Bowery Lane #1, Homeland, GA

[freebrickproductions]

*originally recorded on 6-27-21*

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

After lunch, Ethan and I went out to Homeland (just north of Folkston), and got the three crossings there documented for the site. I checked the Folkston Rail Cam's chat and saw that a southbound was coming on the Jesup Sub, so we set-up at this crossing. However, while we were waiting, a northbound intermodal came through on the Nahunta Sub. The two trains ran rather close though, and just a few minutes after the intermodal passed the Bowery Lane #2 crossing, this southbound came through with an ES44AH leading an AC44CW. IMHO, I'm glad we remained at this crossing, as it's slightly more interesting than Bowery Lane #2 (as that one now sadly has just a pair of NEG e-bells) and I doubt we would've had enough time to make it over here and get set-up for this train.

This crossing's a pretty nice one though, especially since it still retains a mechanical bell on the far signal. The signals here are a mid-70s SCL install, which appear to have been largely original up until at least the late-2000s. Sometime around then (or in the early 2010s), the closer signal had its 8 inch lights replaced with the current Safetran 12x24s (although incandescent originally) and the bell was replaced with the current Safetran Type 2. Then, between 2013 and 2014, CSX upgraded this crossing to LED, replacing the remaining 8 inch lights on the far signal in the process. Then, sometime after 2014, at least the original WCH gate mech on the closer signal got replaced with a re-used Safetran gate mech, followed by the one on the far signal getting replaced with the current Siemens gate mech sometime much more recently (though I'm not sure if the original WCH one would've ever been replaced with a newer gate mech prior to the current Siemens gate mech).
Thankfully though, the far signal still retains its WCH mechanical bell, which still sounds rather nice and healthy. Hopefully it hangs on for a good while longer as a result. Certainly makes me glad I was able to get this crossing recorded though, especially since this is now the last mechanical bell in Homeland.