Blalock Road, near Lucama, NC
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2024 8:18 am
*originally recorded on 7-30-24*
Signal on the left: 1 pair of Federal Signal 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light with a Leotek EV Series LED, a dying Safetran mechanical bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Safetran 12x20 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Safetran gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
After I got the beacons of interest in Benson filmed, I noticed I could beat the Amtrak Silver Star to a crossing on the A Line, so I hopped back onto I-95 and started making my way north to this crossing just outside of Lucama. Thankfully, I managed to beat it here with about half an hour to spare, so here we get to see AMTK 92 flying across the A Line as part of its 1,522-mile journey from Miami, FL, to New York City with an ALC-42 leading a P42DC for power.
This crossing is a nice one, featuring a late-70s SCL install that's still decently original. At some point, I assume in the 1980s under the SBD, one of the pairs of side lights on the far signal were replaced by the current pair of Federal Signal 12x24s. Then, in the mid-1990s, the left-rear light was replaced with the current Safetran 12x24 by CSX. The crossing remained largely unchanged for at least a decade or two, but, sometime between 2014 and 2022, the closer signal had its original Safetran mechanical bell replaced by the current NEG e-bell. In this same timeframe, most likely between 2016 and (presumably) 2018, CSX also upgraded the crossing to LED.
Since these upgrades, however, no further major changes appear to have occurred to this crossing, thankfully. The far signal honestly has a pretty neat set-up with how the lights are done, and it also still retains its original SCL-era Safetran mechanical bell. Unfortunately, that bell is definitely on its way out, given how quiet it sounds, even when on that side of the crossing. Hopefully CSX gives it a needed tune-up, but, either way, I'm glad I was able to record this crossing when I did.