12x20 inch light, 1 Modern Industries 12x24 inch light, an NEG electronic bell, a US&S Model 75 gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.

On June 27th, 2021, Ethan and I got up and went down to the Folkston area to get some of the crossings down that way recorded, as, even though it's been heavily modernized by CSX, there's still some decent stuff around there if you know where to look. We decided to head to this "cursed" little crossing right across the state line in Florida first, and after a little while of waiting, we saw our first train of the day: a southbound intermodal train with a pair of ES40DCs for power.

Despite being considered "cursed" (mostly due to a certain infamous railfan visiting here a lot), this is still a pretty nice little crossing. It's located on a dirt road just south of the Georgia/Florida state line, in the tiny little unincorporated rural community of Bolougne, and makes for a nice quiet spot to railfan at when there's no-one else here. The signals here are also pretty nice, and appear to have been put-up in the 80s by the SBD. It appears that not too long after they were installed the bell on the far signal was replaced with a WCH mchanical bell (assuming said bell wasn't original, that is). A bit later on in the 80s, CSX replaced at least the front-left light here was replaced with a newer MI 12x24 inch light (I have no idea if the MI 12x20s here are original to the signal or not). Then, in the 90s, the lights on the far signal were all replaced with the current Safetran 12x24s, followed by the bell on the closer signal getting replaced with a GS Type 1. The signals would remain mostly unchanged for over a decade, until the late-2010s, when the WCH bell here would die and get replaced with the current NEG e-bell on that signal. Then, a few years after, the GS Type 1 here would also die and it too got more recently replaced by another NEG e-bell.
Despite both of the interesting bells here being replaced, I'm still glad to have been able to record this crossing. It features a nice pair of older signals that still have their original gate mechs and a full set of incandescent lights, which will hopefully remain for a good while longer.