Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

*originally recorded on 6-23-25*

Eastbound signal: 1.5 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, 1 Safetran 12x24 inch light, a WABCO mechanical bell, a WABCO Model 75 gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.
Westbound signal: 2 pairs of Modern Industries 12x24 inch lights, a sick General Signals Type 1 electronic bell, a WABCO Model 75 gate mechanism, and NEG LED gate lights.

After catching the southbound SunRail in downtown Orlando, I decided to head on up to Sanford to try and get at least one SunRail crossing around there recorded (more on that later). While waiting for something to come through, I heard a CSX L717 talking to some SunRail track workers about getting across the SunRail main. Not too long after that, I heard a train horn heading down the CSX Aloma Spur, and I decided to pack-up and race on over to this crossing to see if I could get it. Thankfully, I was able to beat CSX L717 here with a bit of time to spare, and here we get to see my third train of the day: CSX L171 stopping to work a spur just north of this crossing with a GP40-2 for power.
After a bit of waiting, L717 finished-up their work with the spur just north of this crossing, and I decided to hop on across the tracks to record the side with the WABCO bell. Here we get to see CSX L717 once again, continuing their way down the Aloma Spur to the scrap yard at the end of the line.

This crossing is a rather nice one, and one that I'm definitely quite glad I was able to get as I wasn't expecting to be able to shoot it. The signals here were installed by the late-SCL back in the early-1980s, it appears. Later-on in the 1980s or early-90s, CSX replaced all of the original lights here with the current MI 12x24s. Then, in the late-90s, the bell on the closer signal was replaced by the current GS Type 1 e-bell. Finally, sometime in the 2000s or early-2010s, CSX replaced the right-rear light on the far signal with the current Safetran 12x24 inch light. Thankfully, since then, nothing else here has changed to this crossing, and I'm glad to see the WABCO mechanical bell here was still working, at least at the time. Strangely, when I saw this crossing active a couple days later with a couple of other local railfans, it seemed like the bell didn't work on the one activation I saw (which I didn't film), though L717 was running much later on that day so I don't know if the heat had just caused it to fail on that day or not.
Regardless, the GS Type 1 here definitely sounds rather strange. Not sure if it's just super fast or what, but the bell definitely sounds rather sick as well. Still this is a rather great crossing and I'm honestly quite glad I was able to record it when I did.