Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 7-28-24*

Signal on the left: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 2 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, a WRRS mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and RECO LED gate lights.

On the morning of July 28th, I got on up and went back down to Florence again to see about shooting a couple of crossings towards the south end of the CSX South End Subdivision. I got down to this crossing where, after about two hours of waiting, I was able to get my first train of the day: Amtrak 90 heading north towards New York City with an ALC-42 for power.

This crossing is a very nice one, featuring a pair of old gated WRRS cantilevers that I believe were originally installed by the ACL back in the 1950s or so. In the late-90s, it appears, CSX replaced both gate mechs and all of the lights here with the current Safetran equipment, with the lights all being incandescent. Then, in the early 2000s, the bell on the far signal was replaced by a GS Type 2 e-bell. After that, in the mid-2000s (I believe, though the upgrade may have occurred between 2008 and 2012), the overhead lights here were upgraded with the current Dialight Ball LEDs. The crossing remained relatively unchanged for several years until sometime between 2022 and 2023, when a few more upgrades would occur here. In this period, the mast lights here would be upgraded to Leotek EV Series LEDs. At about the same time, the GS Type 2 e-bell on the far signal was replaced by the current NEG e-bell. Thankfully, since then, no further changes have occurred to this crossing.
I'm definitely glad I was finally able to get this crossing recorded, as I always do enjoy filming these older WRRS cantilevers. The closer signal also still appears to retain its original WRRS mechanical bell, which is nice to see. The bell still sounds very healthy, and rings at a fairly quick rate. Hopefully the bell and cantilevers will be here for many more years to come.