Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 8-1-24*

Signal on the left: 1.5 pairs of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light with a WCH 2nd Generation LED, a Safetran mechanical bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 1 pair of Safetran 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, 1 pair of Harmon 8 inch lights, 3 pairs of Federal Signal 12x20 inch lights with Dialight Ball LEDs, 2 pairs of WCH 12x24 inch lights with Leotek EV Series LEDs, an NEG electronic bell, a Siemens gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After I caught L617 at Beechtree Trail, I chased the train north across Kittrell to this crossing, as I was very quickly able to get ahead of it. Here we see CSX L617 for one final time on this day, though it wouldn't be my last recording of the day.

This crossing is another nice one, featuring a bit of an interesting mix of equipment at it. The signals here were originally installed by the SCL back in the mid-1970s, and remained largely original for a few decades after. However, sometime between 2009 and 2015, a few changes would occur here by CSX. One of these was to the far signal, which had its original Safetran 8 inch lights replaced with the current Safetran 12x24 inch lights with LEDs. In the same time-frame, the cantilever here would have its overhead lights upgraded to LED. Then, sometime between 2018 and 2021, a few more upgrades occurred here. In that time frame, the closer signal had its original gate mast replaced with the current one, with the far signal also having its original Safetran gate mech replaced with the current Siemens one. At about the same time, it appears, the front mast lights on the cantilever here were replaced by the current LED Safetran 12x24 inch lights. Interestingly, these Safetran heads are some reused 70s ones, though I can't say for certain where they would've come from. Either way, since then, thankfully no further changes appear to have occurred to this crossing.
The cantilever here is a bit unusual, given that the main overhead lights here are mounted in the middle of the arm with a pair of side lights mounted to the end. I'm kinda surprised the front lights weren't removed off of the newer gate mast here when it was installed, given that the cantilever already had some front lights. At the very least, I would've expected CSX to use them to replace the remaining pair of 8 inch side lights here, but, in the meantime, this is one of those crossings with all three sizes of light at it, so that's pretty neat. I'm also glad to see the original overhead light heads are still here, along with the remaining pair of Harmon 8 inch lights. I'm also glad to see the original Safetran mechanical bell on the far signal's still here as well, even if most of the original black paint's long since worn-off of it. I'm definitely glad I decided to swing by this crossing and get it shot, as it's honestly a pretty neat one.