Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 7-30-24*

Signal on the left: 1.5 pairs of Federal Signal 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1.5 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Federal Signal 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 pair of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, a WCH mechanical bell, a WCH gate mechanism, RECO LED gate lights, and an NEG LED gate light.

On the morning of July 30th, I got on up and hit the road for Benson, hoping to get some more good crossings filmed. On my way north, however, I heard something nearby on the scanner, but I wasn't sure if it was north or southbound, slightly hoping it was a northbound I'd be able to beat to Benson. Thankfully, it was indeed a northbound and I did indeed beat it to this crossing in Benson! Here I was able to catch my first train of what wound-up being a very successful day: CSX M410 with an ES44AH leading an ET44AH for power.

This crossing is another great one, featuring another late-70s SCL install that's still fairly original at it. Admittedly, I'm not sure if the lights here would've originally been 12x20s with the 24 inch backgrounds being a later addition, or if they've always been 12x24s, as the SCL did use both on their 12 inch installs from my observations. The tell-tale sign for me that this is SCL rather than SBD is the single-sided counterweight arms on the WCH gate mechs, the SBD only ever used the double-sided ones like CSX. Either way, sometime between 2015 and 2018, CSX upgraded this crossing to LED, with thankfully no major changes to this crossing since.
The 1st Gen WCH mechanical bell pair here honestly sounds great, and I'm glad to see both of the original bells still in use here. The light head mix appears to be original, as these signals were probably ordered around the time WCH redid the molds on the 12 inch lights to feature their branding. Either way, it's nice to film more FS 12 inch lights, even if they are LED.
All in all, this is another crossing I'm glad I was able to get filmed. Hopefully these signals will be here for many more years to come, as there ain't any signs of them being replaced yet, but, either way, I'm glad I was here when I was.