Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 6-22-25*

Signal on the left: 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, a General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Signal on the right: 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, an NEG electronic bell, a WCH gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After catching the southbound Silver Meteor just north of Green Cove Springs, I went back south to this crossing in Pomona Park to wait for the southbound Floridian, stopping by a Publix in Palatka for lunch on the way. After a few hours of waiting, I was able to catch my third train of the day: the southbound Amtrak Floridian with a Phase VII ALC-42 leading a Phase VI ALC-42 for power.

This crossing is a rather cool one, and features a rather neat arrangement for the lights. Due to the somewhat sharp angle the tracks cross this road at, the rear lights here are mounted on short arms sticking off of the masts themselves, which certainly looks a bit unusual. It honestly reminds me of the old ACL signals at CR 20 #2 just south of Ozark, AL, up on the CSX Dothan Sub, TBH.
However, unlike that crossing just outside of Ozark, these signals appear to be a late-70s SCL install, though, in the latter-half of the 1980s, CSX replaced the lights here with the current MI 12x24 inch lights. Then, in the late-90s it appears, CSX replaced the far signal's bell here with the current GS Type 1, and most likely replaced the closer signal's bell at the same time with another GS e-bell (which I suspect was a Type 1). The crossing remained largely unchanged for a couple of decades, but, sometime between 2023 and 2025, the bell on the closer signal here was replaced again, this time with the current NEG e-bell. Thankfully, nothing else has changed to this crossing since then, which is nice to see. Nice to see another pair of older WCH gate mechs in use here still, along with the GS Type 1 on the far side and the rather way the rear lights here are mounted. Hopefully these signals remain unchanged for many more years to come, but, either way, I'm quite glad I got to record these signals when I did as well.